How to Use Google Forms for Purchase Orders and Requisitions

Blogs How to Use Google Forms for Purchase Orders and Requisitions

Morgan Hopkins

Mar 10, 2026

You can turn Google Forms into a purchase order system that auto-generates branded PO documents and routes notifications to the right department head using the Fast Forms add-on. This guide covers the full setup: building the PO form, creating a branded purchase order template with data markers, configuring a Google Sheets lookup table to route notifications by department, and sending personalized emails with the completed PO document attached.

Purchase orders are one of the most common business documents, yet many small and mid-sized organizations still manage them through email chains, shared Word documents, or manual data entry into accounting software. The result is inconsistent formatting, lost requests, and no centralized record of what was ordered, by whom, and when. Google Forms solves the data capture side by giving you a structured, mobile-friendly submission experience that automatically logs every entry to a Google Sheet. Fast Forms solves the document and notification side by generating a professionally formatted PO document and delivering it to the correct person, all triggered automatically by the form submission.

Step 1: Build Your Purchase Order Form

Create a new Google Form at forms.new and title it something like "Purchase Order Request." Add the following questions to capture all the information typically found on a purchase order:

Requestor Name — Short answer text. The name of the person submitting the purchase request.
Requestor Email — Use the built-in "Collect email addresses" setting in your form's Settings tab, or add a short answer question validated as an email. This address is used for both the confirmation notification and the lookup table routing.
Department — Dropdown. Include options like Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Operations, and Finance. This field drives the dynamic routing to the correct department head.
Vendor / Supplier Name — Short answer text. The company or individual the goods or services are being purchased from.
Item Description — Paragraph text. A detailed description of what is being ordered, including quantities, part numbers, or specifications.
Estimated Total Cost — Short answer text (or number validation). The total estimated cost of the purchase in your currency.
Justification / Business Need — Paragraph text. A brief explanation of why the purchase is needed, which helps the department head evaluate the request.
Delivery Date Needed — Date picker. The date by which the goods or services are needed.

After adding your questions, click the Responses tab and link the form to a Google Sheet. This spreadsheet will store every submission and will also hold the lookup table you create in the next step.

Step 2: Create a Branded Purchase Order Template

A purchase order is a formal business document, so it should look professional. Create a Google Doc (or Google Slide) and design it with your company logo, address, and branding. Then insert data markers wherever you want form response data to appear. Data markers match the exact question titles from your form, wrapped in double angle brackets.

Here is an example layout for a PO document template:

PURCHASE ORDER
PO Date: <<Timestamp>>
Requestor: <<Requestor Name>>
Department: <<Department>>
Email: <<Email Address>>
Vendor: <<Vendor / Supplier Name>>
Items: <<Item Description>>
Estimated Total: <<Estimated Total Cost>>
Delivery Needed By: <<Delivery Date Needed>>
Justification: <<Justification / Business Need>>

When a form submission is made, Fast Forms replaces each data marker with the actual response data and generates a completed PO document. You can choose to output the document as a Google Doc or convert it to PDF. The completed document can be attached to the notification email so the department head receives a ready-to-file purchase order. For detailed instructions on building templates, see our guide on how to use Google Forms with document templates.

Step 3: Set Up a Department-to-Approver Lookup Table

To route each purchase order to the correct department head, you need a Google Sheets lookup table. In the Google Sheet linked to your form, add a new sheet tab by clicking the + icon in the bottom left corner. Name it something like "Department Routing."

In Column A, enter each department name exactly as it appears in your form's dropdown options. In Column B, enter the email address of the department head who should receive purchase order notifications for that department. For example:

Column A (Department)	Column B (Department Head)
Sales	vp.sales@company.com
Marketing	director.marketing@company.com
Engineering	vp.engineering@company.com
Operations	ops.manager@company.com
Finance	cfo@company.com

When someone submits a purchase order and selects "Engineering" as the department, Fast Forms looks up "Engineering" in Column A and sends the notification to vp.engineering@company.com. When leadership or department structures change, you update the spreadsheet and the routing updates immediately for all future submissions. For more on setting up lookup tables, see our support article on adding recipients.

Step 4: Configure Fast Forms Notifications

Install the Fast Forms add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace if you have not already. Open your Google Form, refresh the page, and click the puzzle piece icon to launch the add-on.

Add the department head as a dynamic recipient. Click ' Add Dynamic Recipient' and select the Department question. Then click the lookup table icon and select the Department Routing sheet you created in Step 3. Fast Forms will match the selected department to the correct email address at the time of each submission.

Add the requestor as a recipient. To send the requestor a confirmation that their purchase order has been submitted, add another dynamic recipient using the Email Address question without a lookup table. The notification goes directly to the email address the requestor entered.

Personalize each notification. For the department head, use a subject line like "Purchase Order from <<Requestor Name>> — <<Department>>" and include the vendor name, item description, and estimated cost in the email body. For the requestor, write a confirmation like "Your purchase order for <<Vendor / Supplier Name>> has been submitted to your department head for review." See our support article on personalizing notifications for more examples.

Attach the PO document. Select the purchase order template you created in Step 2. Fast Forms will generate the completed PO and attach it to the notification email, giving the department head a professional document they can review, file, or forward to the vendor.

Click Save and submit a test response to verify everything works as expected.

Step 5: Add Routing Conditions for High-Value Orders (Optional)

Many organizations want additional oversight for purchase orders above a certain dollar threshold. With Fast Forms routing conditions, you can add a senior leader (such as the CFO or VP of Operations) as a recipient and set a condition so they are only notified when the estimated total cost exceeds a specific amount.

To set this up, add a new static recipient with the senior leader's email address. Click the routing conditions icon next to that recipient and configure a condition like "Estimated Total Cost is greater than 5000." That recipient will only receive a notification when the purchase order exceeds $5,000. All other submissions are handled by the department head alone. For configuration details, see our support article on adding recipient logic.

Why Google Forms Works for Purchase Orders

Google Forms gives you a clean, consistent way to collect purchase order data without building a custom application. Every submission follows the same structure, so you eliminate the formatting inconsistencies that come from email-based requests. The linked Google Sheet serves as a centralized PO log that you can filter by department, date, vendor, or dollar amount at any time.

Fast Forms adds the two things a purchase order process needs beyond data collection: a professional document and delivery to the right person. The branded PO template gives you a formal document that looks like it came from a dedicated procurement system, and the lookup table routing ensures every request reaches the correct department head without manual intervention.

This setup is significantly more affordable than dedicated procurement software. Google Forms is free. The Fast Forms Free plan supports up to 30 notifications per month. The Individual plan is $4/month billed annually, and the Team plan is $24/month billed annually. With over 4,000,000 installs, Fast Forms is trusted by organizations of all sizes for exactly this kind of business workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I include multiple line items on a single purchase order?
Google Forms does not natively support repeating row entries within a single submission. The simplest approach is to use a paragraph text question where the requestor lists all items, quantities, and prices. Alternatively, you can use Google Forms sections to create a fixed number of item fields (for example, Item 1, Item 2, Item 3) and include each as a data marker in your PO template.

Can I generate the PO as a PDF?
Yes. When configuring the document template in Fast Forms, you can choose to generate the output as a PDF. This is ideal for purchase orders because PDFs are easy to share with vendors and maintain a consistent format regardless of the recipient's device or software.

What if different departments need different PO formats?
Fast Forms uses a single document template per form. If you need substantially different PO formats for different departments, you could create separate Google Forms for each department, each with its own template. For minor variations, you can include all fields in one template and use the data markers to populate department-specific information.

What if purchase orders need manager approval before processing?
If your process requires a formal approval step, we recommend Form Approvals — a dedicated Google Forms add-on for approval workflows built by the same team as Fast Forms. With Form Approvals, a department head or manager can approve or reject the purchase order directly from the notification email with one click. It has over 10,000,000 installs.

How much does this cost?
Google Forms is free. Fast Forms offers a Free plan with up to 30 notifications per month. The Individual plan is $4/month billed annually, and the Team plan is $24/month billed annually. You can start with the Free plan to test and validate the entire setup before upgrading.

Ready to automate your purchase order process?

Install Fast Forms from the Google Workspace Marketplace and start generating branded PO documents with automatic routing. Over 4,000,000 installs and plans starting at Free.