Add and manage customers in QuickBooks Online

Learn how to add, edit, delete, or merge customers in QuickBooks Online.

As your business grows, it's important to stay organized and keep track of your customers. In QuickBooks Online, you can add customer profiles so you can add them to transactions or invoices. Here's how to add customers and keep your customer list up to date.

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Add a new customer

Add your customers to the customer list so you can track their future transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Here’s how:

1. Go to Sales, then select Customers (Take me there).
2. Select New customer.
3. In the Customer display name field, enter what you want to display for the customer. (this is a required field)
4. Then, review each section and enter any other important customer info. 
5. If the customer is tax exempt, go to the Additional info section and select the checkbox for This customer is tax exempt. Then, select why they’re tax exempt in the Reason for exemption ▼ dropdown.
6. Select Save.

Add a sub-customer

You have the option to create sub-customers under your top-level customers (also known as parent customers). This is useful if you want to track individual customers who are also part of a group or a large organization.

While you can have unlimited sub-customers, parent accounts can only have sub-customers up to four levels deep.

If you haven’t added the parent customer yet, add them as a new customer first (see steps above). Then add each sub-customer as follows:

1. Go to ​Sales, then select Customers (Take me there).
2. Select New customer.
3. Enter the sub-customer’s name and contact info.
4. Select the Is a sub-customer checkbox. This action will display a parent customer dropdown menu.
5. In the Parent customer ▼ dropdown, select the parent account. 
6. Select the Bill parent checkbox if you want to bill the sub-customer with the parent customer. Leave this unchecked if you want to bill the sub-customer themselves.
7. Review each section and enter any info you need for the sub-customer.
8. If the sub-customer is tax exempt, go to the Additional info section and select the checkbox for This customer is tax exempt. Then select the Reason for exemption ▼ dropdown and choose why the customer is tax exempt.
9. Select Save.

Note: If you need to change a sub-customer into a top-level customer in the future, simply edit the sub-customer's profile and uncheck the Is a sub-customer checkbox.

Edit a customer

When you edit customer information, the changes will be reflected in other areas of your company file including previously sent invoices. QuickBooks Online also updates any recurring templates that use previous information like billing, shipping, and email addresses, taxable status, and the preferred payment method and terms. 

Here’s how to edit a customer’s info:

1. Go to Sales and select Customers (Take me there).
2. Select the customer you want to update.
3. Select the Customer Details tab.
4. Select Edit.
5. Make any changes.
6. Select Save.

Delete a customer

To remove a customer, you can make them inactive which hides them from lists and menus. Even if a customer is inactive, all their transactions will still be available on reports.

Important: If you delete a parent customer, you also delete their sub-customers. But, if there is a project attached to the customer, they can't be made inactive. To make the customer inactive, delete any projects attached to the customer.

1. Go to Sales and select Customers (Take me there).
2. Select the customer's name to open their profile.
3. Select the dropdown ▼ next to Edit.
4. Select Make inactive, then select Yes, make inactive to confirm.

Note: If you see a transaction for an inactive customer, it displays as 'Name (deleted)'.

Merge duplicate customers

If you have duplicate customers, you can merge their profiles. This deletes one profile and moves their existing data into the profile you want to keep.

Note: Make sure neither customer has any sub-customers. If they do, you’ll first need to change their sub-customers into regular customers first.

1. Go to ​Sales and select Customers (Take me there).
2. Select and open the customer profile you don’t want to keep.
3. Select Edit.
4. In the Customer display name field, enter the name of the duplicate customer profile you want to keep. The names need to match exactly.
   Note: If this is a sub-customer of a parent customer make sure to select the Is a sub-customer checkbox. Then, enter the name of the parent customer.
5. Select Save.
6. When asked if you want to merge the two profiles, select Yes.