Closing a job

Closed means finished with, whatever the outcome. It is not the same as Paid: Paid is a happy ending, Closed is the end of the story. Use it when the work is not going ahead, or has run its course, and you want it out of your live list.

You pick a reason, and there are four:

• Lost the work
• No response from customer
• Customer cancelled
• Duplicate job

Nothing is deleted. The record stays, with the reason and the date, under the Closed filter. There is no reopen button today, so close when you mean it.

Closing is not just a label. It goes through everything still live on that job and shuts it down, so nothing keeps running in the background and nothing awkward turns up in the customer’s inbox a week later.

• Unpaid invoices are cancelled. Anything not yet paid, including an unpaid deposit. Their payment links stop working, and payment reminders stop.
• A quote still waiting on an answer is withdrawn. If the customer opens it now, they are told it has been withdrawn and to call you. Quote follow-ups stop. The same applies to an engagement letter, which is the same document.
• A live pick-a-new-time link is cancelled.
• Upcoming bookings are cancelled, and each of those customers gets one text: their booking on that date has been cancelled, reply or call to rebook. That is the only message closing sends to anybody.

Nobody is texted about a cancelled invoice or a withdrawn quote. Those links simply go quiet.

This one matters, so it is worth saying flatly. If the job has a deposit that has already been paid, closing does not touch it. It is not cancelled, it is not refunded, and no money moves. Closing flags it as a decision for you and stops there.

That is deliberate. Whether a customer who pulls out gets their deposit back is a judgement about your terms and your relationship, not something software should decide at two in the morning. If you do want to refund it, you do that yourself from the job, at whatever point you have made up your mind. If you do not, the money stays where it is.

There is an order still running

You are told to resolve or cancel the order first, then close. Orders hold real money that is authorised or captured, so they have to be finished through the order flow rather than swept up by a close.

It is already closed

You will simply be told so. Closing twice does nothing.

If any part of the tidy-up cannot be done, the whole close is called off and the job is left open, exactly as it was. You will never end up half closed.

Got some dead wood to clear?