Delete a customer, property, job, quote, or invoice

Use Delete on the record's page in the web app to remove it from active work. Review the confirmation carefully: deleting a parent also deletes the records it owns.

1. Open the customer, property, job, quote, or invoice.
2. On a customer or property, select the red Delete Customer or Delete Property button below the cards in the right-hand sidebar (below the details on mobile). On a quote or invoice, open the three-dot menu and select Delete Quote or Delete Invoice. On a job, select Delete Job below the sidebar cards.
3. Review the summary. It lists each type of record that will be deleted and how many. Internal details such as line-item taxes and links between records are removed together with the records shown.
4. Type DELETE, then select Delete to confirm. Select Cancel to keep everything.

If the affected records change while you are reviewing them, Essential asks you to review the updated summary and type DELETE again. Your role needs the separate Delete Customer, Delete Property, Delete Job, Delete Quote, or Delete Invoice permission for each of those record types included in the deletion. Create/edit access alone does not allow deletion. Existing permissions for other affected records, including submitted inspection reports, still apply. Missing a permission prevents the entire deletion.

Delete permissions are initially granted to the default Back Office Admin role and custom roles that already have Set up Customer Portal permission. Default Back Office and technician roles do not receive them automatically. Administrators can assign individual delete permissions in Settings → People → Roles.

What is included

Record you delete	What happens
Customer	Its properties, contacts, jobs, quotes, invoices, and owned work records are deleted.
Property	Its jobs, documents, equipment, recurring services, and owned work records are deleted. The customer and other properties remain.
Job	Its visits and owned work records are deleted. Linked quotes and invoices remain, including documents linked to several jobs.
Quote	Its line items, signatures, and attachment associations are deleted. An invoice created from the quote remains.
Invoice	Its line items and attachment associations are deleted. The source quote remains.

The confirmation summary shows the actual scope for your record, including additional owned details. Shared equipment definitions, employees, and other business settings are retained.

A deletion that would include a visit a technician is currently clocked into is refused. Have the technician clock out first, or correct the missing clock-out from the job page, then delete again.

A deletion that would include an invoice with a card or bank payment still processing is also refused. The confirmation names the invoice. Wait for the payment to finish or fail, then delete again.

Payments and financial history

All deleted invoices disappear from ordinary pages and lists. Their stored records and financial history remain. Deletion never refunds payments.

Invoice state	What deletion does
Draft without posted accounting	Hides the invoice; no accounting reversal is needed.
Unpaid or overdue, with no applied or pending payments	Voids the invoice and reverses its applicable accounting entries before deletion.
Already voided	Hides the invoice without another reversal.
Partially paid, including overdue invoices with payments	Hides the invoice while preserving payments and accounting. The payment link stops working; any remaining balance stays in financial history.
Paid	Hides the invoice; payments and accounting remain unchanged.
Uncollectible	Hides the invoice; existing write-off accounting remains unchanged.
Payment processing	Cannot be deleted. Wait for the card or bank payment to finish or fail, then delete.

These rules also apply to invoices included in customer or property deletion. Only a payment still processing blocks that deletion. A draft that already has posted invoice accounting is cancelled with its applicable reversal. Accounting reversal and deletion complete together; if preparation fails, nothing in the cascade is deleted.

Financial reports preserve existing payments, write-offs, and legitimate remaining balances. Cancelled unpaid invoices no longer contribute an outstanding balance. Deleted documents cannot be opened from their ordinary record pages. Payment links stop working for every deleted invoice, including partially paid invoices.

After deletion

Deleted records leave active lists, searches, and schedules. Pending outreach and future work for those records are suppressed when they check the record's availability. An email or text already being sent may still arrive after deletion; deleting the record does not recall it. The stored records, files, and financial facts are retained. Primary records receive deletion events in the Activity feed that name the record type and identity, such as “Deleted invoice #I1234” or “Deleted customer Acme”. The Deletion activity report groups affected records by deletion action, with the person and time recorded.

Mobile refreshes remove deleted work from cached views. Unsynced work is retained locally, but changes to deleted records cannot be uploaded. Delete controls are available on web only.

There is no restore action. Use Cancel if you are unsure about the displayed scope.

Related guides

• Make a customer active or inactive
• Make a property active or inactive
• Why can't I delete a job?