Overview
As your business grows, you may need to clean up test data, remove inactive customers, or handle data requests. This guide explains how to archive, restore, and permanently delete customer, pet, and appointment records.
Understanding Your Options
Action | What It Does | Reversible? | Data Retained? |
Archive | Hides from active views | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Unarchive | Restores to active views | N/A | ✅ Yes |
Hard Delete | Permanently removes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
General rule: Archive first, delete only when necessary.
Archiving Records
Archive a Customer (Pet Owner)
Use case: Customer hasn't visited in years, or you want to declutter your customer list.
Navigate to Customers & Pets
Find and open the customer's profile
Click the Manage Owner menu
Select Archive or Delete Account
Choose Archive in the dialog and confirm
What happens:
Customer disappears from your active customer list
All their pets are also archived
Historical appointments remain viewable in reports
Customer can't log in to Pet Owner Portal
No notifications sent to customer
Archive a Pet
Use case: Pet is no longer visiting (rehomed, etc.).
If the pet has passed away, select {Animal} has gone to heaven on the pet profile instead of Archive or Delete Pet.
Open the pet's profile
Click the Manage Pet menu
Select Archive or Delete Pet
Choose Archive in the dialog and confirm
What happens:
Pet disappears from booking options
Historical appointments remain intact
Other pets under same owner unaffected
Customer still active
When a pet owner archives or marks a pet as passed away
A pet owner can archive a pet, or mark a pet as passed away, from the Pet Owner Portal. You then see that pet as archived.
If they selected Dog has gone to heaven (or the matching animal type), the pet's profile shows {pet name} has passed away. The line under it reads This profile is preserved in memory.
Staff archive stays on your business only. It does not change the pet owner's record, or records at other businesses they visit.
Archive an Appointment
Use case: Remove old completed appointments from calendar view.
Open the appointment
Click More
Select Delete Appointment
Choose Archive in the dialog and confirm
What happens:
Appointment hidden from calendar views
Data retained for reports and history
Can be unarchived later
Customer not notified
Restoring Archived Records
Find Archived Records
Navigate to the relevant section (Customers, Pets, Appointments)
Open filters
Enable Show Archived toggle
Archived items appear with a distinctive indicator
Unarchive a Customer
Find the archived customer (with filter enabled)
Open their profile
Click Restore on the archived banner at the top of the profile
What happens:
Customer restored to active list
Their pets remain archived (unarchive separately if needed)
Customer can log into Portal again
Unarchive a Pet
On the Customers & Pets page, set the Show Archived Pets filter to "Archived Only" or "All"
Find and open the archived pet's profile
Click Restore on the archived banner at the top of the profile
Unarchive an Appointment
There is no self-service Restore button on an archived appointment. Archiving hides the appointment from the scheduler; the record is kept.
If you need an archived appointment restored, open the appointment if you can still find it (search with archived filters where available) and click Speak with the team - the team can restore it for you.
Permanent Deletion (Hard Delete)
⚠️ Warning: Permanent deletion cannot be undone. Deleted data is gone forever.
When to Use Hard Delete
Appropriate:
Test data during initial setup
Duplicate records created in error
GDPR "right to be forgotten" requests
Legal requirements to remove data
Not appropriate:
Inactive but real customers (use Archive)
Customers you might want history for
Records you might need for disputes/insurance
Hard Delete a Pet Owner
You do not delete pets first. Permanent account delete removes the owner and their pets together.
What blocks permanent delete:
Any appointment history on the account
Unused package credits
Pending sales
A new incomplete sign-up (abandoned booking or unfinished profile with no confirmed booking) is not blocked by its draft pets. Delete it from the ribbon. See Delete an incomplete sign-up.
Steps for a full customer account:
Open the customer's profile
Click the Manage Owner menu
Select Archive or Delete Account
Choose Delete in the dialog and read the warning carefully
Type confirmation as requested
Confirm deletion
What's removed:
Customer profile and contact details
All pets on the account
Account login access
All notes and communication history
If the account has appointment history, Petboost blocks permanent delete. Archive the account instead, or dismiss an abandoned booking from the Action Required tab without deleting the customer.
Hard Delete a Pet
Requirements:
No paid appointments attached
Pet must be in deletion-safe state
Steps:
Open the pet's profile
Click the Manage Pet menu
Select Archive or Delete Pet
Choose Delete in the dialog and read the warning
Confirm
What's removed:
Pet profile and details
Vaccination certificates
Pet notes and photos
Appointment pet details (appointments may show "Deleted Pet")
Hard Delete an Appointment
Requirements:
Must be in deletion-safe status:
Pending
Confirmed
Declined
Cancelled
Invoice Amount Void
Cannot delete paid appointments
Steps:
Open the appointment
Click More
Select Delete Appointment
Choose Permanently Delete in the dialog and confirm
What's removed:
Appointment record entirely
Invoice details
Notes and photos
Activity log
Bulk Cleanup Operations
Bulk Archive Old Appointments
Use case: Clean up calendar by archiving all appointments older than a year.
Currently available through:
Filter appointments by date range
Select multiple appointments
Use bulk action to archive
Or contact support for assistance with large-scale archival.
Archive customers who have not booked since a date
Petboost does not bulk-delete customer records. Archive people you no longer work with, then restore them from the profile if you need them again. A deletion request is one profile at a time: Manage Owner > Archive or Delete Account.
Go to Customers & Pets
Open the overflow menu
Select Archive Lapsed Customers
On Set Conditions, switch on Has not booked since a date and pick the date
Optional: switch on Has opted out of messages. If both are on, choose Match both or Match either
Optional: tick Exclude customers who have never had an appointment
Untick anyone you want to keep
Select Next: Review
Confirm, then select Archive
The dialog title is Archive Lapsed & Opted-Out Customers. Archiving hides the owner and their pets from daily lists. History stays. Restore from the archived profile.
Data Requests (GDPR / Privacy)
Customer Requests Data Deletion
When a customer requests their data be deleted:
Verify the request is legitimate (confirm identity)
Archive the customer first (to prevent new activity)
Review what data exists
Hard delete the customer account when the account has no appointment history. That also removes the pets
Document the request and action taken
Customer Requests Data Export
Contact Petboost support for data export requests. We can provide:
Customer profile data
Pet information
Appointment history
Payment records
Communication logs
Best Practices
Before Deleting
Archive first: Try archiving for 30 days before permanent deletion
Check for payments: Ensure no outstanding financial records
Export if needed: Request data export before deletion
Document: Note why you're deleting (especially for GDPR)
Regular Maintenance
Monthly:
Review any pending cleanup requests
Archive pets marked as deceased
Quarterly:
Archive customers inactive for 2+ years
Archive old completed appointments (optional)
Annually:
Review archived records
Decide if any should be permanently deleted
After Migration
If you've imported data from another system:
Test appointments may need cleanup
Duplicate customers should be archived on the extra profile. Petboost does not merge two profiles. See How do I merge duplicate customer records?
Invalid data (bad phone numbers, etc.) should be corrected
Common Questions
Q: If I archive a customer, can they still see their booking history?
A: No, archived customers lose Portal access. They'd need to be unarchived to log in again.
Q: Does archiving affect my reports?
A: Archived records are typically included in historical reports but excluded from active counts. Check individual report filters.
Q: Can I recover hard-deleted data?
A: No. Permanent deletion is irreversible. Petboost support cannot recover deleted data.
Q: What happens to SMS history for deleted customers?
A: Communication logs are removed with the customer record when hard deleted.
Q: I accidentally deleted something important. What do I do?
A: Contact Petboost support immediately. While we can't recover hard-deleted data, we may be able to help with recent deletions in some cases.
Related Articles
Un-cancel & Appointment Recovery - Recovering cancelled appointments
Customer & Pet Profiles - Managing customer data
Data Migration - Importing data from other systems