Getting Started with Odoo: Complete Beginner's Guide (2026)

Just Installed Odoo — Now What?

You have Odoo running. The dashboard is empty. Where do you start? This guide walks you through the first hour: essential configuration, your first modules, your first transaction, and how to learn the rest.

Step 1: Basic Company Setup (5 minutes)

# Settings → Companies → Your Company
# Fill in:
# - Company Name
# - Address
# - Phone, Email
# - Logo (upload your logo)
# - Tax ID (VAT number)
# - Currency (auto-set by country)

# This appears on all documents: invoices, quotes, reports

Step 2: Install Your First Modules (5 minutes)

# Don't install everything at once!
# Start with what you need TODAY:

# For most businesses:
# 1. Contacts (auto-installed)
# 2. Sales (quotations → orders → invoices)
# 3. Invoicing or Accounting
# 4. CRM (if you have a sales pipeline)

# Add later as needed:
# Inventory (when you track stock)
# Purchase (when you buy from vendors)
# HR (when you manage employees)
# Website (when you need a website)

# Install: Apps → search → Install button

Step 3: Create Your First Customer (2 minutes)

# Contacts → Create
# Name: Your first customer
# Email: their email
# Phone: their phone
# Address: their address
# Tags: classify (VIP, Wholesale, Retail)

# This contact is now available in Sales, Invoicing, CRM

Step 4: Create Your First Product (3 minutes)

# Sales → Products → Create
# Product Name: "My Service" or "My Product"
# Type: Service or Storable Product
# Sales Price: $100
# Cost: $50 (optional, for margin tracking)
# Can be Sold: ✓

# Service products don't need inventory setup
# Storable products need a warehouse (auto-created)

Step 5: Your First Quotation (5 minutes)

# Sales → Quotations → Create
# Customer: select your customer
# Add a line: select your product, set quantity
# Click: Send by Email (quotation sent to customer)
# When customer agrees: click Confirm
# → Sale order created
# → Delivery order created (if product)
# → Click Create Invoice → invoice created

Step 6: Your First Invoice (2 minutes)

# From the sale order: click Create Invoice
# Review the invoice → click Confirm
# Send to customer: click Send & Print
# When customer pays: click Register Payment
# → Payment matched to invoice
# → Invoice marked as Paid ✓

Learning Resources

Common First Mistakes

• Installing all modules at once — start small, add modules as needed
• Skipping company setup — logo and address appear on all documents
• Not setting up taxes — configure taxes before creating invoices
• Using demo data in production — install without demo data for real use
• Not backing up — set up daily backups before entering real data

What to Configure Next

1. Week 1: Taxes, payment terms, email server
2. Week 2: Pricelists, quotation templates, email templates
3. Week 3: Inventory setup (if applicable), purchase workflow
4. Week 4: Reports, dashboards, user permissions
5. Month 2: Automation, integrations, advanced features

DeployMonkey

Skip the manual setup entirely. Deploy Odoo on DeployMonkey, and the AI agent walks you through initial configuration — company setup, modules, taxes, and your first transaction. Zero to productive in 30 minutes.