Customer
For: Anyone recording who this company sells to, buys from, or both
A Customer record is a lot bigger than a name and an address. It carries GST and tax details, a currency, portal access, a price list, and per-branch balances and credit limits. When a company you sell to is also one you buy from, you can link that Customer to a matching Vendor record so both sides show up together. This page walks through every one of those pieces, in plain terms.
What this module does
1. The core identity fields
These sit at the very top of the Add Customer form, always visible, no tab to click into first.
Customer ID: Filled in automatically from Customer Number Configuration on Add Customer (prefix, next number, auto-generate). You don't type a one-off ID on the form — change that numbering setting instead.
Primary Contact Name: Labelled BP Primary Contact Name on the form (BP just means the business or person this customer represents). First name is required, last name is optional.
Business Partner Type: Are you dealing with a Business or an Individual? Required.
Category: Whether this customer buys Goods, Services, or both. You can tick both boxes if both apply.
Company Name and Customer Display Name: Both required. The Display Name must be different from every other customer you have, so you don't end up with the same one twice.
Account Type: Always shows Accounts Receivable, the ledger account that tracks what this customer owes you. You don't pick this, it's set automatically because this is a customer.
Primary Email: Labelled BP Primary Email. Only required if you turn on portal access for this customer.
Customer Phone Number: Numbers only. Optional.
Company Logo: One image, up to 5MB.
Code: A separate, free-text field from Customer ID. Entirely optional, use it however makes sense for you.
2. Tax, currency, and profile details
All of this lives under the Other Details tab of the customer form.
GST Treatment: Registered Business Regular, Unregistered Business Regular, or Export. Required, and it changes what else you need to fill in.
GSTIN / UIN: Only required when GST Treatment is Registered Business Regular.
Country and Import-Export Code: For Export customers. Saving actually requires both once you pick Export, even though the form doesn't visibly flag them as required, so it's worth filling them in anyway.
Tax Preference: Taxable or Tax Exempt.
PAN: Optional, checked against a valid PAN format.
Currency: Required, and locked for good the moment you save the customer. The list comes from Settings → Currencies. There's no changing it later.
Price List: Optional. Turn on Include Price List Item Only next to it and this customer will only be able to buy items that appear on that Price List. Vendors don't have this option.
Portable Language: The language their portal shows in. Defaults to English.
Enable Portal?: Turns on portal login for this customer. A working email is needed for it to work.
Attach Documents: Up to three files, 5MB each.
Website, Department, Designation, Twitter, Skype, Facebook: All optional. Just extra contact details, tucked under Add More Details.
3. Addresses: one billing, one default shipping, many additional
The Address tab on the main form only covers the first two. Extra shipping addresses are added separately, from the customer's own detail page.
Billing Address: One fixed address. It can never be turned off.
Shipping Address (default): Also one fixed address, also can never be turned off. A Copy Billing Address button can fill it in for you.
Additional Shipping Addresses: A real, separate list of extra delivery addresses. Each one has its own Active or Inactive switch.
How the default gets filled: If there's no default shipping address yet, the first one you add becomes the default. Only after that does anything new go into the additional list.
Turning an address off: Only ever affects an additional address. The billing address and the default shipping address are always available, no matter what.
What's required, and where: On the main customer form, no address field is actually required. Adding or editing an address from the detail page does require Country, Street, City, State, and Pin Code.
4. Branches: where credit limit, payment terms, and balances actually live
If your company uses branches, every active one gets its own row here, whether you turn on branch-specific settings or not.
Every branch's row: Shows an Active switch, the Opening Balance, and the Current Balance, one row per active branch. Those two balances are always per branch. Turning Branch Wise Credit Limit or Branch Wise Payment Terms off does not merge Opening Balance into one company total.
Branch Wise Credit Limit: A switch on this customer, not a company-wide setting. Off means one overall Credit Limit for the whole customer. On means every branch gets its own limit.
Branch Wise Payment Terms: The same idea, but for Payment Terms.
Restriction Document: Pick exactly which documents (Quote, Sales Order, Delivery Challan, Invoice) the credit limit amount is checked against. Anything you don't pick isn't checked. Company defaults for new customers live under Settings → Credit limits until this customer overrides them.
Restriction Payment Terms Document: If a document type is listed here, you cannot create that document while this customer has an Overdue invoice. That is the overdue block — not a separate toggle. Company defaults live under Settings → Credit limits.
Changing Opening Balance later: Doesn't reset Current Balance, it adjusts it by the difference instead.
5. Opening balance — they owe you vs you owe them
Each branch row has an Opening Balance. The sign is not decoration — it chooses which module settles it later.
Positive Opening Balance
They owe you
Stored as an opening receivable. Collect it in Payments Received like an invoice. The payment picker shows (Customer opening balance). Approving that payment reduces remaining opening balance and Current Balance. You do not Mark As anything on the customer for this.
Negative Opening Balance
You owe them / they have credit
Stored as customer credit. This is not a Payment Received. When any branch is negative, customer detail shows Auto Map Opening Balance and Pay Against Invoices. On an open invoice for that branch, the button is Apply Credit.
Current Balance: Starts from Opening Balance and then moves as invoices and payments post. Changing Opening Balance later adjusts Current Balance by the difference — it does not wipe the history. The customer detail also shows Total Opening Balance and Total Current Balance as the sum of the branch rows.
Pay Against Invoices (customer detail): On the customer header when any branch Opening Balance is still negative. Opens Apply Opening Balance to Invoices. The Branch picker lists only those negative-OB branches — credit on one branch cannot pay invoices of another unless you turn off Show current branch documents only. Enter Balance to Apply on Sent or Partially Paid invoices, then Apply To Invoices. This does not create a Payment Received.
Auto Map Opening Balance (customer detail): Same header, same negative-OB condition. Maps this customer's remaining credit onto open invoices, oldest due date first. Confirm modal: Auto Map Opening Balance to Invoices. This is this customer only. The Invoices list TOOLS action maps remaining credit across customers.
Apply Credit (invoice detail): When you are already on an unpaid invoice whose branch still has remaining credit, the invoice header shows Apply Credit. That modal locks the branch to the invoice's branch — no branch picker.
Opening balance payments on the customer detail: Under Transactions, the Opening balance payments panel appears when history exists. Positive-side source is Payment Received (they owed you). Negative-side source is Invoice (credit mapped onto invoices).
Add Customer Opening Balance (list): From the customer list you can upload opening balances in bulk, one amount per branch column. Same sign rules apply once those amounts exist.
Warning: You can't lower a branch's Opening Balance below what has already been applied, and you can't flip it from a debt to a credit (or back) while those applications exist. For a positive balance, remove the Payment Received applications first. For a negative balance, remove the invoice credit mappings first.
6. Credit limit and unused credit
Three numbers you'll see around the customer screens, each worked out a little differently.
Total Credit Limit: Adds up every active branch's limit when Branch Wise Credit Limit is on. Otherwise it's just the one overall limit.
Utilized credit: Shown two different ways depending where you look: the per-customer credit dashboard totals up unpaid invoices, while the overview and utilization reports use each branch's balance instead. The two can differ.
Unused credit: On the customer list this is the total available balance across every Credit Note this customer has. It is not negative Opening Balance (that credit is applied with Apply Credit / Pay Against Invoices) and it is not Unused Amount on a Payment Received.
On the Vendor side: Same idea, but added up from Debit Notes instead of Credit Notes.
7. Linking a Customer to a Vendor
When a company you sell to is also one you buy from, linking them lets you see both sides without switching screens.
What linking does: Connects this Customer to a Vendor you pick. From then on, opening either one shows you the other one's details and transactions too.
Only one link each: A Vendor already linked to a different Customer can't be picked again. You'd need to unlink that pair first.
Unlinking or changing the link: Both sides update at the same time. There's no moment where only one side shows the change.
Deleting a linked Customer or Vendor: Blocked while the link is still in place. Unlink first, then delete.
8. Adding one at a time vs. Bulk Add
Bulk Add checks more than you might expect, and skips less.
Adding one customer: Checks the display name is unique, checks the Vendor link if you set one, and sends a portal invite if you turned that on. If the invite email fails to send, the customer is still saved.
Bulk Add still checks for duplicate names: Both within the file you upload and against your existing customers. This step is not skipped.
What Bulk Add does skip: Only the Vendor link step. Everyone added in bulk comes in as a standalone customer.
All rows succeed, or none do: If even one row in the file fails a check, the whole upload is rejected. Nothing from it gets saved.
Every branch, automatically: Bulk-added customers are attached to every active branch with a zero opening balance right away, something a single Add doesn't do for you.
Add Customer Opening Balance: Separate from Bulk Add Customers. On the customer list, IMPORT & EXPORT includes Add Customer Opening Balance — upload amounts using branch names as columns. That is how you set opening balances in bulk after the customers already exist.
No limit on file size: You can upload as many rows at once as you need.
9. Viewing full customer details
Opening a customer brings together every document that actually mentions them, plus the branch balances and the opening-balance actions when they apply.
Header buttons: General Ledger and 360 View are always there (360 View is customers only). When any branch Opening Balance is negative, the header also shows Auto Map Opening Balance and Pay Against Invoices. Those two are how remaining credit is mapped — see section 5.
Overview — branch table: Branch Wise Credit Limit and Branch Wise Payment Terms show as Yes or No. Totals for Opening Balance and Current Balance sit above the table. Every branch row still lists Opening Balance and Current Balance. Credit Limit and Restriction Document columns appear only when Branch Wise Credit Limit is on; Payment Terms columns appear only when Branch Wise Payment Terms is on.
What you see for the customer: Under Transactions: Invoices, Delivery Challans, Sales Orders, Quotes, Payments Received, and Credit Notes, each with its own status and balance. If opening-balance history exists, Opening balance payments is another panel in that same list.
If they're also linked as a Vendor: You also see their Purchase Orders, GRPOs, Bills, Payments Made, and Debit Notes, right alongside the customer data. A linked vendor detail uses the same two header buttons against Bills when a vendor branch is negative.
Split vs non-split filter: Leave it alone, or set it to non-split, and you only see non-split documents. Set it to split and you see both kinds together, not split documents on their own.
Note: The 360 View button is there, but it didn't load successfully while checking this page, so what it actually shows isn't confirmed here. Treat it as newer and worth trying yourself before relying on it.
10. Deleting a customer
This is checked far more carefully than it looks. It's not just a simple ownership check.
Blocked by any real transaction: A Quote, Sales Order, Invoice, Delivery Challan, Payment Received, Credit Note, Recurring Invoice, Customer Order, Rejection Order, or Expense against them stops the delete. On the Vendor side, the same is true for a Purchase Order, GRPO, Bill, Payment Made, Recurring Bill, Recurring Expense, or Debit Note.
Also blocked when: They're set as an item's preferred vendor or specific customer, they have an active portal account or an unanswered portal invite, a CRM call is logged against them, or they're currently linked to another party.
The one thing that doesn't block it: Their own opening balance entry. Deleting the customer simply reverses that entry instead of blocking the delete.
Warning: In practice, a customer or vendor with any real history essentially can't be deleted. And there's no soft-delete safety net either, once it goes through, it's permanent.
11. Where a customer gets picked elsewhere
Screens elsewhere that let you pick a customer or vendor draw from three genuinely different lists.
The full-featured list: Used on sales documents. Shows each customer's unused credit and their assigned Price List right there in the picker.
The simple list: Powers the Linked to Vendor or Linked to Customer picker. Hides anyone who's already linked to someone else.
The combined list: Shows customers and vendors together, for screens that don't care which type you pick.
One thing all three share: They only ever show customers or vendors marked Active.
Business rules
| Topic | Rule |
|---|---|
| Subscription gate | Only creating a customer, single or bulk, is limited by your plan. Editing, deleting, linking, addresses, and every dropdown are not |
| Permission gap on Bulk Add | Adding one customer at a time requires the Create permission. Bulk Add currently doesn't check that permission at all, only whether the feature is on your plan |
| Display name uniqueness | Checked without regard to letter case. A Customer and a Vendor can share the same display name, but two Customers cannot use the same name, and neither can two Vendors |
| Currency locks after saving | Required when you create the customer. The picker is Settings → Currencies. Cannot be changed once saved |
| Restriction Payment Terms Document is the overdue block | If Quote, Sales Order, Delivery Challan, or Invoice is listed, creating that document is blocked while this customer has an Overdue invoice. Company defaults are Settings → Credit limits until the customer overrides them |
| Split filter isn't split-only | Leaving the split filter alone, or setting it to non-split, shows only non-split documents. Setting it to split shows both split and non-split together, not split documents on their own |
| Opening Balance sign chooses the settlement module | Positive Opening Balance (they owe you) is collected in Payments Received as (Customer opening balance). Negative Opening Balance (they have credit) is applied to invoices with Apply Credit / Pay Against Invoices / Auto Map Opening Balance — it is not a Payment Received. You cannot flip the sign or reduce below already-applied amounts until those applications are removed |
| Negative credit is applied branch by branch | Opening Balance lives on each branch row even when Branch Wise Credit Limit is off. Pay Against Invoices on the customer detail only lists branches whose Opening Balance is still negative, then you pick which branch's credit to map. Apply Credit on an invoice is locked to that invoice's branch. Auto Map on the customer maps only this customer; Auto Map on the Invoices list maps remaining credit across customers |
| "Utilized credit" means two different things | The per-customer credit dashboard adds up unpaid invoice balances. The credit overview and utilization reports instead use each branch's balance. The two numbers can disagree |