Add Prefix to Invoice / Purchase Order

[lawwley]

Hi,

We have recently moved over to Square and are making pretty heavy use of the Estimates, Invoices and Purchase order functionality. It was not a big deal for us that we had to start from 000001, but it is an issue that all of the invoices, estimates and purchase orders use the same numbering system. Is there a way to add a custom suffix or prefix to these codes? Like INV#0001, PO#0001, EST#0001 ?

I havent been able to see anything in the options for it.

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

Hi @lawwley.  I’m going to include a suggestion AND a potential workaround.

First, you need to submit a couple of feature requests here.  One would be submitted to the Invoices Team, for invoices and estimates, requesting that they add a new prefix setting for each of those.  The other would be submitted to the Retail Team, requesting that they add a new prefix setting for purchase orders.  Don’t try to combine these into one feature request, since each area has a different engineering team.  That will just slow things down.

Now, for the possible workaround.  I spent some time in the Invoice/Estimate area of Square and finally came up with something that should work for you, though it won’t be exactly what you asked for.

When you create an estimate or an invoice, the ID numbers for each is a field that can be modified.  You can enter any number you want, and after you create an estimate/invoice it will auto-increment for future invoices.  I did try to add a prefix myself — ie “INV-00000053.”  However that just broke the auto-increment function.  It seems that alpha/special characters cause auto-increment to lose its mind.  Ha.  Anyway, here are the steps.

1. Instead of the prefix INV choose a number like 999.  Remember, don’t use alpha or special characters, just numerals.
2. Using yourself as a customer, create an invoice and number it 9990000001.
3. Save that invoice.
4. Go back and create another invoice.  You should see that the next invoice number is 9990000002, which is what you want.
5. You can just close this window and not create that second invoice.
6. Go back to your list of invoices and cancel the dummy invoice you created for yourself.
7. Do steps 1-6 for estimates, using a number line 888 instead of EST.
8. Now all of your invoices will begin with 999 and all of your estimates will begin with 888.

I don’t use Square for Retail or purchase orders, but I’d imagine that a similar procedure would work for those, using say 777 instead of PO for the prefix.  

Like I said, it’s not perfect or exactly what you asked for.  But while you are waiting on Square to decide if they will add alphabetic prefixes, it should give you what you want for future invoices, estimates and purchase orders.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[lawwley]

Hey, 

Sorry for the delayed reply. Definitiely will give this a go!