What happens when I click No Backorder in Odoo?

Odoo validates the quantities you entered and cancels the rest of the demand on that transfer. The order keeps its original quantity but shows the lower delivered or received figure, and for a customer delivery Odoo also schedules an exception activity on the sales order for its salesperson.

How do I stop Odoo asking about backorders every time?

Open the operation type in Inventory, Configuration, Operations Types and change Create Backorder from Ask to Always or Never. Always creates the backorder without asking; Never cancels the remaining quantity without asking.

Does Odoo invoice the whole order if only part was delivered?

Only if the product's invoicing policy is Ordered quantities. With Delivered quantities, the invoice follows what has actually been delivered, so a partial delivery gives a partial invoice and the backorder is invoiced when it ships.

Backorders in Odoo 19: Partial Deliveries and Receipts

By Sajjal Bajaj · Oct 13, 2026 · 8 min read · Odoo Odoo 19 Setup Inventory Inventory Management Warehouse Management Logistics Distribution

Short answer: in Odoo 19, when you validate a delivery or receipt with less than the demand, Odoo asks whether to Create Backorder (a new transfer for the rest, linked to the original) or No Backorder (the rest is cancelled). Each operation type decides whether Odoo asks, always creates the backorder or never does. On sales orders, the Shipping Policy decides whether the warehouse ships what’s available straight away or waits for everything. What you invoice then depends on the product’s invoicing policy: ordered or delivered quantities.

This is the hands-on guide. For how inbound and outbound flows fit together, start with my explainer on shipping and receiving in Odoo.

Applies to

Odoo version: Odoo 19. I also checked the Odoo 20 documentation, where the operation type and backorder pages read the same. The Odoo 20 code renames the first shipping policy option to As soon as possible, with back orders and turns the default into a company-wide Shipping Policy setting in Inventory that also applies to operation types. The Odoo 20 lead times page also renames Customer Lead Time to Delivery Time.
Edition: Community and Enterprise. Everything here is in the Inventory, Sales and Purchase apps of both.
Apps: Inventory, plus Sales for customer deliveries and Purchase for vendor receipts.

Before you start

Decide your invoicing policy. Odoo 19’s default is Invoice what is ordered (Sales ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings, Invoicing section). That setting only applies to new products; existing products keep the Invoicing Policy on their General Information tab. If you often ship part of an order, Delivered quantities is usually the safer choice.
Check the bill control policy. On a product’s Purchase tab, Control Policy defaults to On received quantities for goods, so vendor bills follow what actually arrived.
Agree who decides. Someone has to choose between a backorder and closing the shortfall. If the answer is always the same for an operation, set it on the operation type so nobody has to think about it.

Step by step

Set the default shipping policy. In Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings, the Operations section has a Picking Policy setting (“When to start shipping”) with two options: Ship products as soon as available, with back orders (the default) and Ship all products at once. It sets the policy for new sales orders and only appears when Sales is installed.
Override it per order. On a quotation, open Other Info and set Shipping Policy to As soon as possible or When all products are ready. Do this before confirming: the field locks once the quotation becomes a sales order. With When all products are ready, the delivery stays Waiting until every line can be reserved, and its scheduled date follows the longest product lead time instead of the shortest.
Set the backorder behaviour per operation type. Go to Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Operations Types, open Delivery Orders, then Receipts, for each warehouse, and set Create Backorder:
- Ask (default): Odoo shows a Create Backorder? pop-up when you validate less than the demand.
- Always: the backorder is created without asking.
- Never: the remaining quantity is cancelled without asking.
Ship part of an order. Open the delivery, enter the Quantity you’re actually sending on each line (leave a line at 0 if none of it goes), and click Validate.
Choose. The pop-up says you have processed less than the initial demand. Click Create Backorder if the rest will follow, or No Backorder if it won’t.
Receive part of a purchase. The same steps work on a receipt: enter what arrived, validate, then choose.
Close a backorder you won’t fulfil. Open the backorder transfer and click Cancel. For a customer delivery, then check the invoicing policy, as the worked example below shows.

Worked example: a distributor short on one product

A hardware distributor confirms a sales order for 100 boxes of wood screws and 40 door hinges. The Shipping Policy is As soon as possible and both products use Delivered quantities. Only 70 boxes of screws are in stock; a purchase order for 200 boxes is due from the supplier on Friday.

When	What happens in Odoo
Monday	The picker enters 70 screws and 40 hinges, validates and clicks Create Backorder. A new delivery for 30 screws appears, with Back Order of pointing to the first.
Monday	The sales order shows Delivered 70 and 40. Create Invoice invoices 70 boxes and 40 hinges.
Friday	The supplier sends 150 boxes. The receiver enters 150, validates and creates a backorder for 50. The purchase order line shows Received 150, and a bill on received quantities is for 150.
Friday	The 30-box customer backorder can now be reserved, shipped and invoiced as a second invoice.
Later	The supplier says the last 50 boxes are discontinued. The buyer cancels the receipt backorder.

Had the customer only wanted what was available, the picker would have clicked No Backorder on Monday. The 30 boxes would be cancelled, the sales order would show Delivered 70, and its Delivery Status would read Fully Delivered, because nothing is left to ship. With Delivered quantities, invoicing the 70 boxes then marks the order Fully Invoiced.

With Ordered quantities it’s different: Odoo still proposes to invoice all 100. Before invoicing, lower the line’s ordered quantity to 70 (Odoo won’t let you go below what’s been delivered), or issue a credit note if the invoice has already gone out.

Receipts behave the same way. A cancelled receipt backorder leaves the purchase order’s Received at what actually arrived, and its Receipt Status shows Fully Received because nothing is left open. If you use reordering rules, the cancelled quantity no longer counts as incoming, so the next run proposes a new order if stock is below Min.

What you should see

A chatter message on the original transfer: “The backorder … has been created”, with a link.
A Back Order of field on the new transfer, and a Back Orders link with a count on the operation’s card in the Inventory Overview.
A Backorders filter on the transfer lists, showing open transfers created from partial validations.
On the sales order: the Delivery smart button counts both transfers, and Delivery Status reads Partially Delivered while the backorder is open.
After No Backorder on a customer delivery: an exception activity on the sales order for the salesperson, summarising what was actually delivered.

Troubleshooting

The backorder pop-up never appears. The operation type’s Create Backorder is Always or Never. Check it in Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Operations Types.

The delivery is stuck in Waiting although some stock is available. The order uses When all products are ready. Change Shipping Policy on the delivery’s Additional Info tab to As soon as possible if the customer accepts a part shipment.

The customer was invoiced for goods that never shipped. The product uses Ordered quantities. Issue a credit note for the missing quantity, and switch products you often ship partially to Delivered quantities.

A new delivery appeared after editing the sales order. Once a backorder is cancelled, Odoo counts only the delivered quantity as already supplied. Changing the line’s quantity to anything above the delivered figure creates a delivery for the difference. Set it to the delivered quantity instead.

A receipt backorder lingers for goods the vendor will never send. Cancel it. Until you do, it counts as incoming stock in forecasts and reordering rules.

Official references

Odoo 19 documentation: Operation types
Odoo 19 documentation: Multi-package shipments (backorders section)
Odoo 19 documentation: Lead times (shipping policy)
Odoo 19 documentation: Invoicing policies
Odoo 19 documentation: Control policies

How this guide was checked: menu paths, field names and behaviour were checked against the Odoo 19 documentation and the Odoo 19 code for transfers, the backorder wizard, sales order delivery and invoice status, and purchase receipts, in October 2026. The worked example is illustrative and wasn’t run on a live database, so there are no screenshots; labels can vary slightly with your installed apps and language.

If partial shipments are tangling your invoicing or stock figures, I can help you set the right policies per operation and product. See Odoo implementation.