How to Create a Purchase Order Form with Google Forms

Morgan Hopkins, Customer Success Manager

Last Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Purchase orders are one of the most common business forms, yet many organizations still manage them through email chains, paper forms, or expensive procurement software. Google Forms offers a free, fast way to build a professional purchase order form — and with the right add-on, you can add the approval chain that makes it a complete procurement workflow.

Building the Purchase Order Form

A good purchase order form captures everything the approver needs to make a decision. Here's a recommended structure:

Section 1: Requester Information

• Full name (short answer, required)
• Department (dropdown: Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Operations, etc.)
• Manager's email address (short answer with email validation, required)

Section 2: Purchase Details

• Item description (paragraph, required)
• Quantity (short answer with number validation)
• Estimated unit cost (short answer with number validation)
• Total estimated cost (short answer with number validation)
• Vendor/Supplier name (short answer)
• Vendor website or quote (file upload or URL field)

Section 3: Justification

• Business justification (paragraph, required — why is this purchase needed?)
• Budget code or cost center (short answer or dropdown)
• Urgency (dropdown: Standard, Urgent, Critical)
• Preferred delivery date (date picker)

Setting Up the Form in Google Forms

1. Go to forms.google.com and create a new blank form
2. Title it "Purchase Order Request" and add a description explaining the process and expected turnaround time
3. Add the fields listed above, using sections to organize them logically
4. Use response validation where appropriate — for example, restrict the email field to valid email format, and number fields to positive numbers
5. Go to Settings > Responses and enable Collect email addresses so the submitter can be notified when the order is approved
6. Link the form to a Google Sheet by clicking the green Sheets icon in the Responses tab — this becomes your purchase order log

Prefer to skip the manual setup? The AI Form + Workflow Builder can generate a purchase order form with approval routing in seconds — just describe your requirements.

The Missing Piece: Approval Routing

At this point, you have a clean purchase order form that feeds into a spreadsheet. But in most organizations, a purchase order isn't just a form — it needs to be approved before the purchase can proceed. This is where Google Forms falls short: there's no native way to route the submission to a manager for approval.

Common workarounds people try:

• Email notification to form owner: The form owner gets notified but has to manually forward to the right manager, then manually track the response
• Shared spreadsheet: Managers check a shared spreadsheet and add their approval in a column — but there's no notification, no enforcement, and no audit trail
• Google Apps Script: Custom code can send emails, but requires development effort, ongoing maintenance, and doesn't scale

Adding Approval Routing with Form Approvals

The Form Approvals add-on solves this cleanly:

1. Install the Form Approvals add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace
2. Open the add-on from the puzzle piece icon in your form
3. Add the "Manager's email" field as a dynamic recipient — this means the submission will be routed to whoever the submitter specifies as their manager
4. Optionally add a second approver (e.g., finance team) for multi-step approval
5. Click Save — your purchase order workflow is live

What Happens When a Purchase Order Is Submitted

1. The employee submits the purchase order form
2. The employee receives a confirmation email acknowledging their request
3. The manager receives an email containing the full purchase order details, with Approve and Reject buttons
4. The manager reviews and clicks Approve or Reject
5. The employee receives a notification with the outcome
6. The linked Google Sheet is updated with the approval status, approver, timestamp, and any comments

Using the Spreadsheet as Your Purchase Order Log

With Form Approvals, your linked Google Sheet becomes a complete purchase order log. Each row contains the request details plus approval status columns added by the add-on. You can use array formulas to create summary calculations — total approved spend by department, pending orders by value, average approval time, and more.

Get Started

Build your purchase order workflow in minutes with Google Forms + Form Approvals. Free to start with 20 responses per month, no credit card required. View pricing or get started today.