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Managing customers

Your customer database is the starting point for every job, invoice, and service record in FSM Navigator™. This guide walks you through adding new customers, keeping their information up to date, and finding them quickly when you need to.

Add a new customer

  1. Open the Customers page from the sidebar menu.
  2. Click Create Customer.
  3. Fill in the customer details using the table below as a reference.
  4. Start typing the first service address in the Address box, then pick the matching address from the list. The street, city, state, and ZIP fill in for you.
  5. Click Save.
  1. Tap the Menu icon, then tap Customers.
  2. Tap the + button in the top-right corner.
  3. Fill in the customer name and contact details.
  4. Start typing the service address, then tap the matching suggestion. The state and ZIP fill in for you.
  5. Tap Save.

Customer fields

Field Required How it's filled
Customer Name Yes You type it — company or individual name, e.g., Acme HVAC or Jane Smith
Contact Email Yes You type it — primary email used for invoices and notifications
Contact Phone Yes You type it, however you like — e.g., (555) 123-4567
Location Name Yes You type it — a label for the first service address, e.g., Main Office
Street Address Yes Filled from the address you pick — e.g., 742 Evergreen Terrace
City Yes Filled from the address you pick — e.g., Springfield
State Yes Filled from the address you pick — a two-letter state code, e.g., TX
ZIP Code Yes Filled from the address you pick — five digits (78701) or ZIP+4 (78701-1234)

Every field above is required, so you always have a way to reach the customer and a complete address to dispatch to. If you miss one, the form highlights each problem field at once and tells you what to fix — you won't lose anything you already typed.

The address fields aren't typed — they're picked

On the web, street, city, state, and ZIP are filled in from the address you select and can't be edited by hand. On mobile, state and ZIP work the same way. That's deliberate: it keeps every service address a real, complete place, so your team is never dispatched to an address that doesn't exist. If something looks wrong, pick a different address rather than trying to correct the boxes.

If an address is refused

You'll occasionally pick a suggestion and see a message instead of filled-in fields. That happens when the suggestion isn't specific enough to dispatch to:

  • "This address is missing a ZIP code" (or a state, city, or street) — you picked a city, a region, or a whole road rather than a specific building. Keep typing and pick the suggestion that includes the street number.
  • "That address is outside the United States" — service addresses must be in the US, including DC and the US territories.

Nothing is filled in when an address is refused, so you never end up with half of one address mixed into another. Just pick a more specific suggestion and the fields fill in normally.

Same address rules as bulk import

The state and ZIP rules here match the ones the customer import file uses. An address that imports cleanly will also save cleanly from this form, and vice versa.

Duplicate email or phone numbers

An email address or phone number can only belong to one customer at a time. If you enter one that's already in use, the customer isn't saved — instead you'll see which field caused it and which customer already has it, by name and ID:

  • Another active customer has it. Use a different email or phone. If this is really the same client at a second site, add the new address as another location on the existing customer instead of creating a second record.
  • A removed customer has it. Restore that customer first (see Restore a removed customer), then edit their details. Restoring keeps all of their history intact.

Your form stays open with everything you typed still in place, so you only need to change the one field that's flagged.

Email validation

The customer's primary email — when you provide one — is validated for two things:

  • It must not be a disposable or temporary email domain (throwaway-address services are rejected).
  • The domain must have working mail records (MX or A/AAAA records) so email can actually reach it.

If validation fails, the customer is not saved and you'll see a specific error. Either correct the address or leave the field blank if you don't have a permanent email on file yet.

Edit customer details

  1. Open the Customers page.
  2. Click the customer name to open their detail page.
  3. Click Edit next to the contact information section.
  4. Update the fields you need to change.
  5. Click Save.

Changes take effect immediately and are reflected everywhere the customer appears — including open jobs and pending invoices.

Search and filter customers

Finding the right customer is fast, even with hundreds of records.

  • Global search — Use the search bar at the top of the Customers page. It searches across customer names, email addresses, and phone numbers simultaneously. Name matching finds partial text (typing "acme" matches "Acme Plumbing"), while email and phone matching looks for an exact match — enter the full email address or phone number to find that customer. You can also search by customer ID number.
  • Phone search accepts any format — (555) 123-4567, 5551234567, 15551234567, and +15551234567 all find the same customer. Type the number however it's written on the work order.
  • Your search survives a filter change — switching between Active, Inactive, and All keeps whatever you typed and re-runs it against the new filter, so you don't have to type it again.
  • Alphabetical sorting — Click the column headers to sort the customer list by name, date added, or other fields.
  • Scroll or paginate — The customer list loads one page at a time, so the page stays responsive.

Avoid duplicates

Before adding a new customer, search for their name or email first. Duplicate records lead to split job histories and confusing invoices.

Deactivate a customer

Customers can be deactivated by users with the Owner or Dispatcher role. Deactivating is always reversible — nothing is erased.

  1. On the customer list, click the trash icon on the customer's row.
  2. The confirmation names the customer and their ID so you can be certain you've got the right one, and spells out what happens next.
  3. Click Deactivate.

The customer moves to the Inactive filter. Their jobs, invoices, and work orders stay linked to them exactly as they were — deactivating changes nothing about the work history.

Past jobs and invoices stay linked

A deactivated customer's completed jobs, invoices, and audit records remain available for reporting. Deactivating hides the customer from your default list; the historic transactions stay in place for accounting.

Restore a removed customer

Removed a customer by mistake, or a past client came back? You can bring them back without losing any history:

  1. On the customer list, open the status filter (top left) and choose Inactive (or All).
  2. Find the removed customer in the list — they show an Inactive badge.
  3. Click the Restore button on their row and confirm. You can also open the customer and click Restore Customer in the banner at the top of their page.

The customer becomes active again immediately, and all of their existing jobs, invoices, and work orders stay linked to them — nothing is re-created or re-entered.

Re-adding a removed customer does not bring them back

If you try to create a new customer using the email or phone of one you removed earlier, the form stops you and points you at that original record instead. Restoring is always a deliberate step you take yourself — so a new record can never quietly overwrite the name, contact details, or history of a customer someone else removed.

Customer detail page

When you open a customer, the detail page gives you a complete picture at a glance:

  • Contact information — Name, email, phone number
  • Locations — All service addresses on file
  • Service history — Every job linked to this customer, sorted by date
  • Invoice history — All invoices generated for this customer
  • Notes — Internal notes visible only to your team

From the detail page you can also:

  • Create a job directly for this customer using the quick-action button
  • Add new locations without leaving the page
  • Generate an invoice from any completed job in the history list

Opening an inactive customer

Inactive customers have a detail page too — you can open one from the Inactive filter and read everything on file: contact details, locations, service history, and invoices. The page opens read-only, with an Inactive badge and a banner across the top explaining why editing is turned off. Editing controls are switched off rather than hidden, so nothing about the record is hidden from you.

Click Restore Customer in that banner when you're ready to work with them again. The page reloads with editing turned back on.

Jobs for an inactive customer

Making a customer inactive stops new work going their way, without disturbing work that is already underway:

  • New jobs are blocked. Creating a job at one of their locations, or moving an existing job onto one of their locations, is refused with a short message asking you to restore the customer first.
  • New dispatch is blocked. Assigning a technician to a job that sits at an inactive customer's location is refused for the same reason.
  • Work already in progress continues. Jobs raised while the customer was still active are untouched — a technician can travel, arrive, work and complete them as normal, and you can still edit those jobs and invoice them. Nothing is cancelled and nothing is unlinked.

Restoring the customer immediately lifts all three restrictions.

Best practices for a clean customer database

Consistency is key

A well-maintained customer database saves time every day — when creating jobs, sending invoices, and pulling reports.

  • Keep names consistent — Decide on a format (e.g., Acme HVAC vs. ACME HVAC Inc.) and stick with it across your team.
  • Add all contact methods — Entering both email and phone gives you more ways to reach the customer and improves notification delivery.
  • Use the search before creating — A quick search prevents duplicates that are tedious to clean up later.
  • Review inactive customers periodically — Reactivate customers who return, or leave them inactive for a clean active list.
  • Fill in location details — Every customer should have at least one location with a complete address. See Customer Locations for guidance.

Frequently asked questions

Can I merge duplicate customers?

FSM Navigator does not currently offer an automatic merge feature. If you find duplicates, update all jobs and invoices to point to the correct customer record, then deactivate the duplicate. The Bulk Import tool includes duplicate detection to help prevent this going forward.

What happens when I deactivate a customer?

Owners and Dispatchers can deactivate a customer at any time. The customer moves to the Inactive filter and disappears from your default list. Their past jobs and invoices stay in your records and reports — accounting and history are preserved, and nothing is unlinked. You can open an inactive customer to read their file at any time, and restore them in one click.

Why can't I reuse a removed customer's email or phone?

Each email address and phone number belongs to one customer at a time, active or not. If you enter one that's already taken, the form names the customer who has it so you can decide what you actually want: restore that customer, add the new site as another location on them, or use a different contact detail. This is deliberate — it stops a new record from silently taking over an existing customer's name and history.

Can customers see their own data?

Yes — on the Pro plan and above, you can enable the Customer Portal, which gives customers self-service access to view their jobs, invoices, and service history.

How do I import many customers at once?

Use the Bulk Import feature to upload a CSV file with your customer records. FSM Navigator validates the data, checks for duplicates, and creates all customers and locations in one batch.

Who can manage customers?

Owners and Dispatchers can create, edit, and deactivate customers. Technicians can view customer details for their assigned jobs but cannot modify customer records.

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