# Allocate and Reallocate

Moving a payment between bills, without disturbing the payment itself.

Allocation is a bookkeeping decision rather than a fact about your bank, which is why it can be changed freely.

## Allocate

- **Open the payment**

  Its unallocated balance shows against the vendor's open bills.

  ![A vendor payment record showing its number, date, mode and amount, the supplier and the bills it has been applied against, alongside an activity panel.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/vendor-payments/payment-detail.png)
- **Enter an amount against each bill, and save**

  Part of a bill is allowed; that bill's Payment column then reads **Partial** and it keeps its balance due.

## Reallocate

- **Clear the wrong allocation**

  The bill returns to outstanding and the payment's balance returns to unallocated.
- **Apply it where it belongs, then save**

  The payment's date and amount are untouched throughout.

> **Note:**
>
> **Nothing about the money changed**
>
> The same amount left on the same day. Only what it settles moved, which is why reallocating leaves nothing to explain.

## Reading a vendor account

- **Unallocated payments**: Money you have sent that is not against a bill. It reduces what you owe overall while individual bills still read Unpaid.
- **Partial payments**: Often the result of a credit applied to part of a bill, or a deliberate short payment pending a query.
- **Overdue and unpaid**: What to deal with, once you have checked there is no credit sitting unapplied.