Who this is for
Anyone reviewing a PO or shipment who finds an extra cost line they didn't add — and wants to know whether to trust it, edit it, or delete it.
Reading an extra cost line
- Rule-generated lines carry a From rule tag — the charge came from an automation your team configured, not a person typing it in.
- Manual lines have no rule label — someone entered them on this document.
- Inherited lines on a shipment came from the source PO's extra costs and carried over when the PO was added to the shipment (Where to enter extra costs: PO vs shipment vs receiving report).
- Fee lines are flagged with an In PO total tag when they count toward the PO total (see Should an extra cost count toward the PO total?).
What happens when the document is re-saved
Auto-applied rules re-evaluate on save, and they replace only their own lines. Practical consequences:
- Manual and inherited lines are never touched by a rule.
- If you edit a rule-generated line by hand, expect the rule to regenerate it on the next save. To make it permanent, delete the generated line and add a manual one — or change the rule.
- If quantities changed and a percentage-based charge looks different, that's the rule recomputing against the new goods value — by design.
Tracing history
- The Purchase Order Activity Log records every change to a PO, including who changed what and when.
- To find every automation that could touch a document, review the Cost Rules list — check each rule's conditions, filters, and whether Auto-apply on save is enabled (Automatically add freight, duty, and handling charges to purchase orders).
Deleting a charge you don't want
Deleting the line from the document works — but if the line is rule-generated with auto-apply on, it returns on the next save. Fix the rule (narrow its conditions or filters, or turn off auto-apply) rather than fighting the line.
Related questions this answers
- "Who added this freight line to my PO?"
- "Why does a charge come back after I delete it?"
- "Why did my duty amount change after I edited the PO?"