# Accounts

The sign-in accounts of the people who buy from you or book with you.

Source: https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/accounts/

An account lets a customer sign in to your website. There is no password. They
type their email, and your website sends them a link that signs them in.

Your shop and your bookings share these accounts. One customer, one sign-in,
whatever they do on your site.

Go to **Plugins**, open the **Store & Bookings** group, and click
**Accounts**. There are two tabs: **Accounts** and **Settings**.

Editors and admins can look at this list. Only an admin can add an account,
change one, close one, or change the settings.

## Where accounts come from

An account is made four ways.

- **A paid order.** Every order makes an account from the email the buyer paid
  with. See [Commerce](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/commerce/).
- **A booking.** Someone who books a time with you gets one. See
  [Bookings](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/booking/).
- **Signing up.** A visitor can make one themselves, at your web address
  followed by `/account/create`.
- **You add it.** See [Adding a customer](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/accounts/#adding-a-customer) below.

What the customer sees when they sign in is covered on
[What your customers see](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/customer-accounts/#the-account-page).

## The Accounts tab

Two tiles sit at the top. **Active** counts open accounts. **Closed** counts
closed ones that are waiting to be deleted.

Under them is a box reading **Search email or name**, and three chips: **All**,
**Active** and **Closed**. Click a chip to see only those accounts.

![The Accounts tab, searched for example.com, with two test accounts in the table. Three numbered marks: 1 on the Active tile, 2 on the search box, 3 on the All, Active and Closed chips and the Create customer button beside them.](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/_astro/accounts-list.DX13JmlK_25UBHH.webp)

*The Accounts tab. The tiles count every account, even while you search.*

The numbers in the picture:

1. The tiles count open and closed accounts.
2. The search box finds an account by email or name.
3. The chips show all accounts, or only one kind.

| Column | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Email** | The address they sign in with. |
| **Name** | Their name, when they gave one. |
| **Phone** | Their phone, when they gave one. |
| **Status** | active or closed. |
| **Created** | The day the account was made. |
| **Last sign-in** | The last time they signed in. |
| **Purge date** | For a closed account, the day its record is deleted. |

At the end of each row are the **Close** and **Purge now** buttons. See
[Closing and purging](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/accounts/#closing-and-purging).

With a lot of accounts, **Previous** and **Next** move between pages.

## Adding a customer

Use this when a customer asks you to set them up, such as after a phone call.

1. On the **Accounts** tab, click **Create customer**.
2. Type their **Email**. **Name** and **Phone** are optional.
3. Click **Create**.

You see **Customer created. We emailed them how to sign in.** The new account
opens. The customer gets an email with a link that signs them in.

If that email already has an account, nothing new is made. The message says
so, and the account opens for you to check. **Cancel** closes the form without
adding anyone.

With Commerce, a buyer can also be added from the Commerce **Customers** tab.
See [Customers](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/customers/).

## Opening an account

Click a row. **← Back to list** takes you back.

**Account** shows the email, the status, the dates, and **Newsletter opt-in**.
That last one says whether they asked for your newsletter when they signed up.

Under that are **Name** and **Phone**. Change either one and click **Save**. A
message reads "Saved." The customer sees the change on their own account page.

The email cannot be changed here. For a buyer, change it on their customer
record. See [Customers](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/customers/#editing-a-customer).

The next three boxes gather what this person has done elsewhere on your site.

**Commerce** shows their customer record, their plans and their orders. Click
an order to open it.

**Bookings** shows their bookings.

**Forms** shows forms they have sent you, with the Feedback add-on.

A box reads "not enabled on this site" when your website does not use that
add-on. That is normal.

## Closing and purging

There are two ways to shut an account. They are not the same.

**Close** stops the account from signing in. Every device they were signed in
on is signed out at once. The record is kept for a set number of days, then
deleted on its own. The number is set on the **Settings** tab.

**Purge now** deletes the account record right away.

**Warning**
Both take effect the moment you confirm. A closed account cannot be opened
again. The person cannot sign in with that address until the record is gone.

**Purge now** cannot be undone. The record and every sign-in are deleted at
once, and nothing can bring them back.

Neither one deletes their orders, credits or bookings. Those stay in your
records.

To close an account:

1. Find the account, or open it.
2. Click **Close**, or **Close account** inside the account.
3. Your browser asks you to confirm, and says they will not be able to sign in
   again. Click OK.

A message reads "Closed" and their email.

To purge an account:

1. Find the account, or open it.
2. Click **Purge now**.
3. Your browser asks you to confirm, and says it cannot be undone. Click OK.

A message reads "Purged" and their email.

Once the record is gone, that address can make a new, empty account.

Customers can also close their own account, from the **Settings** tab of their
account page.

## The Settings tab

| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Show account pages** | Turns the account pages on your website on or off. |
| **Days a closed account is kept** | How long a closed account's record stays before it is deleted. It starts at 30. |
| **Delete accounts inactive for (days)** | Deletes an open account nobody has signed in to for this long. 0 means never. |

Click **Save settings** when you are done. A message reads "Settings saved."

![The Settings tab of Accounts. Four numbered marks: 1 on Show account pages, 2 on Days a closed account is kept, 3 on Delete accounts inactive for (days), 4 on the Save settings button.](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/_astro/accounts-settings.BEai6UQz_2ghAyb.webp)

*The three settings, in the order of the table above.*

Numbers 1 to 3 in the picture are the three settings, in the order of the
table. Number 4 is **Save settings**.

The same three settings are also under **Admin**, then **Plugins**. Find the
row named `accounts` and click the gear.

**Show account pages** does nothing while you have Commerce or Bookings. Both
need customers to sign in, so the pages stay on.

**Days a closed account is kept** should match your privacy policy. Your
policy says how long you keep a closed account. Put the same number here.

**Warning**
**Delete accounts inactive for (days)** deletes open accounts, not just closed
ones. A loyal customer who buys once a year could lose the name and phone they
saved. Their orders stay, and their next sign-in starts a fresh account.

It starts at 0, which means never. Leave it there unless you have a reason.

**Contact support**
Contact us if:

- a customer closed their account by mistake and needs it back
- a customer says sign-in links never arrive
- you are not sure what number your privacy policy needs

Email [support@lookoutridgeit.com](mailto:support@lookoutridgeit.com).
[Getting support](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/help/getting-support/) says what to put in the message.