Sales orders

A sales order confirms what a customer has agreed to buy before you invoice it. It sits between a Quote and an Invoice and has no accounting effect. Use sales orders when your business confirms orders first and bills later (for example on delivery), or when you want every invoice to come from an approved order.

Turn sales orders on

Sales orders are optional. They appear only when your plan includes them and the organization setting Require sales orders before invoicing is on (SolaCount setup → sales options; see Settings).

When the setting is on:

• Sales → Documents → Sales Orders appears in the sidebar.
• An approved quote converts to a sales order (not directly to an invoice). Direct quote-to-invoice conversion is refused with "Sales Orders are required before invoicing this quote."

When it is off, quotes convert straight to invoices and the menu item is hidden.

Where to find it

• Sidebar: Sales → Documents → Sales Orders.
• URL: /ar/sales-orders; new order at /ar/sales-orders/create.

The list

Columns: Sales Order No., Customer, Issue date, Status and Total (a saved view can also show the expected date). Search by order number or customer, filter by status, customer and date, save custom views, and click New Sales Order (top-right).

Status lifecycle

Create a sales order

You can create one directly or convert an approved quote (Convert to Sales Order on the quote).

1. Click New Sales Order.

2. Fill in:

   Field	Required	Notes
   Customer	Yes	The first field, and the only customer field: search or add a new customer. The order stores just the customer; there is no separate name box.
   Issue date	Yes	Defaults to today.
   Sales Order No.	—	Auto-generated (default prefix SO-).
   Price List	No	When advanced pricing is on.
   Currency	Yes	An enabled currency; a foreign currency shows its exchange rate.
   Project	No	When project tracking is on. A project can be created from the selector without leaving the form.

3. Add lines (Add line): item or description, qty, price, discount, tax. Only active items that are available for sale are offered. Choose Excl. tax / Incl. tax and an optional Document Discount — Before Tax. Quantities and prices read the way you typed them (6, 1,200.00), including when you reopen a draft to edit.

4. Add Notes and Terms (below the lines, beside the totals).

5. Click Save. The order is saved as Draft.

Creating and editing use the same layout: the header card with a back button, the form, and a footer with Cancel and Save. Errors appear in one box titled "Please fix the errors below."

Only drafts can be edited ("Only draft sales orders can be edited.").

Approve, send and convert

The order page has the actions in the top-right action bar (more under More Actions):

1. Approve — confirm. The order becomes Approved ("Only draft sales orders can be approved." otherwise).
2. Send Email — available once approved. Fill To, Recipient name, Subject (defaults to Sales Order SO-…), CC, BCC, Message (optional), tick Attach PDF (if available) and click Queue Email. The email includes a secure Customer Portal button. Sent emails are listed under Email History.
3. Convert to Invoice — confirm. SolaCount creates a draft invoice with the order's customer, currency, lines, prices, taxes and discounts, and the order becomes Invoiced. Open the invoice and post it. Only approved orders can be converted ("Only approved sales orders can be converted.").
4. Cancel — any order that is not invoiced ("Invoiced sales orders cannot be canceled.").
5. Record a payment — opens a customer payment for the order's customer. It is shown only to users who may create customer payments.
6. PDF / Print — the order as a PDF using your template.

The page also shows the Timeline (created, approved, email queued, converted, cancelled) and links to the quote it came from and the invoice it produced.

Worked example

Al Noor Trading LLC accepts a quote for 6 workstation desks (AED 7,200) and installation (AED 800), VAT 5%.

1. The approved quote is converted to sales order SO-… — total AED 8,400 (8,000 + 400 VAT). Status Draft.
2. Your sales manager clicks Approve, then Send Email to confirm the order to the customer.
3. After delivery you click Convert to Invoice. A draft invoice for AED 8,400 is created; the order shows Invoiced.
4. You post the invoice. Only now is there an accounting entry:

Sales orders never appear in A/R aging or VAT returns; the invoice does.

A second example: billing an order in stages

Gulf Star Trading orders a fit-out for AED 20,000 + 5% VAT (AED 21,000.00 total). You agree to bill in two stages, so you create two sales orders, SO-0112 for the first stage (AED 12,000.00 + VAT 600.00 = AED 12,600.00) and SO-0113 for the second (AED 8,000.00 + VAT 400.00 = AED 8,400.00). Approve both, then convert SO-0112 when stage one is delivered:

SO-0113 stays Approved with no accounting effect until stage two is delivered and converted. If the customer cancels stage two you simply Cancel SO-0113; the first invoice is untouched.

Permissions

By default the Owner has all of these. The Sales role can view, create, edit, send and convert orders but not approve or cancel them (see Roles and permissions). Manager cannot approve, convert or cancel sales orders by default, and the Accountant role can create, edit, send, approve and convert but not cancel — the owner can change this per role. If approval workflows cover sales orders, sending, editing and cancelling need a current approval.

Tips

• Use the order as the customer's confirmation; send it after approving.
• Convert per delivery: if you bill in stages, create one order per stage.
• To change an approved order, cancel it and create a new one.

Related

• Quotes · Invoices · Customers
• Send a document to a customer · Settings