Contact cannot be deleted: it is a user, or records link to it
A contact that is the record behind a login, or that an opportunity, booking, society membership, booking party, co-owner or commission refers to, can't be deleted. Deactivate the user, or untick Active on the contact.
Messages this explains
- “This contact is a user of the system; deactivate the user instead”
- “That conflicts with existing data.”
Contact cannot be deleted: it is a user, or records link to it
You clicked the trash icon on a contact and confirmed Delete contact?, and the dialog refused.
What you see
In the Delete contact? dialog on Contacts:
- "This contact is a user of the system; deactivate the user instead"
- "That conflicts with existing data."
The dialog often warns in advance: "<name> will be removed. This person has N opportunit(y/ies) and N booking(s), so the server will refuse; deactivate them instead." or "A person referenced by an opportunity, booking, society membership or company cannot be deleted; deactivate them instead."
Why it happens
- Every login has a contact. Each user of the app has a contact of type User, created when they are invited. That contact belongs to the login, so it is retired with the login rather than deleted on its own.
- Records keep their party. A contact who is the person on an opportunity, a booking (as applicant or co-applicant), a society membership or allottee record, a member's co-owners, or the channel partner on a commission can't be deleted, because those records must keep the person they were made with. The dialog's warning counts opportunities and bookings; the other links only show up when the delete is refused.
Links that don't carry a deal are removed with the contact: company attachments, the contact's bank accounts and holder entries, campaign log rows and their unsubscribe entry. A contact named only as the channel partner on an opportunity is cleared from it, and so is a person named on a party ledger, a voucher or a payment that no booking ties them to: the entry stays, without the person. So a person who is only attached to a company can be deleted, even though the dialog's general warning mentions companies.
How to fix it
- For a user's contact, deactivate the user instead: on Users, use Deactivate on their row (the Edit permission on Users). They are signed out, can't sign in, and their contact is marked inactive.
- For a contact on records, untick Active in the contact panel on Contacts and click Save changes (the Edit permission on Contacts). The person stays on their opportunities, bookings and memberships, drops out of campaign audiences, and is marked inactive.
- For a duplicate entered by mistake, keep the contact the records use and deactivate the other. Delete it only when nothing refers to it (the Delete permission on Contacts).
Related
Related
- ContactsScreen
The master list of every person your organization deals with, with a panel to add, edit, deactivate or delete a contact and see who changed the record.
- UsersScreen
The people in your organization: invite new users, change their role, deactivate or reactivate them, reset a lost two-factor authentication, and resend or revoke pending invitations.
- Contacts, companies and company typesConcept
A contact is a person; a company is a legal entity with people attached. The company type decides which registrations the form asks for (promoter, channel partner, vendor, contractor), and a channel partner's default commission feeds the commissions on the bookings it brings.
- User accounts: invitations, status and sign-inConcept
How a person gets an account (by invitation), the four user statuses and how they are derived, how long an invitation link lives, what happens at sign-in with and without two-factor authentication, how long a session lasts, and what deactivation does.
- Add, edit and retire contactsHow-to
Keep the master list of people up to date: add a contact with their type, correct their details, retire a person who is no longer dealt with, and delete only a record nothing refers to.
- Company cannot be deleted: projects, opportunities, bank accounts or books link to itTroubleshooting
A company that is a project's promoter, a channel partner on an opportunity or commission, the owner of bank accounts or the entity of a set of books can't be deleted, so deals and postings stay traceable. Untick Active instead.