A purchase credit memo in Business Central is the document used to reverse a vendor invoice – whether returning goods, correcting an error, or applying a vendor credit note. This guide covers how to use Copy Document to create a purchase credit memo from a posted purchase invoice quickly and accurately.
Why Use Copy Document for a Purchase Credit Memo
When items arrive from a vendor and some need to go back, you need a purchase credit memo. This can happen due to damage, a mistake, or a change in plans. The slow way is to open a blank document, select the vendor, and retype every item line by hand. This takes time and creates room for errors.
Business Central has a faster way. The Copy Document action pulls the lines from a posted purchase invoice directly onto the new purchase credit memo. Specifically, you choose the source document, click OK, and all the items and prices appear on the new document at once. So instead of retyping, you verify and adjust.
Additionally, the same approach works on a purchase return order – not just on a purchase credit memo. The dialog and the steps are identical. So if your process uses return orders instead of credit memos, the same feature applies. In this video, the example uses a credit memo.
Overall, this feature is most useful when the credit covers all or most of the original invoice. Instead of going through the invoice line by line and finding each item code, you get the full list in seconds. Furthermore, the comment line Business Central adds tells the vendor exactly which invoice the credit relates to.
Think about a vendor invoice with 15 or 20 lines – different items, codes, and prices. With Copy Document, you do not need to look up each item. Instead, you click a few buttons and the whole invoice comes in. Then you remove lines that do not apply to the return. In short, the work goes from minutes to seconds.
Setting Up a New Purchase Credit Memo
To start, open the Purchase Credit Memos page in Business Central. Click New to create a blank document. Then select the vendor in the Buy-from Vendor field. Business Central then fills in the vendor details from the card.
Next, go to the Prepare menu in the ribbon. There you find the Copy Document action. Click it and the dialog opens. Business Central remembers the last settings used, so check both the document type and the document number before proceeding.
Using the Copy Document Dialog
Selecting the Source Document
In the dialog, set Document Type to Posted Invoice. The list also shows other document types – quotes, orders, return orders, and archived documents – but for this scenario you copy from a past invoice. After that, use the lookup on Document No. to find the right one.
In the lookup, filter by vendor to show only invoices from that vendor. Sort the results by date. In this example, the vendor items to return are not from the most recent invoice but from the one before it. Select that invoice and close the lookup. The document number fills in the dialog.
Include Header and Recalculate Lines
The dialog has two checkboxes. Leave Include Header unchecked to keep the current vendor header on the new document. Checking it would copy the header from the source invoice – including its date and payment terms – over to the new document.
Leave Recalculate Lines unchecked to bring in the lines exactly as they were on the source invoice. For a vendor return, you almost always want the original prices – the ones you actually paid. Checking this option would apply the current prices instead, which may differ. So for a return or credit scenario like this one, leave both unchecked. Then click OK.
What Comes In on the Purchase Credit Memo
After clicking OK, all the lines from the posted invoice appear on the purchase credit memo. Items, amounts, and prices come across as they were. Business Central also adds a comment line that names the source invoice. So the vendor can see exactly which invoice the credit relates to.
If the original invoice had a line with a zero amount – for example, if only part of the items were invoiced at the time – that line comes in as zero as well. Specifically, the copy reflects the source document exactly.
From here, the document works like any other purchase credit memo. If the return only covers part of the original order, adjust the amounts on the relevant lines. Additionally, you can remove lines that do not apply to the return. Then post the document when it is ready.
If you need to add a note for the vendor, you can do that too. Business Central lets you add free-text comment lines on any document. So besides the auto-generated comment line from Copy Document, you can add your own note with more detail about the reason for the return.
Purchase Credit Memo vs. Purchase Return Order
Copy Document works the same way on a purchase return order. The dialog, the options, and the result are identical. The difference is in the document type you open at the start.
Use a purchase credit memo when you want to issue the credit directly without logging the physical return. Use a purchase return order when your warehouse needs to confirm the goods went back to the vendor before the credit is processed. In both cases, Copy Document saves the same amount of time on line entry.
Moreover, both document types produce the same financial result when posted: the vendor credit is recorded and accounts payable is updated. The choice comes down to whether your process tracks the physical return separately. Notably, your company may already have a standard for which document to use – check with your team if you are not sure about it.
Wrapping Up: Copy Document for Purchase Credits
Using Copy Document to create a purchase credit memo in Business Central speeds up the process of handling vendor returns and billing fixes. Instead of retyping lines from a past invoice, you pull them in with a few clicks and adjust only what applies to the return. The recalculation option gives you control over whether prices are carried over from the original or recalculated based on current vendor prices. Choosing the right setting here prevents discrepancies between what was invoiced and what the credit reflects.
In short, this approach saves time, keeps the lines accurate, and gives both you and the vendor a clear link between the credit and the original invoice. The comment line on the document handles that automatically – no separate note or email is needed. Overall, knowing how to use this feature on the purchase side is as valuable as using it on the sales side. Both follow the same steps and produce the same clean, fully auditable result.
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