How to delete a customer that QB thinks has an attachment in QB Premier Desktop

What I've done in situations like this is: create a new customer called "to be Deleted". Merge the uncooperative Customer into the "to be deleted" customer (or merge all unwanted customers into "to be deleted"). When done merging, delete the Customer called "to be deleted". This works for Vendors, Items, and unused Accounts as well.

Thank you for posting here in the Community, @Frogfeathers.

Let me share some information about deleting a customer in QuickBooks Desktop.

QuickBooks Desktop won’t allow deleting a customer if it has an open balance. If you rarely use the name of the customer. Consider making it inactive so that it doesn’t appear on the list, but the transaction will still show up.

However, If you don't need to keep historic accounts information, you can clear old transactions from your company accounts file by deleting each transaction. Deleting a transaction removes your customer completely. 

To do that here’s how. 

1. Go to the Lists tab then, select Chart of Accounts.
2. Click to open the account that contains the transactions you want to delete.
3. Click to select the transaction you want to remove.
4. Click Edit in the main menu and then click Delete.
5. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the transaction.
6. Repeat this procedure to delete all of the transactions. 

Once done, you can now delete the customer on the customer's list.

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can also delete batch transactions. If you wanted to know-how, you can use this article as your guide. Delete or void batch transactions.

Please know that I'm always here to help you if you have any other questions about deleting or making customers inactive in QuickBooks Desktop. Have a great day!

I need to do the same thing.  Did you ever find a way to delete customers with estimates in bulk?

Allow me to chime in and provide additional details, capecoduser.

You can make the customer inactive all at once if the customer has a transaction (estimates). This procedure allows you to hide them, including the data from the company file. The software will only let you delete customers one at a time if there is no transaction attached to them.

Here's how:

1. Click Customers at the top menu bar.
2. Select Customer Center from the drop-down menu.
3. Go to the Customers and Jobs tab.
4. Filter to All Customers.
5. Hover your cursor next to a customer you want to make inactive, and then click when the cursor turns to an "X.".
6. Select the other customers that you want to make inactive and then close the Customer Center window.

Alternatively, you can look for a third-party deleter tool if you wish to remove them in bulk. Use this link to find one: QuickBooks Apps.

You may also refer to this article if you ever decide to combine several names or lists in the future: Merge list entries in QuickBooks Desktop.

We're always available to help you. Post a reply on this thread if you have further questions about managing your customer list. Have a great day.

@capecoduser 

QB Online or QB Desktop?