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It is ridiculous that this can't be done if there are no transactions attached. What is the point of merging contacts if contact remains in archive. If there are no transactions, please Xero do what MYOB desktop has always allowed when there are no transactions. I can't believe that Xero Support cannot assist with this. For a product that generally delivers on what customers need, it is really failing to provide a much needed function in this instance.

There's so much support on here for this, but there must be a reason that almost three years later, it's not been implemented. Xero please let us know why to save our sanity.

This is something that annoys me on a daily basis. Xero makes it far too easy to create a new contact by mistake. If a bill comes in and the name of the supplier is not exactly as you have saved it, it creates it's own new contact. I have over 750 archived contacts due to my accountant improperly importing contacts when it was set up and no way of getting rid of them. None of these have any transaction history. But just like every other idea here XERO DONOT CARE ABOUT ITS CUSTOMERS

A client's Xero file was hacked recently, and "it" (hacker) created two new contacts - a supplier and a customer - and entered two transactions and a payrun. Luckily, my colleague found the payrun and we raised a case with Xero Support. The Support staff have been amazing, and the case was escalated quickly. However, whilst the payrun and the other transactions have been deleted, we can't delete the two unauthorised contacts!! We should have the ability to delete these contacts!! From the comments on here, it seems that Xero has well and truly dropped the ball on this. Even with the purple software you can delete a "Card" if there are no transactions associated with that card. Come on Xero - STEP UP!!

Possible (if not likely) breach of GDPR. If a customer requests that an organisation may no longer hold details then it MUST be deleted. This is called right to be forgotten. A quick message to the Information Commissioner's Office will have Xero in the bad books, so Xero, along with many other features that have been continually requested but ignored, you best get this one done!

Agree. But Xero could take it one step further ......
After 7-years, I do not have to keep any transactions/clients for auditing purposes.
The ability to delete these is something that has been suggested before.
Why can't we have this as a feature instead of giving a **** new invoice layout????

It is so easy in Xero to inadvertently create a new Contact instead of selecting the actual, already existing Contact. I cannot see why you shouldn't be able to delete a Contact if there are no transactions/activity/records linked to that Contact. Obviously, a Contact with transactions linked to it should not be able to be deleted.

I have been with Xero since 2015 and asked this way back then. Still nothing.
I would like to be able to delete everything that is over 7-years old which DOES NOT have to be kept for auditing purposes. Nup. Nothing.
Clearly do not want to invest in their platform for such simple things.
Tidy Accounts are Happy Accounts!

I have hundreds of contacts that have no transaction history because the accountant who imported from my old system imported every contact I wanted twice and all the contacts I didn't want as well. I have no way of fixing their mistake. You can 'merge' contacts, but this still leaves the merged contact in archived. It does not get rid of it. What a mess! Come on Xero, do something about this. It's ridiculous that the idea to fix this problem has been here for over a decade and you have done nothing!!

Xero makes it far to easy to create duplicate contacts, we use the import bill feature in AR and AP and the slightest of variance to account name creates a new record. We are implementing a new CRM, and have had to rule out an API with Xero because of this problem. We have a genuine reason to archive contacts, (debtors and creditors we no transactions in the past years). But the ability to delete them is a must for an efficient finance system and a tidy one

Please please PLEASE let us delete contacts with no transactions associated with them!!
Why have people been asking for this for 10 years and nothing been done?!
It is FAR too easy to create a new contact when you're creating an invoice by just typing the first few letters of your chosen current contact. The name has appeared in the drop down menu, but the internet/Xero is too slow it's not highlighted it yet, enter, then HEY PRESTO!! A new contact has been created!! With the first 3 letters of your real customer contact. Awesome. No phone number associated. No contact name. No address. No email address. No vat info never mind accounting preferences. Just yet another 3 lettered duplicate contact. Great. Messy Xero.
At the very least you could offer an "are you sure" box needing another click/enter before you get to add another contact???

Neil Blackler - users are asking for this for quite a few years now and nothing ever happens.

Xero is ignoring us completely,while they increasse their prices and anounce updates,changes,removals of functionalities that aren't broken.

Last example:

Classic invoicing is retiring in Sep 2024 being replaced with the New invoicing which is completely useless and 1000 times worse than the classic. New invoices is a lot worse than the current Classic invoiceing but Xero doesn't care.

https://productideas.xero.com/forums/939198-for-small-businesses/suggestions/47718878-new-invoicing-keep-classic-invoicing

I would very much like to see this feature. When a contact has been set-up in error and has no transactional history or records against it, there is no reason why it would need to be retained for audit purposes. It's a tidying up exercise. It is too easy to accidentally set-up a supplie that is similar and once you realise it's too late and you are stuck with it.

Almost another year gone by and this is still not even close to be implemented.

Just asking Xero:

Are you planning to ignore us for another 5 years?

Set up a supplier account in error but cannot delete - seems very strange that their is no option to delete.

This Delete option has been asked for years and Xero keeps ignoring it.

Instead, they do have a pretty good way of charging for the software and increase prices. They never miss on payments but a delete option and other requests are ignored most of the time.

Maybe is time for some free publicity so others won't fall for this "great software"

Yes! We synced Xero with a CRM to test it out. Within days we had over 400k contacts and 95% of them don't have any activity and there is no way for us to filter through all 400k of them to remove them, so now Xero runs like a snail.

Xero is purposely designed so that you exceed 10,000 contacts and the system becomes unstable (as confirmed by Xero Support). If you make a mistake and say upload 1,000 contacts in error, there is no way of deleting them, you can only archive them. This is absurd what do you need an audit trail for contacts with no transactions tied to them ? Furthermore when you merge contacts your contact count remains the same...again with the same issue regarding an audit trail. Suggestion for an audit trail you do not need to store the old contact all you need to state is a one liner - Contact Mr Bloggs merged with Joseph Bloggs !!! its not rocket science !!!

The only workaround I've found for this issue is to create a new contact called "Deleted contacts" or similar, and merge all the extraneous contacts to that one, so at least there's only _one_ contact clogging the list.

Now to go through the list one by one to determine which contacts are empty and get to be merged into nonexistence...

Very important, critical to remove old non transacted contacts from a Xero account that are from a previous Xero account.