Customers
Customers are the people and organizations you serve. The Customers page is your central directory for account type, contacts, service history, tags, and every job or invoice tied to that account.
Open Customers from the main navigation.
When to use Customers
Use Customers when you need one reliable place to answer:
- Who are we working for?
- How do we contact them?
- What properties, jobs, invoices, and notes are connected to them?
- Are there tags or warnings the office or field team should know before scheduling work?
Before you start
- Customers is always available — no plugin or feature toggle is needed.
- Customer records are the foundation for Jobs, Quotes, Invoices, Memberships, and most other ToolbagCRM workflows. Create the customer first, then attach other records to their account.
- Decide whether the customer is a Person, an Organization, or Not specified. This classification helps filter the customer list without changing the account's contacts, properties, or workflow.
- Have at least one contact method ready: a valid email address or phone number. ToolbagCRM requires one of them when you add or edit a customer.
- Gather the service address in parts when you have it: street address, suite/unit, city, state or region, and ZIP/postal code. ToolbagCRM combines those fields into the address shown on customer rows and uses the postal code for weather-aware workflows.
- If address suggestions are enabled for your account, start typing the street address and choose the matching suggestion to fill the city, state/region, and ZIP/postal code automatically.
- Search the customer list by name, phone, email, or address before creating a new record to avoid duplicates.
The customer list
The customer list shows every customer record in your account. Each row displays:
- Customer name with an avatar using their initials.
- Customer type badge: Person, Organization, or Not specified.
- Formatted service address beneath the name, combined from street, suite/unit, city, state or region, and ZIP/postal code when those fields are available.
- Email — clickable to send a message.
- Phone — clickable to call.
- Tags — color-coded badges such as residential, commercial, maintenance, or priority account.
Search and filter
- Use the search bar to find customers by name, email, phone, or address.
- Use Customer type to show Person, Organization, or Not specified accounts.
- Select a tag pill to filter the list to customers with that tag. Select it again to remove the filter. Available tags and matching customers cover the customer records you can access, not only the current page.
Manage customer tags
On a customer profile, select Add tag beside the current tags, or select Edit and use the Tags section. Enter a tag and select Add tag, or save the customer while a valid tag is still in the entry field to add it automatically. Remove unwanted tags with the Remove tag button. Each customer can have up to 10 tags, and each tag can contain up to 30 characters. ToolbagCRM prevents duplicate tags even when the letter casing differs.
Tag management requires customer write permission and access to all jobs. Users without that access can still see existing tags but cannot add, remove, or save tag changes.
Add a customer
- Click Add Customer.
- Enter the customer Name (required).
- Choose the Customer type: Person, Organization, or Not specified.
- Enter a valid Email or Phone. At least one contact method is required; you can provide both.
- Fill out the address fields you know: Address line 1, Address line 2, City, State/region, and ZIP/postal code. When suggestions appear in Address line 1, choose the correct address to fill the remaining address fields automatically, then adjust suite/unit details if needed. ToolbagCRM formats the completed parts into one address for the list and customer profile.
- Choose the customer's Preferred message language: English or Spanish. New records start with the language you are currently using in ToolbagCRM, and you can change it before saving.
- Add any Notes about the customer.
- Save the customer.
Customer detail view
Click any customer row to open their full profile. The detail view includes:
Contact header
- Large avatar with the customer's initials.
- Customer name, Person/Organization/Not specified badge, and "Customer since" date.
- Tags displayed as brand-colored badges.
- Edit button to update the customer's type, contact details, address, preferred message language, tags, and notes.
- Contact row with clickable email, phone, and address.
Stats row
Four stat cards give you a quick read on the customer's account:
| Stat | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Jobs | Total job count with how many are completed |
| Invoices | Invoice count with lifetime invoiced total |
| Lifetime Spent | Dollar amount of all payments applied |
| Open Balance | Remaining unpaid balance (highlighted in red when outstanding) |
Jobs card
Lists every job for this customer. Each entry shows the job title, scheduled date and time, and status badge. Click a job to open it.
Invoices card
Lists every invoice for this customer. Each entry shows the invoice number, total amount, due date, and status badge. Click an invoice to open it.
Contacts
The Contacts card keeps the people associated with the customer account. Users with customer write access can select Add contact and record the contact's name, email or phone, preferred communication language, reusable account roles, email and text-message consent, notes, and whether the person is the primary or billing contact. A contact can also be associated with one or more work locations, with separate roles and a primary contact at each location.
Select Edit to update a contact. Select Archive, enter a reason, and confirm to remove an inactive contact from the default list without deleting its history. Turn on Show archived contacts and select Restore when that person becomes active again.
With customer write access and access to all jobs, select Review retained details to preview contact information still stored on the customer account or its work locations. ToolbagCRM labels exact matches Link existing contact, complete unmatched details Create contact, and uncertain or conflicting details Needs review. Select Apply safe updates to apply only the exact matches and safe creations; original customer and work-location fields, existing primary contacts, and review items remain unchanged. If the preview is out of date, select Load new preview before applying updates.
Crew assignment policies
The Crew assignment policies card records customer-wide or work-location guidance for Scheduling. Add a policy for one team member, choose Preferred or Restricted, select a reason, enter a management explanation, and set when it takes effect. An optional end date limits the policy to a specific period.
Preferred team members appear first when staff choose a crew for that customer's visit. Restricted team members cannot be newly assigned while the policy applies. The management explanation stays on the customer profile; Scheduling shows only safe preference or restriction guidance.
Users need customer and Scheduling access plus access to all jobs to view the card. Writing policies requires write access to both Customers and Scheduling. Use Archive with a reason to stop a policy without deleting its history, then turn on Show archived policies and select Restore if it should apply again.
Work locations and Properties
The Work locations card keeps the addresses used for scheduling. Users with customer write permission and access to all jobs can select Edit beside a location, update its name or address, choose whether it is the primary location, and select Save changes. Making one location primary removes the primary status from the previous location.
When you choose an address suggestion, ToolbagCRM saves the location's map position and shows Map ready. Select View map to open that position. A manually entered location shows Map pin not set. If you change the address of a mapped location without choosing a new suggestion, its status changes to Map pin needs review and the map link stays hidden until you select a current suggestion and save again.
When the Properties (Pilot) plugin is available and the customer has property profiles, the same card also shows each property name with Gate, Alarm, Lockbox, or Dog indicators when those access details are stored. Select View in Properties to review the full property profile; the customer card shows that an access detail exists without displaying the code itself.
Activity history
A chronological record of status changes, notes, payments, and other events on this customer record.
How customers connect to ToolbagCRM
Customers are the anchor for most ToolbagCRM workflows. Jobs, quotes, invoices, memberships, communications, customer equipment, service areas, and customer-facing features all connect back to the customer record so the team sees the full relationship instead of hunting across separate tools.
Tips
- Keep the primary phone and email current so dispatch, invoicing, and automated messages reach the right person.
- Set Customer type consistently, then combine it with tags to find useful segments such as commercial organizations or residential customers.
- Use the Contacts card when an account has separate owners, billing contacts, property managers, or site contacts. Assign work locations so the team can see who belongs to each site.
- Use Crew assignment policies for lasting customer or location preferences instead of relying on visit notes. Add an end date for temporary restrictions so they stop affecting future schedules automatically.
- Set Preferred message language to the language the customer wants to receive. ToolbagCRM uses the recipient's saved English or Spanish preference for supported quote emails, public quote and invoice payment pages, review requests, recurring-service reminders, and equipment-rental reminders; staff can change the customer preference from Edit customer at any time.
- Use address suggestions when they appear, but still review the suite/unit, city, state/region, and ZIP/postal code before saving; those structured fields power search, weather, and job-location displays.
- Keep the ZIP/postal code field current when the service address changes; weather-aware cards and forecasts use that postal code before falling back to a legacy free-form address.
- Use tags consistently so searches, filters, and automations stay useful as your customer list grows.
- Put service-location notes on the customer or property record instead of burying them in one job. When Properties is available, use its Gate, Alarm, Lockbox, and Dog indicators on the customer profile as a reminder to open the property before dispatch and review the full access details.
- Before creating a new customer, search by phone, email, company name, and street address to avoid duplicates.
- Use the Notes field for gate codes, pet warnings, billing preferences, or anything the crew should know before arriving.
- Review the Open Balance stat card before scheduling new work for a customer with outstanding invoices.
Troubleshooting
The customer list is empty
If you just enabled the account, click Add Customer to create the first record. If customers existed before but the list is blank, check the search bar and tag filters — a cleared filter may reveal hidden results.
Email or phone is required
Add a valid email address or phone number before saving. This requirement also applies when you edit a customer, so you cannot clear both contact fields. If you enter both, each value must be valid.
A customer was created by mistake
Customer records are retained to preserve their history, so the edit panel does not include a delete action. Correct the contact details, address, tags, or notes on the existing record. If you created a duplicate, keep the record with the most complete history and contact ToolbagCRM support for help resolving the extra record.
Search is not finding a customer
The search bar matches name, email, phone, and address. Try searching by phone number or email if the name spelling is uncertain. Clear the Customer type and tag filters too — the customer may not match the selected classification or tag.
Customer tag filters couldn't be loaded
Select Retry in the warning. The customer list remains available, but tag choices cannot be trusted until they reload.
A contact may be a duplicate
ToolbagCRM warns when another contact on the same customer has the email or phone you entered. Review the existing contact first. If they are genuinely different people who share that contact method, select Save as a separate contact.
A customer changed after you opened it
ToolbagCRM keeps your draft open and disables Save changes so a newer update is not overwritten. Select Reload current data when you are ready to replace the draft, review the latest customer details, reapply any needed edits, and save again. If the reload fails, your draft stays in the edit panel; check your connection and retry.
A contact changed after you opened it
Reload the customer profile, reopen the contact, and apply your changes again. This protects a newer update made by another user from being overwritten.
Contact controls are not available
Users without customer write access can view the contacts available to them but cannot add, edit, archive, or restore contacts. Ask an account administrator to update the contact or grant the required access.
Crew assignment policies are not available
The card requires customer and Scheduling access plus access to all jobs. Adding, editing, archiving, or restoring a policy also requires write access to both Customers and Scheduling. Ask an administrator to review those permissions.
A crew assignment policy will not save
Choose a team member, add a management explanation, and make sure the optional end is later than the start. If the policy changed after you opened it, reload the customer profile before trying again. ToolbagCRM also prevents an identical active policy from being saved twice.
Address suggestions do not appear
Address suggestions start after you type at least three characters in Address line 1. If no suggestions appear, keep entering the address manually; ToolbagCRM still saves the structured address fields and formats them on the customer record.
A work location will not save
Open the customer's Work locations card and make sure the location has a name. If ToolbagCRM still cannot save it, shorten any pasted values: the location name can contain up to 200 characters, the address up to 500, the city up to 100, the state or region up to 50, and the ZIP or postal code up to 20.
A work location says the map pin needs review
The address changed after ToolbagCRM saved its prior map position. Edit the location, choose the current address from the suggestions, review the filled city, state, and ZIP, then select Save changes. View map returns when the location is Map ready.
Duplicate customers appear
If two records exist for the same person or company, open each one and verify which has the most complete job and invoice history. Update the preferred record with any missing contact details. Customer records cannot be deleted, so contact ToolbagCRM support for help resolving the duplicate. Going forward, search before adding new customers.