If you have a purchase order that you want to recreate exactly as it was, Business Central lets you copy purchase order data from a previous order into a new one in just a few clicks. This guide covers the copy document function on purchase orders, how to use it, and when it saves you the most time.
When You Need to Recreate a Previous Purchase Order
There are many cases where you want a new purchase order that looks exactly like one you made before. For example, you might place a similar order with the same vendor every quarter. Or a previous order was correct and you want to place the same one again without building it from scratch. However, the default approach is to create a new order and re-enter every line by hand.
In fact, for orders with many lines, this is slow and risky. You might miss a line, use the wrong item, or enter the wrong amount. Moreover, these errors can cause issues later – wrong receipts, incorrect payments, or mismatches between what you ordered and what arrived. Business Central gives you a better way: copy the previous order directly.
Overall, this approach is useful any time the previous order was correct and you want to repeat it. The data is already there – all you do is bring it across and adjust if needed.
How to Copy Purchase Order Data with Copy Document
The Copy Document action is available on purchase orders under the Prepare menu in the menu bar. Specifically, when you run it, a pop-up window asks you to choose a document type and select the specific document to copy from. For this task – copying a previous purchase order – set the document type to Order.
Business Central then shows a list of purchase orders for the selected vendor. Additionally, you can filter the list by vendor to see only their orders. Select the order you want to copy and click OK. Business Central then asks two questions: include header details, and recalculate lines?
Indeed, these two checkboxes are easy to overlook. For instance, if you leave Recalculate Lines turned on, Business Central will update prices based on the current price list. If you want the lines exactly as they were on the previous order, uncheck this. Consequently, review both options before you confirm.
Step by Step: How to Copy Purchase Order Lines
Start by creating a new purchase order and selecting the vendor. Then go to the Prepare menu and click Copy Document. In the pop-up, set the document type to Order. Use the three-dot lookup to browse purchase orders for this vendor and select the one you want to copy.
Leave Include Header unchecked – you have already selected the vendor, and you want to set the order date and any other header fields by hand. Leave Recalculate Lines unchecked if you want the exact lines from the previous order. Then click OK.
Include Header and Recalculate Lines
The Include Header option copies vendor details, payment terms, and other header fields from the source order. In most cases, leave this unchecked. You have already selected the vendor on the new purchase order, and you want to enter the date and any other details by hand.
The Recalculate Lines option recalculates prices based on current vendor price lists. If prices have changed since the original order and you want the current ones, turn this on. If you want the exact lines from the previous order, leave it off. Unchecking both options gives you a clean copy of the previous order as it was.
What Gets Copied to the New Order
Once you click OK, Business Central copies all lines from the previous purchase order into the new one. Each item, amount, and unit price copies across. If the original order had ten items, all ten appear on the new order. Furthermore, Business Central adds a comment line showing which order the data came from – for example, Copied from Purchase Order 106004.
From here, you can edit the new order before sending it. However, if the previous order was correct and nothing has changed, you can send it as is. Specifically, the copy step does all the setup work. There is no need to look up item codes, check prices, or re-enter lines from scratch.
Copy Purchase Order vs. Copy Posted Invoice
The Copy Document function works with several document types on the purchase side. For this task – to copy purchase order data – you select Order as the document type. Alternatively, you can copy from a posted invoice, a posted credit memo, or even a purchase quote. The process is the same for all of them.
In addition, the same approach works on purchase invoices and purchase quotes. The Copy Document action is available under the same Prepare menu on all of these documents. Thus, once you learn this workflow on one document type, you can apply it across all purchase documents without learning anything new.
When the Copy Purchase Order Approach Saves the Most Time
Notably, this is most useful when orders are large or complex. For a one-line order, re-entering by hand is quick. For an order with fifteen or twenty lines, copying saves a lot of time and reduces the chance of errors. Furthermore, it is useful when a team member is placing an order that a colleague set up before. They do not need to know every item code – they can copy the previous order and adjust.
For example, suppose your company orders raw materials from a supplier each month. The items and amounts are almost always the same. Instead of creating a new order each time, you copy the last one and update only what has changed. Consequently, this becomes a fast, reliable routine that keeps orders consistent and accurate.
Likewise, if a previous order was rejected or cancelled for a non-item reason – for example, a payment issue – you can copy it and resubmit. You get the same lines without having to start from zero. In short, any time a previous purchase order is a good starting point, Copy Document gets you there in seconds.
It is also worth noting that the copy works even if the original order has been changed or partially received. Business Central copies the lines as they appear in the document at the time you copy. You are free to edit any line after copying – change the amount, remove a line, or add new items. The copy is just a starting point, not a locked version of the original. This gives you full control while still saving the time of building the order from scratch.
Wrapping Up: How to Copy Purchase Order in Business Central
The copy purchase order approach in Business Central removes manual setup from repeat or similar orders. You create a new purchase order, open Copy Document under Prepare, set the document type to Order, select the previous order, uncheck Recalculate Lines, and click OK. Business Central copies all lines across with the correct items, amounts, and prices. The more lines on the original order, the more time this saves.
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