Cloning a Purchase Invoice
CityClean’s bill looks the same every month. Instead of retyping it, open last month’s invoice, click Clone with Lines, change the dates and reference, post — done in under a minute. This article covers what cloning copies, what it deliberately doesn’t, and when a recurring template is the better tool.
Access you'll need. Creating, editing, and posting the copy requires the Accounts Payable v2 permission set (AP clerks & managers) or Accounting Admin v2 (system administrators). The Accounting Controller v2, Accounts Receivable v2, and Read Only v2 sets can view but not create or post.
How it works
Open the invoice you want to repeat and click Clone with Lines
The button sits in the record's header — available whatever the status, because cloning reads the original without touching it. Even voided documents can be cloned, which is exactly how you reissue one that was cancelled by mistake.
Review the pre-filled copy
A new draft opens with everything carried over — vendor, entity, type, description, and every line with its product, GL account, quantities, prices and cost centers — and the things that must be fresh left for you: the new dates, and a new reference. The copy gets its own document number when saved; nothing links it to the original’s payments or history.
Adjust, then Save Draft or Post
Change the invoice date, the vendor’s new bill number in Reference, and any amounts that differ this time — then post when ready. From here it is an ordinary invoice with an ordinary lifecycle.
What carries over — and what starts fresh
| Carried over from the original | Fresh on the copy |
|---|---|
| Entity, vendor and Invoice Type | Document number — assigned from the entity's document sequence when the copy saves |
| Description and the Reference text (to be replaced) | Status — always Draft, fully editable, regardless of the original's status |
| Every line: product, GL account, description, quantity, unit price, discount, tax profile, cost center | Dates — you set the new Invoice Date (which drives the accounting period) and Due Date |
| Nothing else — and that's the point | History — no accounting entries, no payments or applications, no PO match, no approval decision, no audit trail but its own |
Tax and withholding behave the same way as on any draft: the form shows a live preview while you edit the copy, but the stored amounts and their supporting records are written when the copy posts — nothing is inherited from the original's posting.
A worked minute at Meridian
CityClean's janitorial bill is the classic case. March's invoice MPI001008 — $2,200, posted and paid — is on file. When the next month's paper bill arrives, the accountant opens MPI001008, clicks Clone with Lines, and on the fresh draft changes exactly three things: the Invoice Date to the date on the new bill, the Due Date it implies, and the Reference to CityClean's new invoice number. The $2,200 line, its GL account and its cost center ride over untouched. Post — done. The copy books in its own period (July 2026 onward, since Meridian's books are closed through June), carries its own number, and starts its own life in aging and payment runs.
The copy still has to pass every check
Cloning skips the typing, not the controls. When the copy posts, it faces the same gates as a from-scratch invoice — including these, verbatim:
| The message | What it means on a clone |
|---|---|
| "Invoice Date must fall within the selected Accounting Period date range." | You changed the date but the period didn't follow — reselect the period or fix the date. |
| "Due date cannot be before the invoice date. Please review the payment terms and due date." | The copied due date predates your new invoice date — set the real one from the vendor's bill. |
| "GL Account is inactive and cannot receive new postings. Select an active account or reactivate this one." | The original was fine then — but a cloned line can point at an account that has since been retired. Pick the live successor. |
| "Entity is inactive and cannot receive new transactions. Select an active entity or contact your administrator to reactivate it." | Same idea at company level — old documents can reference entities that no longer transact. |
Good uses
- Near-identical monthly bills — same vendor, same lines, new month.
- Reissuing after a void — clone the voided invoice, fix what was wrong, post the corrected copy.
- A template you tweak — one vendor, many properties: clone and change the cost center.
Common mistakes to avoid
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Posting with the copied Reference | Two invoices claim the same vendor bill number — duplicate checks and vendor statements both mislead | Always replace it with the new bill's number before posting |
| Leaving the old cost center on a "template" clone | The cost lands on the wrong property or department and every dimensional report inherits the error | Make the cost center change part of your clone routine |
| Cloning monthly instead of using a template | Every month depends on someone remembering — and on picking the right original | Set up a recurring template once; let the system generate each period's document |
| Expecting the clone of a PO-billed invoice to be matched | The copy has no PO link — posted unmatched, it skips the three-way controls entirely | Re-match the copy with Match Purchase Order before posting |
Who can clone
Cloning follows the same boundary as creating any Purchase Invoice (see Access you'll need above). The Clone with Lines action creates a new document, so a view-only role can open and read any invoice but cannot clone it.
Where to go next
- Creating a Purchase Invoice — the from-scratch route.
- Recurring PI & PO Templates — for true repetition.
Frequently asked questions
No — the copy starts its own life as a draft and goes through whatever approval your organization requires, like any new document.
None — the clone is just a draft. Delete it. The original is never affected by cloning.
Cloning copies the document’s own content, not its settlement relationships. Re-match the copy to a purchase order if it bills one — the match must be validated against current received quantities anyway.
The line setup that produces them — tax profiles, amounts, the vendor — is copied, and the form previews the result live while you edit. The stored amounts and their supporting records are written when the copy itself posts, calculated from the rules in force on its date, not the original's.
Yes — cloning reads the original without touching it, whatever its status. Posted, paid, even voided invoices all clone cleanly; the original's entries, payments and history are never affected.
No — the clone faithfully copies last month's quantities and prices, and it has no way to know the vendor raised them. Reading the new paper bill line by line is your job; the clone only saves the typing.
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