Merge, Deactivate, and Organize

The Basics

Clients vs. Locations

• Clients are your billing accounts — the entity you invoice

• Locations are service addresses — where the work happens

A single client can have many locations. For example, "Hillsborough School District" (client) might have "Elementary School," "Intermediate School," and "Admin Building" (locations).

Why This Matters

When duplicate records exist, your team wastes time asking "which account do I use?" and risks billing errors. Roopairs gives you tools to clean up duplicates and keep your database organized.

Client Merge

Use client merge when you have two separate client accounts that should be one.

Common scenarios:

• Someone created "ABC Company" and "ABC Company Inc." as separate accounts

• A franchise location was set up as its own client instead of under the parent

• Import created duplicates that weren't caught

How to Merge Clients

1. Navigate to the client you want to eliminate (the duplicate)

2. Click Merge Client

3. Search for and select the destination client (the one you're keeping)

4. Review the preview showing what will transfer vs. what will be ignored

5. Click Confirm Merge

What Transfers

• Service Locations — All move to destination client

• Contacts — Added if not exact duplicates

• Jobs — All transfer to destination

• Invoices — All transfer to destination

• Estimates — All transfer to destination

• Equipment — All transfers with locations

• Billing Address — Only if destination is blank

• Notes — Only if destination is blank

What Doesn't Transfer

• Client Name — Destination name preserved

• Client Type — Destination preserved

• Industry Type — Destination preserved

• Labels — Not transferred

• Credit Limit — Destination preserved

• Payment Terms — Destination preserved

• Price Overrides — Lost (see warning below)

• Payment Methods (via Stripe) — Not transferred (see warning below)

The Preview Screen

Before confirming, you'll see indicators for each field:

• Green plus — This will be added to the destination

• Yellow warning — This doesn't match and will be ignored

• No icon — Values already match

After Merging

1. Review the merged client record

2. Confirm the client name is correct

3. Check contacts for duplicates and consolidate

4. Verify all locations look correct

5. Recreate any custom pricing if needed

Location Merge

Use location merge when you have duplicate locations within the same client.

Common scenarios:

• Same address entered twice with slight variations

• Location created for a job, then created again later

• Import created duplicate locations

How to Merge Locations

1. Open the client containing the duplicate locations

2. Navigate to the location you want to eliminate

3. Click Merge Location

4. Select the destination location (the one you're keeping)

5. Review and confirm

What Transfers

• All jobs

• All invoices

• All estimates

• All equipment (renamed with "(merged)" suffix if name conflicts)

• All contacts

• Name, address, and notes (only if destination is blank)

Important Limitation

Location merge only works within the same client. You cannot merge a location from Client A into Client B.

Moving Locations Between Clients

This is not self-service. If you need to move a location from one client to a completely different client, contact Roopairs support.

When this happens:

• Franchise ownership changes hands

• Location was accidentally assigned to wrong client

• Business restructuring changes billing relationships

What to expect:

• All jobs and invoices follow the location

• Historical data remains intact

• QuickBooks records update accordingly

Contact help@roopairs.com with the location name, current client, and destination client.

Client Deactivation

Use deactivation when a client is no longer active but you want to keep all historical data.

Common scenarios:

• Client went out of business

• Client switched to a competitor

• Seasonal client you might work with again

How to Deactivate

1. Open the client record

2. Click Deactivate

3. Add an optional note explaining why

4. Confirm

What Happens

• Client remains visible in lists by default (use filters to hide inactive clients)

• All jobs, invoices, and history remain intact

• You can still search for and find the client

• You can still access all historical records

• You can reactivate anytime

Deactivation vs. Merge

• Two accounts for same client → Use Merge

• Client no longer active → Use Deactivate

• Cleaning up test accounts → Use Deactivate (if has data) or contact support for deletion

• Wrong billing info on old account → Use Merge into correct account

Filtering Active vs. Inactive Clients

By default, client lists show all clients (active and inactive together). Use the filter options to:

• Show only active clients

• Show only inactive clients

• Show all clients (default)

Reactivating a Client

1. Search for and open the deactivated client

2. Click Reactivate

3. Client returns to normal active status

Location Deactivation

Location deactivation does not exist. Locations can only be:

• Merged into another location (within the same client)

• Left as-is

If you have an obsolete location, consider:

• Updating its name to indicate it's closed (e.g., "123 Main St - CLOSED")

• Merging it into another location if it was a duplicate

• Leaving it for historical reference

QuickBooks Integration

How Merges Sync

QuickBooks Desktop:

• Merges execute immediately in Roopairs

• QuickBooks shows a "pending merge" until processed

• Pending merges do not expire — they wait until processed

• Requires single-user mode in QuickBooks to complete

• Once processed, the two entities merge into a single customer in QuickBooks

• Process merges in batches, then coordinate with your QB administrator

QuickBooks Online:

• Merges sync automatically

• No manual intervention required

• Source customer is marked inactive with "(deleted)" appended to the name

How Deactivation/Reactivations Sync

• Deactivated clients sync as inactive clients in QuickBooks

• Reactivated clients sync as active clients

• All changes require normal sync cycle to complete

Data Integrity Notes

Jobs in Progress

Merging clients or locations with active jobs is allowed. All jobs transfer regardless of status — pending, scheduled, active, on-hold, completed, or finalized.

Unpaid Invoices

All invoices transfer to the destination client/location. Outstanding balances aggregate under the new record. Payments remain attached to their invoices.

Recurring Jobs

Job series (recurring jobs) transfer to the destination and continue generating new jobs as scheduled. No interruption to recurring service.

Equipment

Equipment transfers with its location. If both source and destination have equipment with the same name, the transferred equipment gets "(merged)" added to its name.

Common Questions

🔹 Can I undo a merge?

No. Merges are permanent. The source client or location is deleted after merge. Always verify you're merging the correct records before confirming.

🔹 Do I need special permissions to merge?

Yes. Only users with the Service Dispatcher role (or custom roles with full Clients edit and delete permissions) can merge clients and locations. Technicians cannot perform merges.

🔹 Will my historical reports change?

Reports pull from current data, so merged records will show under the destination client/location name. The original source client name is preserved in the merge event on the Client Timeline (found at the bottom of the client details page).

🔹 Can I merge more than two clients at once?

Not directly. Merge one pair at a time. For multiple duplicates, merge A into B, then merge A+B into C, and so on.

🔹 What if I just want to hide a location temporarily?

Locations cannot be deactivated. Use a naming convention like adding "- INACTIVE" to the location name, or merge it if it's a true duplicate.

🔹 Why do I have duplicate contacts after merging?

Contacts only auto-deduplicate if they match exactly on name, phone, phone extension, and email. "Jim Smith" and "James Smith" with the same phone number will both appear after merge. Review and manually consolidate contacts with slight variations.

🔹 How do I know if a merge completed in QuickBooks?

For QuickBooks Desktop, check with your administrator after processing in single-user mode. For QuickBooks Online, changes sync automatically within the normal sync cycle.

Best Practices

Before merging:

1. Identify which record has the most accurate billing information

2. Note any custom pricing on the source (it won't transfer)

3. Review contacts on both records

4. Confirm you're eliminating the duplicate, not the original

For ongoing cleanup:

• Establish naming conventions to prevent duplicates

• Train staff on searching before creating new clients

• Review new client creations periodically

• Use labels to flag accounts needing review

For QuickBooks Desktop users:

• Batch your merges and process together

• Coordinate single-user mode time with your team

• Keep your QB administrator informed of merge activity

Questions? Need Help With a Complex Merge?

Contact our support team at help@roopairs.com — we're here to help!