Customers and Vendors - Preferences

Before you start creating customer or vendor records in Zoho ERP, you need to configure certain preferences that meet your business requirements. To do so:

Go to Settings.
Navigate to the Module Settings section.
Select Customers and Vendors under General.

General Settings

Allow Duplicate Names For Your Customers & Vendors

By default, Zoho ERP does not allow recording multiple customers or vendors with the same name. Enable this option if your business requires recording customers or vendors with identical names (who share the same name).

Customer & Vendor Numbers

You can assign auto-generated numbers for the customers or vendors you record in Zoho ERP, for easier internal tracking. To do so:

Under General, check the Enable Customer Numbers to auto-generate numbers only for your customers.
Check the Enable Vendor Numbers to auto-generate numbers only for your vendors.
Click Save.

Once enabled, Zoho ERP automatically assigns the numbers to customers and vendors.

Warning: You cannot disable this preference after enabling it.

Default Customer Type

Choose the type of customer you frequently sell goods or services to. Zoho ERP applies this type whenever you create a new customer. You can also change the customer type in the Create Customer page, if required. The available customer types are:

Business
Individual

Scenario: Patricia uses Zoho ERP. She mostly sells to businesses. Instead of selecting the option whenever she creates a customer, she sets the Default Customer Type to* Business. So, this type is automatically applied to the new customers she creates. When she sells to an individual, she manually chooses the* Individual customer type.

Customer Credit Limit

The CustonAs a business owner, you would sell goods or services to your customers on credit. This in turn increases the risk of having huge amounts of outstanding balances from your customers. To avoid this, you can set limits on how much you can sell to your customers on credit. To set credit limit for your customers:

Under General, check the Enable Credit Limit option. Next, choose what you’d like to do when the credit limit exceeds for a customer.
Restrict creating or updating invoices: When the credit limit is exceeded for a customer, a warning will appear at the top of the page, and you must update the credit limit to continue or halt creating or updating the customer’s invoice.
Show a warning and allow users to proceed: When the credit limit is exceeded, a warning will appear at the top of the page, and you can proceed creating or updating the transaction.
Enable the Include sales orders’ amount in limiting the credits given to customers option to include the amounts from the customers’ sales orders as well.
Click Save.

The credit limit will be set for your customers, based on chosen preferences.

Note: The credit limit set for your customers will not affect the recurring invoices and subscriptions associated with them.

Customer and Vendor Address Formats

You can choose the format for your customers and vendors’ addresses on how it must be recorded in your transaction PDFs. To do this:

Under General, scroll down to the Customer and Vendor Billing Address Format, or Customer and Vendor Shipping Address Format.
To include a placeholder, click the Insert Placeholders dropdown, and select the placeholder you want to include.
To remove a placeholder, select the required one and remove it.
Click Save.

The billing and shipping address formats will be configured, based on your preferences.

Field Customization

Apart from the list of default fields, you can create custom fields to capture additional information about your customers and vendors. Learn more about Field Customization.

Validation Rules

Validation rules in Zoho ERP ensure that the data entered is accurate and complete. When you enter information, Zoho ERP automatically checks it against the rule and shows an alert if it violates the conditions. It can be used to prevent errors, maintain consistency, and improve data reliability. Learn more about Validation Rules.

Custom Buttons

Custom buttons in Zoho ERP let you perform specific actions for customers and vendors with a single click. You can create buttons to automate tasks, link to external tools, or trigger workflows directly from a record. These buttons save time, reduce repetitive work, and keep processes consistent. Learn more about Custom Buttons.

Related lists in Zoho ERP show connected information, such as invoices, payments, or orders, directly within a customer or vendor record. They help you see all relevant data in one place without switching screens. Learn more about Related Lists.