> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.fikatrade.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Archive or remove a customer

> What happens when you mark a customer inactive or delete their record.

FikaTrade gives you two different ways to stop a customer from being active in your workspace — marking them **Inactive**, and using the **Delete** action. They behave differently, and it's worth knowing which one you want.

## Before you begin

Any team member can use either action.

## Mark a customer Inactive

This is the lighter-weight, reversible option. Open the customer's record, select **Edit**, and set **Availability** to Inactive.

This is a status flag on the customer record. We haven't verified whether it blocks the customer from placing new orders, so treat it as a way to flag a customer as no longer active rather than a guaranteed order block. You can set it back to Active at any time.

## Delete a customer

From a customer's record, open **Edit** and select **Delete**. You'll see a confirmation asking "Delete this customer?" with a warning that this permanently deletes the record.

<Warning>
  What actually happens depends on whether the customer has any order history:

  * **If the customer has never placed an order**, their record is permanently deleted, along with your relationship to them. This cannot be undone.
  * **If the customer has order or invoice history**, their record isn't actually erased — FikaTrade deactivates your relationship with them and archives their record instead, so that historical orders and invoices remain intact. Their pricing group and delivery fee assignment are cleared.

  Either way, the confirmation dialog uses the same wording ("Delete this customer?"), so be aware that a customer with history is archived, not erased, even though the button says Delete.
</Warning>

There's currently no way to restore a customer once you've deleted or archived them this way — if you need to trade with them again, you'll need to add them as a new customer. See [Add a customer](/supplier-guide/customers/add-a-customer).

## Which to use

* Use **Inactive** if you might resume trading with this customer, or you're not sure.
* Use **Delete** only if you're confident you no longer need this customer record — remembering that their history is preserved automatically if they have any.

## Related guides

* [Customers overview](/supplier-guide/customers/overview)
* [Manage customer details](/supplier-guide/customers/manage-customer-details)