- Short answer
- Unlinking a purchase order does not undo any receiving or cost adjustments on the transfer, and neither record is deleted.
- Timeline notes it
- The unlink is noted in the timeline on both the inventory transfer and the purchase order.
- Agreed vs actual cost
- Cost summary comparison is documented on a purchase-order-linked transfer; no page we read says what unlink does to it.
- One link at a time
- One linked transfer per purchase order at a time; the Help Center gives separate linking conditions for each side.
- Not a reset
- To fix quantities, edit the received shipment; cancel a whole transfer only while Draft or Ready to ship.
- As of
- Help Center pages on purchase orders and inventory transfers, read September 15, 2026.
What does unlinking actually undo?
Not your receiving or cost adjustments: "Unlinking doesn't undo any receiving or cost adjustments." You can still receive inventory and manage costs on the transfer, where cost adjustments are added to individual shipments — what a cost adjustment is and where it lands.
You can unlink from either side — the purchase order or the transfer; the event is captured in the timeline on both records, and neither record is deleted.
What do you lose when the link is gone?
On a purchase-order-linked transfer, the Help Center says the Cost summary aggregates all shipment adjustments so you can compare the agreed cost on the purchase order with the actual cost to receive the goods, but no purchase-order or transfer page we read on September 15, 2026 says what the Cost summary shows once the link is gone.
As for the purchase order itself: it has two statuses, Draft and Ordered; receiving, partial receipt, completion, and closure are tracked on the linked inventory transfer instead, and no page we read says what a purchase order shows once its transfer is unlinked.
When is unlinking the right move?
When a purchase order is linked to the wrong transfer. Each purchase order supports one linked inventory transfer at a time, so the wrong link has to go before the right pair can exist — the Help Center describes linking generically, and no page we read says in so many words that either record can be linked again after unlinking. Linking from the purchase order needs a transfer whose origin is that purchase order's supplier; linking from the transfer needs a purchase order with the same origin as the transfer and at least one matching item.
Unlinking is not a reset. To correct what you received, edit the accepted, rejected or canceled quantities in the received shipment instead; a whole transfer can be cancelled only in Draft or Ready to ship.
Delete a purchase order only while it is a draft; once Ordered, archive it — archiving doesn't close or cancel the linked inventory transfer.
This article was written entirely by AI under human editorial direction. The editor sets the topic and structure, runs multi-stage validation on facts, links, and interactive elements, and verifies the output is useful from a business perspective. All claims are checked against official Shopify sources. Details may change — always confirm critical data at shopify.com.
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