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Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
Suggested Answer

Using External Document Number in Purchase Invoice

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Posted on by 203

Hey Everyone.

I have a client who would like to use same specific number to issue purchase invoices in a purchase journal and I have tried putting that number in an External Document No. but the system doesn't allow me to post an invoice to the same vendor with same number. For instance, I want to create two separate purchase invoices in a purchase journal and post them and continue to create purchase invoices with that specific number every month. The invoice # can be different but I need to have that specific number show up when I run the Vendor report. Any suggestions?

Practical Example is shown below as a snapshot:

Document Type          Document No.          External Document No.                Account Type                     Account No.                             Amount

Invoice                        PIN000123               012432                                         Vendor                               Vendor Name 1                       $500.00

Post this invoice and start second invoice.

Document Type          Document No.          External Document No.                Account Type                     Account No.                             Amount

Invoice                        PIN000124               012432                                         Vendor                               Vendor Name 1                       $20.00

Post Invoice

I would like to pay the second invoice PIN000124  and next month start another invoice with same External No. and pay that, so basically the first invoice stays open and the following ones will be issued and paid.

Is there any alternatives? I tried removing the number series and perform manual entry but that didn't work either. 

I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Teddy Herryanto (That NAV Guy) Profile Picture
    14,302 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    To have unique number, you can do a suffix -1, -2, -3, etc on the external document no, such as 012432-1, 012432-2, 012432-3.

    You will be able to link them all together quite easily.

  • Aneeq Profile Picture
    203 on at

    I had thought of it but that wouldn't cut it for them unfortunately. I was going to use the month and date after the 6 digit number (123456-202004) but they don't want to complicate things in the future in case a user doesn't follow the steps correctly.

  • Suggested answer
    Teddy Herryanto (That NAV Guy) Profile Picture
    14,302 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    the other alternative is to create an extension to change the standard behavior, or to add a new field for it.

  • Aneeq Profile Picture
    203 on at

    I have also thought about it and consulted a colleague regarding it. He said that the field we will create would need to take the data I put in to vendor table etc. which is a lengthy process. Do you concur?

  • Suggested answer
    Teddy Herryanto (That NAV Guy) Profile Picture
    14,302 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    It depends how far do you want to take the customization. It could go from 30 mins to 3 days if you want to go crazy.

  • Aneeq Profile Picture
    203 on at

    Hey Teddy.

    I really appreciate your input as we try to find alternatives to this problem and i am sure this will help other consultants down the road.

    Anyway, I will tell you where exactly I would like to see the 6 digit number. Once I issue the invoice and I make a payment, I would be going to Vendors -> Report -> General -> Vendor Account Detail and I will preview the invoices and payments in that report. I would like to see the External Document No. there with the amount associated with it.  

    It turns out I can use same External Document No. in payment journal for any invoice but I can't do that in purchase journal. So if I create a field in Purchase Journal, then I presume I need to create another extension for the Vendor Account Detail Report and call that value somehow?

  • Suggested answer
    John Ray Patajo Profile Picture
    837 on at

    Hi Aneeg,

    Purchase Invoice, and Purchase Journal has a Document Type invoice on the Vendor Ledger entries and it validates the External Document No.

    It has to be  a development customization to remove or overide the restriction of entering the same external document no. for it to be reflected on the reports concerning the field.

    Regards.

    Don't forget to help the community by verifying the answer if your question has been answered. It will let others know that the topic has a verified answer.

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