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New to OtterLedger? Read the Documentation
45 Guides Available Quick Start Guide
Learn AI Categorization View Guide
Have Questions? Check the FAQ
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Customer Management

Guide 15: Customer Management

Organize and manage your customers for invoicing

Overview

The Customers feature helps you track everyone you bill. Store contact information, set default billing rates, and see all customer activity in one place.

What you'll learn:

  • Adding and editing customers
  • Setting default rates
  • Viewing customer history
  • Managing customer information

Time required: 5 minutes per customer

Adding a Customer

Step 1: Open Customers

  1. Go to Customers in the sidebar
  2. Click Add Customer

Step 2: Enter Details

Basic Information:

Field Description
Name Customer/company name
Email For sending invoices
Phone Contact phone
Contact Contact person name

Address:

Field Description
Address Street address
City City
State State/Province
Zip Postal code
Country Country

[Screenshot: Add Customer form]

Step 3: Set Defaults (Optional)

Setting Purpose
Payment Terms Default due date (Net 30, etc.)
Default Rate Hourly rate for this customer
Notes Internal notes

Step 4: Save

Click Save Customer

Customer List

View all customers at Customers:

  • Sort by name, last invoice, balance
  • Filter by active/inactive
  • Search by name or email

[Screenshot: Customer list view]

Customer Balance

Each customer shows:

  • Total invoiced
  • Amount paid
  • Balance due

Customer Details

Click a customer to see:

Summary Tab

  • Contact information
  • Current balance
  • Recent activity

Invoices Tab

  • All invoices for this customer
  • Status and amounts
  • Filter by date or status

Payments Tab

  • Payment history
  • Payment methods used

Activity Tab

  • Timeline of all customer interactions

Editing Customers

  1. Click customer name
  2. Click Edit
  3. Update information
  4. Save

Customer Actions

Make Inactive

For customers you no longer bill:

  1. Edit customer
  2. Check Inactive
  3. Save

Inactive customers:

  • Don't appear in invoice dropdowns
  • History preserved
  • Can be reactivated

Delete Customer

Only if no invoices exist:

  1. Select customer
  2. Click Delete
  3. Confirm

Note: Customers with invoices cannot be deleted. Make inactive instead.

Merge Customers

If you have duplicates:

  1. Select customer
  2. Click Merge
  3. Choose customer to merge into
  4. Confirm

All invoices transfer to remaining customer.

Tips & Best Practices

  1. Keep emails current - Required for sending invoices
  2. Use company names - "Acme Corp" not "John at Acme"
  3. Set default rates - Saves time when invoicing
  4. Add notes - "Net 45 agreed" or "Bill contact: Jane"
  5. Regular cleanup - Mark old customers inactive

What's Next?

Need help? Visit the OtterLedger community at github.com/openledger or check the FAQ.