How does Endless number purchase orders, and why might I get a different or duplicate number?

Endless numbers a purchase order from your company’s PO number template when you leave PO Number blank, and every PO number must be unique across all of your purchase orders, including archived ones.

Without a template, numbers look like PO-2026-000123. The counter is the highest number already used in that pattern plus one, counting archived purchase orders and every year, so it does not restart in January. A template can use {YYYY} or {YY} for the year, {MM} or {M} for the month, {WW} or {W} for the week, {DD} or {D} for the day, and one group of # characters for the counter. To set or change the template for your company, contact Endless support. If you type a number that fits the pattern with a higher counter, later numbers continue from it.

The number shown while you create a purchase order is a preview. Endless does not reserve it, so if someone else creates a purchase order first, yours gets the next number when you select “Save Draft & View.” Type a number in the PO Number field if you need a specific one.

“PO number already exists” means another purchase order has that number, even if it is archived. Archived purchase orders do not show in the default list, and discarding a draft archives it. To reuse the number, restore the archived purchase order, give it a different number, and archive it again.

You can change a purchase order’s number after creation. Edit the Purchase Order Details card on the purchase order page and change PO Number. Numbers can use letters, numbers, underscores, hyphens, and periods, up to 50 characters.