Creating Receiving Docs

Receiving Docs are transactions that show what Items have been shipped by the Vendor and actually received at your location. Receiving Docs usually correspond to Purchase Orders to show how much of the PO still needs to be filled. However, Receiving Docs can be created without Purchase Orders.

Receiving Docs are easily created from Purchase Orders by navigating to the order in question and clicking the Receive button on the tab's toolbar:

You can also create a new Ship Doc from scratch by choosing New Receiving Doc from the Purchasing menu. This can be handy for complimentary items or other situations in which no formal order was placed, yet you are still receiving a shipment from the Vendor and wish to keep track of it.

If created from a Purchase Order, all pertinent information from the PO will be brought in to populate the fields. Otherwise, you have to fill them in manually. Additionally, if your company makes use of bar code scanners to keep track of Items, you can place your cursor in the following text box...

...and scan the Item (s) in. Typing the name of the Item and then pressing Tab also works.

Now, when the shipment physically comes in, that's when you'll want to mark it as having been Received. Once you've marked a shipment as Received, it can no longer be edited.

If you do not use QuickBooks with All Orders, be sure to check the NC Only box above. It allows you to close out a Receiving Doc without recording it in QuickBooks.

In addition to the standard Sales Order information, the Receiving Doc contains a few additional fields such as a Vendor Reference field, the Ship Doc Reference, the number of packages in the shipment, and the total weight of the shipment.

If you have multiple outstanding Purchase Orders with a particular Vendor, and you receive the Items on the different POs as part of one package, it's easy to amalgamate the contents of the various POs by clicking the Add POs button on the tab's toolbar:

A special dialog will open that will allow you select Items from the Vendor's currently outstanding POs by simply checking off the appropriate Item (s) and clicking OK:

At the bottom of the screen, you have your usual Memo information as well as a special total cost field:

Use the Charges field to record all shipping costs charged to you by the Vendor or courier.

To print out the Receiving Log for your records, just use the Print toolbar button. By using its drop-down list, you can print a couple of other reports about the current document:

If the Vendor wishes to be notified when Items are received, you can use the Email button to automatically generate a PDF file of the Receiving Log and attach it to an outgoing email message.

If you are also working with QuickBooks, when the Items are actually received by you, the Receiving Doc needs to be closed out so that quantities can to be added to QuickBooks. This is done by creating an item receipt for the customer. To create an item receipt, just click the Item Receipt toolbar button:

The item receipt for the shipment will then be created from within QuickBooks. If you change your mind and wish to remove the item receipt from QB, you have the option of clicking the Undo Item Receipt button on the toolbar.