Learn how to add, edit, delete, or merge customers in QuickBooks Online.
As your business grows, it's important to stay organised 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.
Add a new customer
Add your customers to the customer list so you can track their future transactions in QuickBooks Online.
When adding for the first time,
Go to Customers.
Select Add customer manually.
Enter your customer's information.
Select Save.
To add more customers,
Go to Customers.
Select New customer.
Enter your customer’s info.
Select Save.
Tips:
You can add more information about your customer at any time by going back to the customer record.
Or if you need to keep notes or mark a customer as tax-exempt, you can enter this when you create their profile.
Import customers from an Excel file
If you have a spreadsheet with your customer info, you can import it into QuickBooks Online all at once.
When your Excel sheet is ready, follow the steps below to import into QuickBooks Online:
Go to Customers.
Select the dropdown ▼ next to New customer, then Import customers.
Select Browse.
Follow the steps to upload your Excel file, then select Next.
Map the fields in your file to the fields in QuickBooks Online, then select Next.
Select the customers to be imported, then select Import.
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 organisation.
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:
Go to Customers.
Select New customer.
Select the Is sub-customer checkbox.
Enter the sub-customer’s info.
In the Enter Parentcustomer ▼dropdown, select the parent account. Tip: Select Bill with parent if you want to bill the customer with the parent, or select Bill this customer if you want to bill sub-customer individually.
Select Save.
Make a sub-customer into a regular customer
Simply edit the sub-customer's profile and uncheck the Is 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 such as:
Billing Address
Shipping Address
Email
Is Taxable
Preferred Payment Method
Terms
Preferred Delivery Method
Here’s how to edit a customer’s info:
Go to Sales and select Customers.
Select the customer you want to update.
Select Edit.
Make any changes.
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.
Go to Customers.
Select the customer's name to open their profile.
Select Edit.
Select Make inactive and Yes to confirm.
Note: If you see a transaction for an inactive customer, it displays as "Name (deleted)."
Select the Settings ⚙ icon above the action column. Then select the Include inactive checkbox.
Look for the inactive customer on the list.
In the Action column, select Make active.
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 need to make their sub-customers into regular customers first.
Go to Customers.
Select and open the customer profile you don’t want to keep.
Select Edit.
In the Display name as field, enter the name of the customer profile you want to keep. The names need to match exactly.
Select Save.
When asked if you want to merge the two profiles, select Yes.
