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Duplicates

How Novadesko spots an existing customer while you type, what blocks saving and how to clean up.

Updated on 06/10/2026 Edit this page Open in the full documentation

Two records for the same customer distort your turnover, the VAT listing and reminders. The customer form therefore compares what you type with existing records, before saving, and distinguishes blocking cases from mere similarities.

What is compared

The check runs half a second after each change to the VAT number, the first Email address or the Company name. Values are normalised before comparison:

  • the VAT number loses its spaces, dots, hyphens and slashes ("be 0651.777.889" becomes "BE0651777889");
  • the email address is compared regardless of case;
  • the name is compared without accents or punctuation, and without the legal form (SRL, SA, BV, NV, SPRL, ASBL...): "Boulangerie Lefèvre SRL" and "boulangerie lefevre" are considered identical.

The three alert levels

Level Case Effect
Blocking A customer already has this VAT number. Save is disabled.
To confirm Same email address, similar name, or VAT number already registered as a supplier. Saving asks for confirmation.
Information The VAT number matches a company registered on Novadesko. No blocking.
The VAT number already exists: saving is blocked
  1. You enter a VAT number already used by another customer.
  2. You click Save.
  3. Saving is refused and the message points out the duplicate.

The box appears under the VAT number. It names the record found, for example "A customer with this VAT number already exists: Boulangerie Lefèvre (code 10000002)", then "Cannot create a duplicate: open the existing record or change the VAT number." The « Ouvrir la fiche » (open record) button leads straight to the existing customer.

For a similarity to confirm, the message is "A customer with this email address already exists: ...", "A customer with a similar name already exists: ..." or "This VAT number already exists as a supplier: ...". The « Créer quand même » (create anyway) button lifts the warning; the box then reads "Creation confirmed despite the similarity." If you click Save without confirming, the message "A similar customer already exists: confirm with « Créer quand même »." reminds you of the missing step.

Note

The check is purely local and changes nothing. If the list cannot be loaded, it simply reports fewer matches; the server refuses a second customer with the same VAT number in the same company in any case.

From a document

When you create a customer without leaving an invoice or a quote, the same box appears in the creation window, with an extra button: « Utiliser ce client » (use this customer) takes the existing record into the document instead of creating a new one. That is the right answer in most cases.

Clean up existing duplicates

Customers imported or created before this check was introduced may exist twice. To find them:

  1. In the list, sort by Name (Name header or Sort by filter › « Entreprise (A-Z) » (company A to Z)): namesakes follow one another.
  2. Compare the records: customer code, VAT number, Documents tab.
  3. Keep the record that carries the documents. Delete the other with Delete, or tick several rows then Multiple selection › Delete.
  4. If both records carry documents, archive the less complete one (Edit › « Client archivé » (archived customer)): it disappears from the selectors without losing the history.
Warning

There is no automatic merge of two customer records: the documents of one record are not transferred to the other. A record linked to documents cannot be deleted, only archived. The merge described in Suppliers: VIES and duplicates concerns purchase documents, not customers.

See also