In Tightly, we provide a structured flow that helps you manage every stage of your purchase orders — from drafting and editing, to sending, confirming, shipping, and final delivery. This ensures you always stay in control of your supplier communications, costs, and inventory updates.
1. Drafted Status
When you first create a purchase order in Tightly, it starts in Drafted status.
In this state, you can still:
Add or remove products.
Update quantities.
Adjust unit costs (e.g., if your supplier offers credits or discounts for larger quantities).
Add comments or notes for your supplier.
Plan Deliveries: You can now map out expected delivery dates and quantities while the PO is still in the drafting stage. This allows you to split a large order into multiple scheduled arrivals (e.g., monthly or quarterly).
💡 Tip: Planning your deliveries during the draft stage ensures your supplier is aligned with your schedule before the order is locked.
This flexibility allows you to finalize all details before sending it. For example, if an item usually costs $5 but your supplier reduces it to $3 for bulk orders, you can update the unit cost directly in the draft.
💡 Tip: When you update the unit cost in a drafted purchase order, the change applies only to that purchase order. It does not update the product’s standard price in your catalog - the information stays specific to the PO level.
Once everything looks correct, you’re ready to send it.
2. Sending a Purchase Order
You have two options to send a purchase order to your supplier:
a. Send via Email (Basic, Grow, Pro and Enterprise Plans)
If you have connected your email account to Tightly, you can send purchase orders directly from the platform.
Click Send to Supplier → an email overlay will appear with the purchase order automatically attached.
The message will be pre-filled, so all you need to do is review and click Send.
b. Download as PDF or CSV
You can download the purchase order as a PDF or CSV file.
The PDF includes all important details: supplier info, invoice address, your details, line items, comments, and any additional costs.
You can share the file with your supplier through your preferred communication method.
3. Confirmed Status
Once your supplier confirms the purchase order, you can move it to Confirmed status.
At this stage:
The order is locked.
You can no longer add/remove products or update unit costs.
This ensures your team cannot accidentally modify it after agreement with your supplier.
Delivery Schedule is locked: The "Expected Quantities" for your planned deliveries -if exists - are now fixed to ensure accuracy.
Confirmed status acts as a safeguard - ensuring order accuracy and avoiding misunderstandings.
4. Shipped Status
When the supplier ships your order, update the status to Shipped.
This makes it easier for you and your teammates to track progress.
If you are connected with a 3PL, Tightly can automatically fetch shipment updates and sync the status.
5. Delivered Status
Once items start arriving, you record them using one of two delivery types:
Planned Deliveries: Update the "Delivered Quantity" on the schedules you created during the Drafted stage. (Note: If a date is in the past, you must update the expected date before recording the arrival).
Instant Deliveries: For unexpected shipments or early arrivals not originally in your plan, use the Add Delivery button to record these ad-hoc deliveries.This ensures full visibility over partial and complete deliveries.
Additional Features in Purchase Order Management
Subtotal & Additional Costs
At the top of the order details table, you’ll see the subtotal, additional costs, and order totalvalue.
You can add extra costs (e.g., shipping fees, handling costs) by clicking the pen icon next to Additional Costs.
Adding Comments
Click Add Comment to include important notes for your supplier.
Comments are saved, editable, and will appear in the purchase order PDF.
Customized Purchase Order PDFs
Any additional costs or comments you add are included in the exported PDF.
This allows you to provide a clear, professional document with all relevant details for your supplier.
Summary
The purchase order management flow in Tightly is designed to be simple, structured, and reliable.
Drafted: Edit freely until ready.
Confirmed: Lock for accuracy.
Shipped: Track supplier fulfillment.
Delivered: Record arrivals and update stock.
With customizable PDFs, comment fields, and cost adjustments, you can ensure each order is accurate, transparent, and easy to manage - all in one place.