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Where did a deleted item go?
By the end of this article you will know where to look for a record that seems to have vanished, and what to expect from a deletion — before you make one.
Symptoms
- A customer, service, product, package or employee is no longer in its list.
- You deleted something by mistake and want it back.
- You tried to delete something and the app refused.
- A job or invoice you expected to see is gone from the list you usually use.
Likely causes
- It was deactivated, retired or archived, not deleted. The app prefers to switch a record off rather than remove it, and most lists hide switched-off records by default. Customers move to the Inactive tab; services, products, gear and fleet vehicles appear under Show inactive; packages under Show archived; an employee’s row reads Inactive.
- A filter or a tab is hiding it. The jobs, quotes and invoices lists open on a default status and date range. A canceled job is still on the calendar, in red; a voided invoice is still on the invoices list under its own status.
- It really was deleted. Delete is the trash icon with a confirmation that says it cannot be undone, and it means it: there is no recycle bin and no undo in the app.
- The delete was refused because history depends on it. The app will not delete a customer with any job, quote, invoice, payment, credit memo, plan or sent message; a service a job still to be done uses; a fleet vehicle that has driven routes; an invoice that is not a draft or voided; a quote that is not a draft, declined or expired. The message says so and points you at deactivating or voiding instead.
- You deleted a customer and they came back. Adding a customer with the same email as a deleted one revives the old record — notes, tags and all — rather than creating a second person.
What to do
- Look in the hiding places first: the Inactive tab on Customers; Show inactive on Catalog → Services, Inventory, Gear and Vehicles; Show archived on Packages & Plans; the Inactive rows on Team → Employees. Switch the record back on with its Active switch, or Restore package.
- Widen the list: clear the search box, set the status filter to all, and extend the date range. Type the customer’s name, the plate or the invoice number into the search on the page.
- To take something out of daily use without losing anything, use the switch, not the trash: Active Customer on a customer, Active service and its siblings in the catalog, Active Employee on a person. Everything they touched stays exactly as it was.
- To close a job or a document, use its own action: Cancel Job on a job, Void on an invoice — both keep the record and its history. Expenses and bank deposits are removed by a reversal (Delete expense, Delete and reverse this deposit): the ledger gets a reversing entry and the original stays on file.
- Deleted something by mistake? Write to support@waxstak.com straight away with what it was, roughly when, and the business address you sign in at. Recovery is not something the app offers and is not guaranteed — the sooner you write, the better the odds.
- Deleted a customer with nothing on file and want them back? Add them again with the same email — the old record returns.
Good to know
- The rule behind the refusals. Your books are the one thing a click may not rewrite: anything that has been invoiced, paid or scheduled stays on record, so reports and statements from that period keep adding up.
- Tags are the exception. Deleting a tag removes it from every item that carried it, and cannot be undone.
- A package that is in use is never deleted from under a plan. Editing one that a job or a plan already uses archives the old version by itself; deleting one leaves the plans that use it running.
- Delete and deactivate are web-only. The phone can add and edit records but never switch one off or delete it.
- Who. Deleting a customer needs Admin or Manager — a Technician can add and edit customers but not delete them. Any catalog change, retiring included, needs Admin or Manager; employee records need Admin.