Vendors
Vendors are the suppliers your company buys from. A vendor record holds the supplier's contact details, currency, opening balance and addresses, and becomes the centre of everything else in purchasing — purchase orders, bills, payments and credits are all attached to a vendor.
The Purchase menu (and this item) only appears if your company has the Purchase module enabled and your role has the View Vendor permission.
What a vendor record holds
Each vendor has account details, financial details and addresses, plus sub-sections for contacts, notes, purchase orders, bills, payments and a history log.
How to add a vendor
- Go to Purchase → Vendors.
- Click Add Vendor.
- Fill in the Account Details and Other Details (see the field table below).
- Optionally add a Billing Address and Shipping Address.
- Save using one of the buttons:
- Save — saves the vendor and returns to the list.
- Save & Add More — saves and immediately reopens a blank form so you can add another vendor.
Vendor fields
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Contact Name | Yes | The main person you deal with at the vendor. |
| Category | No | Group vendors (e.g. "Hardware", "Services"). Use the Add button beside it to create a category on the fly. |
| Company Name | No | The vendor's business name. |
| No | Used when emailing purchase orders and bills. | |
| Phone | No | |
| Website | No | |
| Opening Balance | No | Any balance already owed to/from the vendor when you start. Defaults to 0. |
| Currency | No | The currency you transact with this vendor in. Defaults to your company currency. Drives the currency on this vendor's orders, bills and payments. |
| Billing Address | No | |
| Shipping Address | No |
Tip: Set the vendor's Currency correctly before creating purchase orders or bills — those documents inherit the vendor's currency.
The vendor detail page
Open any vendor to see a dashboard with a payments graph and balance summary cards (total billed, total paid, total credits, credits used and unused credit). It is organised into tabs:
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Overview | Account details and balance summary. |
| Contacts | Additional contact people at the vendor (see Vendor contacts). |
| Purchase Orders | All purchase orders raised to this vendor. |
| Bills | All bills from this vendor. |
| Payments | All payments made to this vendor. |
| Notes | Internal notes about this vendor (see Vendor notes). |
| History | A combined timeline of vendor, order, bill, payment and credit events. |
Vendor categories
Categories let you group vendors. From the Add/Edit Vendor form, click Add next to the Category field to open the category manager. Each category has a single field — Category Name. In the manager you can rename a category inline or delete it.
Vendor contacts
A vendor can have several contact people. On the vendor's Contacts tab, click Add Contact and fill in:
| Field | Required |
|---|---|
| Title | No |
| Contact Name | Yes |
| Yes | |
| Phone | No |
Managing vendor contacts requires the Manage Vendor Contact permission.
Vendor notes
The Notes tab keeps internal notes about a vendor. Click Create Note and fill in:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Note Title | Required. |
| Note Type | Public (default) or Private. |
| Note Detail | Rich-text body. |
| Employee | (Private notes only) Choose which employees can see the note. |
| Ask to re-enter password | (Private notes only) Forces the viewer to re-enter their own login password before the note opens. |
When a note is password-protected, clicking it opens a Verify Password prompt. Enter your own account password to reveal the note.
Permissions
| Action | Permission |
|---|---|
| See the Vendors list and detail pages | View Vendor |
| Add a vendor | Add Vendor |
| Edit a vendor | Edit Vendor (all, or only vendors you added) |
| Delete a vendor | Delete Vendor |
| Add/edit/delete vendor contacts | Manage Vendor Contact |
How vendors connect to the rest of purchasing
A vendor is the anchor for the whole purchase flow:
- Purchase Orders are raised to a vendor.
- A Bill records what a vendor has invoiced you (created from a purchase order).
- Vendor Payments pay off a vendor's open bills.
- Vendor Credits track amounts a vendor owes you, which can be applied to that vendor's bills.
See the individual articles for each of these.