Adding a Client

This guide walks you through creating a new client in FlowForth.

Before You Begin

You need the Organization Admin role to create clients. If you don't see the option to add a client, ask your administrator for access.

Step-by-Step

1. Navigate to the Clients page from the main navigation.
2. Click the Add Client button in the top-right corner.
3. An inline form will appear with the following sections.

tip

For Business clients, start with the blue Quick fill from VAT number box at the top of the form. One lookup can fill in the company name, country and address, so you only have to add the contact details yourself.

Quick Fill From VAT Number

For Business clients, the VAT Number field is at the top of the form, directly under the client type and business type. That way you can look the company up before typing anything else. This box isn't shown for Individual clients, because they have no VAT number.

• VAT Number — The client's EU VAT number. When you enter a VAT number, FlowForth will show the expected format for the selected country (e.g., BE 0123.456.789 for Belgium).

Looking up company details from the VAT number

FlowForth can fill in the company name, country and address from the EU VIES register so you don't have to type them yourself.

1. Enter the client's VAT number, including the country prefix (for example BE0123456789).
2. Click Lookup next to the VAT number, or press Enter in the field. FlowForth checks the number with VIES. This can take a few seconds.
3. A result panel appears under the field:
   • VAT Number Valid (green) shows the registered company name and address, followed by The following fields will be filled: and a preview of exactly which values will be used.
   • VAT Number Invalid (red) means VIES doesn't recognise the number, or the VIES service could not be reached. Check the number or try again later.
4. Click Use these details to copy the previewed values into the form.

Clicking Use these details:

• Fills Company Name with the registered name and Country with the country of the VAT number.
• Fills Street Address, Address Line 2, Postal Code and City only when FlowForth could split the VIES address into those parts. Otherwise the address fields are left as they are.
• Overwrites any values already in those fields. All other fields are left alone.
• Closes the result panel.

Nothing is saved until you click Create Client, so you can still review and correct every value first. FlowForth doesn't change the capitalisation of what VIES returns. Dutch addresses, for example, often come back in capitals, so you may want to tidy them up. If Also create a location at this address is checked, the filled-in address is also used for the client's first location.

note

Lookups only run when you click Lookup or press Enter. FlowForth never checks the number automatically while you type, because VIES can be slow and some national services are often unavailable.

When not all details can be filled in:

• Address could not be split automatically. Please enter it manually. VIES returned the address in a format FlowForth couldn't split into street, postal code and city. The full address is shown in the panel so you can copy it. Use these details then fills only the company name and country.
• VAT number is valid, but this country does not share company details. Some EU countries, including Germany and Spain, confirm that a VAT number is valid but don't publish the company name or address through VIES. No Use these details button is shown, so enter the details by hand.

Basic Information

• Company Name (required) — The name of the client's business or the client's full name.
• Contact Person Name — The primary contact person at this client.
• Contact Email — Email address for the contact person.
• Billing Contact Email — The email address that receives all invoice and credit-note emails — invoice delivery, payment reminders, and credit notes. You can leave it blank when creating the client, but it must be filled in before you can send any invoice or credit note. Existing clients were pre-filled from their Contact Email so their sending keeps working.
• Contact Phone — Phone number for the contact person.

Business Address

• Street Address — The street name and number.
• Address Line 2 — Apartment, suite, or additional address info.
• Postal Code — The postal or ZIP code.
• City — The city name.
• Country — Select from the dropdown list of supported countries.

Also create a location at this address

Directly under the address fields is the Also create a location at this address checkbox. It is checked by default, because most clients only have one location.

When it is checked, clicking Create Client creates the client and its first location in one step. The location uses:

• The client's Company Name as the location name.
• The client's Street Address, Address Line 2, Postal Code, City and Country.
• The client's Contact Person Name and Contact Phone as the on-site contact.

The location's coordinates are looked up automatically in the background, so it shows up on maps and in route planning without any extra steps.

A location needs a street address. While the checkbox is checked, Street Address is required, and the form shows an error under that field if you leave it blank.

Uncheck it when:

• The client's business address is not where you do the work (for example, a head office that bills for work at other sites).
• The client has several locations and you want to name and set up each one yourself.
• You don't have a street address for the client yet.

You can always add locations later from the client detail page. See Adding a Location.

note

This option is only available when creating a client. Editing a client's address later does not change any of its existing locations.

Business Type

For Business clients, you can choose a business sub-type that controls how invoices are delivered:

Business Type	Delivery	Numbering
Traditional (default)	Sent via the Peppol network, with email fallback	Business INV- series
Free Profession	Sent by email only — not on the Peppol network	Business INV- series

Free Profession is for individual businesses such as doctors, lawyers, notaries, and physiotherapists. They are legally businesses (they have a VAT number and stay on the business INV- series), but they are not on the Peppol network, so their invoices and credit notes are dispatched by email — using the same email-only controls as Individual clients. When you choose Free Profession, the E-Invoicing section with the PEPPOL ID field is hidden (it is never used); the Quick fill from VAT number box stays.

The business type only applies to Business clients; it is not shown for Individual clients.

E-Invoicing

• PEPPOL ID — The client's PEPPOL network address, used for electronic invoicing. This section is only shown for Traditional business clients. The VAT number is entered in the Quick fill from VAT number box at the top of the form.

Default Tax Settings

You can give a client its own default tax category and VAT percentage that pre-fill new invoice lines for that client:

• Default Tax Code — The Peppol tax category applied to new invoice lines (e.g., Standard, Exempt). Leave it on Use organization default to inherit your organization's default tax code.
• Default VAT % — The VAT rate used when the default tax code is Standard. Only editable for the Standard tax code; non-Standard codes always resolve to 0%.

These are defaults only — every invoice line can still be changed individually. They are useful when a client always bills under one category. For example, a VAT-exempt medical free-profession client can set its default tax code to Exempt (E) so every new line defaults to exempt, without touching the organization default. See Creating an Invoice for how the line, client, and organization defaults combine.

Communication Language

• Communication Language — The language used for emails, WhatsApp messages and reminders sent to this client. The first option, Use organization default (English) or Use organization default (Dutch), is selected by default and shows your organization's current default language in brackets.

Leave it on Use organization default unless this client needs a different language from the rest of your clients. A client that uses the organization default follows it automatically, including when an administrator changes the default later. Pick English or Dutch to give the client its own fixed language instead. See Default Communication Language for which messages the language applies to.

You can change the language at any time from the Language Preference section on the client detail page. See Changing Preferred Language.

Very Important Client

• Very Important Client (optional) — Turn this toggle on to mark the client as always-important. New activities for any of this client's locations are then marked as very important jobs by default, inheriting the attention-grabbing highlight shown across the calendar, planners, and route dashboard. You can still un-flag an individual activity when you create it — the client setting is a default, not a lock. See Creating an Activity for how the highlight appears.

note

The option to also update a client's existing activities only appears when editing an existing client (there are no activities yet on a brand-new client). See Viewing & Editing Client Details.

Notes

• Internal Notes — Free-text notes about this client. These are only visible to your team.

4. Click Create Client to save.

The new client will appear in your clients list immediately. If you left Also create a location at this address checked, the client's first location is created at the same time.

What's Next?

After creating a client, you'll typically want to:

• Add locations — Create more locations where you perform work for this client, or the first one if you unchecked Also create a location at this address. See Locations Overview.
• Set up notifications — If you use WhatsApp notifications, configure the client's notification preferences.

tip

If you have many clients to add, consider using the bulk import feature to create them from a CSV file.