# Suppliers and purchasing The supplier directory, EUDR data, purchase orders, sending them to suppliers, and the reorder alerts that drive them Section: app. Audience: public. Updated: 2026-10-10. --- The **"Purchasing & imports"** section holds three pages: **"Purchasing"**, **"Suppliers"** and **"Freight & customs"**. It comes after **"Products & stock"** in the sidebar: buying, the suppliers you buy from, and the freight and customs that bring the goods in. ## Suppliers **"Suppliers"** has two views. The directory is the default. The table shows **"Name"**, **"Country"**, **"Lead time"**, **"Sanctions"**, **"EUDR"**, **"Certifications"** and **"Active"**. **"Active"** is a toggle in the row rather than a field in a form: click it to deactivate or reactivate a supplier. Empty values are written out rather than left blank, so **"No country recorded"**, **"No lead time recorded"** and **"Not set"** distinguish missing data from a supplier who genuinely has none. That matters for compliance columns, where blank and none are very different answers. A supplier outside the scope of EUDR reads **"Not in EUDR scope"** rather than showing nothing. The second view holds the EUDR detail. ## Purchasing **"Purchasing"** is one page for buying stock, with four tabs in order: **"To buy"**, **"Orders"**, **"Incoming"** and **"Rules"**. **"To buy"** is the default. Each tab has its own link, so a tab can be bookmarked or shared, and older links still land in the right place: the stock-alert email opens **"To buy"**. The number on the badge beside **"Purchasing"** in the sidebar is the count of open stock alerts plus the purchase orders with a supplier update to look at: a reply waiting for your decision, or a confirmation, shipment, failed delivery or link request you have not seen yet. It checks again every two minutes while the tab is open, so you can see there is something to triage without opening the page. ### To buy **"Running low"** lists stock at or below its reorder point, and only shows while there is some. **"Suggested orders"** follows it. A suggestion can be turned into a draft purchase order with **"Convert to draft PO"**, or set aside with **"Dismiss suggestion"**. Dismissing asks why, so the reason is recorded rather than the suggestion simply vanishing. ### Orders **"Orders"** lists the purchase orders. **"New purchase order"** creates one. When there are none, the tab distinguishes **"No purchase orders yet"** from **"No purchase orders match"**, so a filter that has hidden everything does not look like an empty account. A row whose supplier has answered carries a **"Supplier reply"** badge next to its status. Opening the order clears it, unless a reply still waits for your decision. #### Sending an order to the supplier On a draft, **"Send to supplier"** emails the order. Add up to five addresses: each person gets their own private link to the order page and the purchase order as a PDF. Choose the language of the email and the page, the address supplier replies go to, and an optional message. **"What your supplier sees"** previews the email in the chosen language and lists what the supplier can and cannot see: they see the order, its dates, ship-to address and notes, never your stock, sales or other suppliers. Sending also marks the order as sent. The link opens the order page at `/supplier/po`, which needs no Horizon account: the secret in the link is the supplier's only credential, so it reaches whoever holds it until it expires or you revoke it. **"Mark as sent"** only changes the status, for an order you sent another way. **"PDF"** downloads the purchase order at any time. On a sent order, **"Send to supplier"** is still there: sending again to an address replaces the link it had. Links stop working after the number of days shown in the form, and you can revoke one at any time. #### What the supplier can do The link opens a page on the supplier's phone or computer, with no account and no password. They can confirm the order, suggest other quantities, prices or a ready date, say they cannot accept it, and add shipping details with lot numbers and packing lists. Nothing they suggest changes the order until you approve it. #### The Supplier panel A sent order shows a **"Supplier"** panel in its drawer, with one badge saying where the supplier stands, or how much has shipped once goods have left. - A proposal or a refusal appears under **"Needs your decision"**, with what approving would change: subtotal, ready date and expected arrival, then each changed line. **"Set a different date"** lets you choose the expected arrival yourself. - The decision sits at the bottom of the drawer: **"Approve changes"** or **"Keep original order"** for a proposal, **"Cancel PO"** or **"Keep PO open"** for a refusal. **"Tell the supplier by email"** sends them the outcome, with the updated PDF after an approval. You can add a note. - Shipments the supplier recorded show their carrier, tracking, lots and packing lists to download. - **"Recipients"** lists every link with its state, and offers **"Resend"** and **"Revoke"**. **"Share a link"** creates a link to paste into WhatsApp or WeChat instead of an email: copy it straight away, it is shown only once. - **"Activity"** keeps the history: who did what and when, with the supplier's browser and IP address behind each entry. #### Receiving goods A sent order offers two ways to book what arrives, both in its drawer: **"Receive items"**, a form, and **"Receive by scan"**, a screen made for a phone in the warehouse. Both record a partial or full receipt the same way, so the stock, the order's status and the supplier's record follow as usual. **"Receive by scan"** lists the order's lines with how many of each have been received and how many are still to count. To count a unit: - press **"Start camera"** and point it at the product's barcode. Each scan counts one unit; move the item away and back to count the next identical one, so holding one item in view never counts it twice; - or use a handheld scanner, which types the code and presses Enter; - or type the code in **"Type or scan a code"** and press **"Add"**. A code matches a line by its barcode (EAN, UPC or GTIN, including the GS1 code on a case label) or by the supplier's SKU. A code that is not on the order says so, and a line never counts past what it still has to come. The plus and minus buttons on each line correct a count by hand. Nothing reaches your stock until you press **"Save receipt"**, which shows how many units it will book. Leaving with **"Back"** keeps nothing. On a computer, **"Open on your phone"** shows a QR code. Scan it with your phone's camera app to open the same order's scan screen there, with the phone's camera. Without a camera, or when the browser refuses it, the screen says so and the scanner and typed code still work. ### Incoming **"Incoming"** lists every line that a sent purchase order still owes, soonest first. Each row shows the expected date (**"Late"** or **"Today"** when it applies), what is still to come after a partial receipt, where it is going, the order and its supplier, and its state: **"Ordered"**, **"Shipped"** or **"Partly received"**. A row opens its purchase order on **"Orders"**. #### Inbound from Business Central When Business Central is connected and its feed has synced, **"Inbound from Business Central"** follows underneath: your open Business Central purchase orders, beside your own, rather than in a separate section. The heading says how many there are and when they were last synced. The table shows **"BC order"**, **"Vendor"**, **"BC status"**, **"Next expected"** and **"Outstanding"**. Expand a row to see its item lines, each with what was ordered, received and is outstanding, its expected date, and **"Not matched to a product yet"** when the item is not linked to one of your products. The status uses Business Central's own words: **"Released"**, **"Not released"** or **"Pending approval"**. Only a released order is counted as incoming stock; the others are recorded but not counted. You can filter by status, show **"Only orders still owing stock"**, and search by order number or vendor. These rows are read-only. There is nothing to create, receive or cancel here: the order belongs to Business Central, and its receipts reach your stock through the Business Central sync, so receiving it here would count the stock twice. A completed order drops out of the list. See [Connect Business Central](/app/connect-business-central). ### Rules **"Rules"** is where the reorder rules that generate suggestions are set. Reorder points on stock rows feed them. See [Inventory, batches and locations](/app/inventory-and-warehouse).