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Purchase Order File Format

When creating a Purchase Order, users will have the ability to check a box to include a tab delimited file that contains vital purchase order information. This file can be used for electronic data processing. For example, you may have a vendor or supplier that can accept your PO electronically. Their system will receive the email and automatically process it. Of course, your vendor could manually import the file.

Notes

Here are some notes about the file.

  1. The file name is PO-mm-dd-yyyy_hh-mm-ss.txt
  2. One file is created.
  3. Each field is separated by a Tab
  4. The items repeat until all PO items have been included.
  5. Items marked as “Closed” will not be included.
  6. We include the first 250 characters of the Purchase Description
  7. The Item Number could be the Alias depending on print settings
  8. The Ship Method and Vendor Account Number fields are included.

Avoiding Being Marked as Spam

When you send an email with an attachment, it can be seen as spam by many anti-spam systems. Files with a .txt extension could increase the chances that your email will not reach its intended destination. Be sure to ask your vendor (the receiver of the email) to mark your email address as safe, within their anti-spam systems.

Header Data

The following information will be contained in the first row of the file. This row is referred to as a Header. This data indicates that this export is a Purchase Order and contains common information.

Field Format and Notes Required
Purchase Order Always “Purchase Order”. Indicates the beginning of the file and the type of data. Yes
Date mm-dd-yyyy. The date selected by the user. Usually the creation date. Yes
Expected Date mm-dd-yyyy. The date the order is expected to be ready. No
PO # 20 alphanumeric Yes
Company Name 150 alphanumeric Yes
Vendor Name 50 alphanumeric Yes
Account Number 100 alphanumeric. The account number given to the company by the vendor. No
PO Terms 20 alphanumeric. Financial terms of the sale. No
FOB 20 alphanumeric. Freight On-Board No
Notes Unlimited alphanumeric. General notes entered by the company for any purpose. No
Ship To 100 alphanumeric (usually a company name) No
Ship To Name 100 alphanumeric (usually the “Attention To”) No
Ship To Address 50 alphanumeric No
Ship To Address 2 50 alphanumeric No
Ship To City 30 alphanumeric No
Ship To State/Prov. 30 alphanumeric No
Ship To Zip 30 alphanumeric No
Ship Method 20 alphanumeric. Also used for delivery or pickup method. No
Product Name Always “Total Office Manager Enterprise” Yes
Product Version ##.##.##. The version of the Total Office Manager software. Yes
Export File Version #.##. The version given by Aptora for the file design and layout. Yes
File Creation Date/Time mm-dd-yyyyThh:mm:ss. Time is in 24 format. Yes

Body Data

The following information starts in the second row. Each new PO item is a new row. POs must have at least one item.

Field Format and Notes Required
Item Number* 55 characters Yes
Quantity Eight numbers followed by an optional decimal point and up to two numbers to the right of that decimal point. Examples: ######## or ########.## or ########.# Yes
Purchase Description The first 250 characters of the Purchase Description field. No
Rate The cost of the item to the company. Eight numbers followed by an optional decimal point and up to four numbers to the right of that decimal point. Examples: ######## or ########.## or ########.##### No
Amount The Rate field multiplied by the Quantity purchased field (extended amount). No

Purchase Order with Attachment Screen Shot

Related Topics

Create New Purchase Order