# Fishbowl: "Cannot delete customer—has inventory history"

> Customer deletion blocked because the customer has transaction or inventory records.

## What it means
Fishbowl won't delete this customer because they're tied to inventory transactions—typically an order, shipment, receipt, or similar record. This is standard ERP behavior: systems protect customers with history to prevent data corruption and audit-trail breaks.

## What to check
- Whether deletion is actually necessary (usually only for duplicates or test records).
- What inventory transactions are tied to this customer—search for them in orders (sales and purchases), shipments, and receipts.
- Whether your Fishbowl setup allows marking a customer inactive or archived as an alternative to deletion.

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*From Israel Lopez Consulting (ILC). Custom Fishbowl Inventory integrations and software, and Fishbowl experts since 2015. Written by Israel Lopez. Questions about this topic, or want to reach the people who wrote it? Visit https://israellopezconsulting.com/contact*