If QuickBooks won’t let you remove a customer or job from your Customers & Jobs list, you can still remove the customer or job from sight, which is almost the same thing. Use the technique described here to make the customer or job inactive so that, although the customer/job history remains in your QuickBooks records, you don’t have to keep looking at the name on your Customers & Jobs list.
Step 1: Open the Customer Center
Click the Customer Center icon on the toolbar or press Control J. The Customers & Jobs List appears. This list includes a column for Customer (and optional Job) names and a Balance Total column which displays the total amount the customer owes you. Click any customer or job name to see detailed information about that customer and job..
Step 2: Select a Customer or Job to Hide
Click on a customer name or job name that you wish to hide. It doesn’t matter if there are jobs listed under the customer – when you hide the customer, the related jobs will be hidden as well.
Step 3: Make This Customer/Job Inactive
Right-click on the customer or job name. From the pop-up menu, choose Make Customer:Job Inactive. If the customer has an outstanding balance, you will see a message asking if you are sure you want to make this Customer:Job inactive. Click Yes if you see this box. The customer or job you selected has now disappeared from your Customers & Jobs list.
Step 4: Where’s That Customer Hiding?
If you want to see a view of all customers and jobs, including the inactive ones, click the View drop down list at the top of the Customers & Jobs list. Choose All Customers from this drop-down list. Inactive customers and jobs will reappear, with a grey “x” symbol on the left side. Just because an inactive file is displayed, doesn’t mean it isn’t still inactive. If you try to refer to this inactive customer or job while entering a form in QuickBooks, you will get a message telling you the choice you made is inactive.
Step 5: Go Back Into Hiding
Send Inactive elements back to the hidden bin by clicking again on the View drop-down list and choosing Active Customers. All hidden customers and jobs will disappear.
Step 6: Inactive Today; Active Tomorrow
Bring an inactive customer or job back to life by clicking the View drop down list and then choosing All Customers. To make a customer active again, right-click the name of the customer or job you wish to activate. Choose Make Customer:Job Active from the pop-up menu, and you can get back to the business of conducting business with this customer or job.
