Hi there, netdweeb.
I appreciate you for coming back to the thread to add further details about your concern. With this, I'll be sharing details on how merging customers/jobs works in QuickBooks Desktop. Then, troubleshooting steps to ensure you're able to achieve this goal.
To start with, QuickBooks will not allow merging customers if there are payments or deposits recorded in the system. With this, I suggest deleting the payment first before consolidating them. Then, if you're still unable to successfully merge the customer on your end, I suggest running the Verify and Rebuild Data Utilities to get this sorted out. The Verify Data utility identifies any potential data damage issues that might've caused some memorized reports that don't work. While the Rebuild Data utility repairs damaged data in your company file. Before this, you'll have to secure a backup copy of your company file.
To Verify data:
- Go to the File menu.
- Scroll down to Utilities.
- Select Verify Data.
- Click OK.
To Rebuild Data:
- Go back to the File menu.
- Choose Utilities.
- Select Rebuild Data.
- Click on OK when you get the message Rebuild has completed.
For further details, you can refer to this article: Verify and Rebuild Data in QuickBooks Desktop.
If the issue continues to occur, you can make the job/customer inactive as a workaround. To do this, you'll have to choose the name and right-click so you're able to see the inactive option.
Lastly, you may refer to this article to view different ways you can track customer transactions in QuickBooks Desktop: Get started with customer transaction workflows in QuickBooks Desktop.
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the merging customers. I'm always around to help. Keep safe!
