Notes (Sales and Purchases)

Select the Note button in Quotes, Sales Orders, Proposals, Sales/Invoicing, Credit Memos, Purchase Order, and Purchases task windows to enter or display comments about the transaction.

The Notes window contains different note tabs depending on which type of transaction the Notes window is opened from. The various note tabs are:

  • Customer Note or Vendor Note: This note prints before or after line items on an invoice-style form. If you do not want the customer or vendor note to print on the form, leave the Note field blank on this tab. You can use the Internal Note tab to enter a note that will not print on forms.
  • Statement Note: This note prints before or after the invoice reference field on a customer statement form . If you do not want a statement note to print on the form, leave the Note field blank on this tab. You can use the Internal Note tab to enter a note that will not print on forms.
  • Tip: If you add a statement note to either a quote or sales order, the note will not print on a statement unless the quote or order is first converted to an invoice.

  • Internal Note: This note is only viewed by your business employees. Internal notes help identify unique aspects of the transaction (for example, processing or collection information). Internal notes cannot be added to customer or vendor forms; however, they can be displayed or printed in reports.
  • Contact Notes: These notes are only viewed by your business employees and they are only available within Notes for sales task windows. The contact notes for the Bill To contact and the Ship To contact on the transaction will display. If there are no notes for these contacts, these fields will be blank. These notes are entered and edited on the Contacts tab in Maintain Customers. You cannot enter or edit them here. These notes will not print on forms.

To enter a note

  • Select the tab for the type of Note you want to enter (tabs described above), and click inside the large text box.

    Note: You cannot enter or edit Contact Notes on the Notes window. They are entered and edited on the Contacts tab in Maintain Customers.

For customer or vendor notes and internal notes, you can enter up to 2,000 characters of text for each type of note. For statement notes, you can enter up to 160 characters of text.

Note: For statement notes, if you enter the full 160 characters, the appearance of the note on the printed statement may not be acceptable because a statement's Reference column is not wide, meaning the note will wrap to a number of additional lines. Therefore, we recommend that you always enter the most succinct statement note possible.

As you type your comment, you do not need to press ENTER at the end of each line; the words will wrap to the next line for you. If you do press ENTER, this action will save the entry and close the Notes window.

Tip: To move to the next line (enter a new paragraph), press CTRL+ENTER.

Notes can also be entered for inventory items and jobs. Tell me more.

In other areas of Sage 50 (such as Events, Time Tickets, and Expense Tickets) internal notes are entered directly in their respective windows. (The Note button is not present.)