Introduction

Why should you use closed states

Closed states come in handy in many situations.

• You can prevent users from making changes to a record by closing it.
• Idle alerts are not generated on a closed record.
• You have the option to transfer only open records from a deleted/suspended user to an active user.
• Closed records are not considered in automatically assigning records using the Least Loaded assignment rule. 
• Closed records are not available for selection in a look-up field. 

Note: Closed states are identified by a sign beside them. You will see a message similar to the one below on closed records.

Using Closed States

The sections below tell you everything about using closed states.

Enabling closed states

Before working with closed states, you must ensure that the Closed States module is enabled. Only CRM admins can enable or disable modules. 

Follow these steps to enable closed states:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Select Modules under Module Management.
5. Look for Closed States under the modules list.
6. Enable the checkbox beside Closed States.

Configuring a closed state

Closed states are configured at the module level. You can create a closed state only in the Picklist type field that captures the different states of records in the module. 

For most modules, the picklist that defines the state of records is selected in prior. You can create a closed state only in the pre-selected picklist. Skip to this section to see the list of pre-selected picklists with closed states for each Vtiger module.

Follow these steps to create a closed state: 

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
   • This will take you to the Settings page.
4. Look for the Module Management section.
5. Select Module Layouts & Fields.
6. Choose a module from the Select Module dropdown.
7. Click the Closed States tab.
   • You will see the pre-selected picklist field for the selected module. For some modules, you must select a picklist to configure a closed state.
   • Note: Some modules cannot have closed states, which is why you will not see the Closed States tab for them.
8. Click on a status in the table to mark it as a closed state. 
   • You can identify closed states by a checkmark under the Closed column.
9. Click Save.

Selecting the default re-open status

The re-open status is the value that the pre-selected state picklist field takes when a record is re-opened. The re-open status must be configured for all the modules.

For example, the pre-selected state picklist field in Contacts is Status. When you select ‘Cold’ as the re-open status in Contacts, every time you re-open a contact, the Status field's value is set to ‘Cold’. 

Let’s take the Contacts module as an example to set a default re-open status. 

Follow these steps to select the default re-open status:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
   • This will take you to the Settings page.
4. Look for the Module Management section.
5. Select Module Layouts & Fields.
6. Choose Contacts from the Select Module dropdown.
7. Choose a value from the Select re-open Status dropdown.
8. Click Save.

Closing a record

Closed states in each module are configured in separate picklists. The picklists are selected in prior and cannot be changed. So, let us take an example of the Invoices module to learn how to close an invoice. 

Follow these steps to close an invoice record:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Inventory.
4. Select Invoices.
   • You will land on the List View of Invoices.
5. Open an invoice (that is open).
6. Click the Details tab on the right sidebar.
7. Look for the Status field.
8. Set the value of the Status field to Paid or Canceled to close the invoice.
9. Click Save.

You can close records in other modules in a similar manner. Click here to get the list of the picklists that have closed states configured in each Vtiger module.
 

Re-opening a closed record

After you close a record, you will see a message that reads “Would you like to re-open the record?” on the record’s Summary View. 

Let’s take the example of Invoices as done in the previous section.

Follow these steps to re-open a closed invoice:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Inventory.
4. Select Invoices.

• You will land on the List View of Invoices.

5. Open an invoice (that is closed).
6. Click the Re-open button on the Summary View.
   • The Re-open button is located above the invoice preview.

Who can Re-open a Closed Record

Admin users can re-open closed records as well as provide access to other users to re-open closed records. 

Providing re-open access to users

Every user has a role. And every role has a profile assigned to it. If a profile has re-open permission, then users who belong to the profile can re-open closed records.

Assigning a role to a user

Follow these steps to assign a role to a user:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
   • You will land on the Settings page.
4. Look for the User Management section and select Users under it.
5. Hover on a user record and click the Edit icon shown on the left.
6. Select a role from the Role picklist.
7. Click Save.

To learn more about user roles in Vtiger CRM, click here.
 

Assigning a profile to a user role

Follow these steps to assign a profile to a role:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
   • You will land on the Settings page.
4. Look for the User Management section and select Roles under it.
5. Click on a role to edit it. For example, CEO.
6. Under the Assign Profiles field, select the profile that has re-open access. 
7. Click Save.

To learn more about user profiles in Vtiger CRM, click here.
 

Providing re-open permission to a profile

Follow these steps to provide re-open permission to a profile:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
   • You will land on the Settings page.
4. Look for the User Management section and select Profiles under it.
5. Hover on a profile and click the Edit icon.
6. Choose an app (Inventory, Sales, etc.) and click the downward arrow on it.
7. Choose a module and click the downward arrow on it.
8. Scroll down to the Tools section.
9. Enable the Re-open checkbox to provide re-open permission to the selected profile.
10. Click Save.

Actions Unavailable on Closed Records

You cannot perform the following actions on closed records in a module:

• Mass edit (from the List View)
• Field-level edit 
• Update (through actions such as edit, import merge, etc.)

A closed record cannot be modified by any means except in the following three cases:

1. A change in payment status updates Invoices and Purchase Orders even when they are closed.
2. The Qty. in Stock field of a closed product is updated when you use the product as a line item in an Inventory module such as Invoices, Purchase Orders, etc. This is done by means of workflows.
3. Workflows can update records even when they are closed.

Actions Available on Closed Records

You can link other records to a closed record in a module. For this, you must enable linking in the module.

For example, if you want to link invoices to a closed deal, you must enable linking in the Deals module.

Follow these steps to allow linking records to closed records in a module:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
   • You will land on the Settings page.
4. Look for the Module Management section and select Module Layouts & Fields under it.
5. Select a module from the Select Module dropdown.
6. Click the Closed States tab.
7. Look for the Allow linking to closed Records toggle button and enable it.
   • For example, Allow linking to closed Deals if you select the Deals module in Step 4.
8. Click Save.

You can enable linking in all Vtiger modules in the manner mentioned above. 
 

Linking records to a closed record

Let’s take an example of Deals. 

To link a record to a closed deal, you must use the widgets on the right side of the deal’s Summary View. For example, to link an invoice to a deal, use the Sales Ops widget. To link contacts, use One View.

Follow these steps to link a record to a closed deal:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Deals.
5. Select and open a closed deal.
6. Click on a widget where you can link records. 

• For example, One View, Documents, Sales Ops, etc.
• In the case of Documents, you can select existing, create new and link, or upload documents and link them to the deal.

7. Click the + icon. 
8. Click on a record to link it to the deal.

After you have linked the record, you will see it under the widget where you linked it.

Enabling Duplicate Check on Closed Records

There are two ways of checking for duplicate records.

1. By enabling Duplicate Prevention
2. By using the Finding Duplicates module

Duplicate prevention

To avoid creating records the same as the closed records in the CRM, you can enable duplicate checks on closed records.

When you include closed records in the Duplicate Prevention set up, then closed records are checked for duplicated while importing. 

Follow these steps to enable duplicate prevention on closed records:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the CRM screen.
3. Click Settings.
   • You will land on the Settings page.
4. Look for the Module Management section and select Module Layouts & Fields under it.
5. Select a module from the Select Module dropdown.
6. Click the Duplicate Prevention tab.
7. Turn on the Enable duplicate check toggle button.
8. Fill in the details such as the fields on which the duplicate check must happen, etc.
9. Enable the Check closed records also for duplicates checkbox.
10. Click Save.

Finding duplicates 

The Find Duplicates module helps you identify duplicate records in the CRM. You can include closed records while doing a duplicate check in the module.

Follow these steps to include closed records in the duplicate check in Find Duplicates:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Tools.
4. Select Find Duplicates.
5. Select a module and a field for the duplicate check.
6. Enable the Check closed records also for duplicates checkbox.
7. Click Search.

Default Closed States in Vtiger

Here is a list of the modules along with their pre-selected picklists and default closed states.

You can configure new closed states for all the modules, even those that are not mentioned in the table above. Skip to this section to learn more.

Important Notes on Closed States

• Closed States cannot be configured in Cases, Esign Documents, Email Campaigns, Marketing Lists, and Phone Calls.
• You can mark a maximum of five values, including default values, as closed states.
• You cannot start a timer on a closed record. But, an existing timelog record can be linked to a closed record.
• You cannot delete or rename the picklist values that are configured as closed states.
• When you drag a deal in the Kanban View, you can only mark it as Closed Won or Closed Lost even when there are other closed states configured for Deals. The other closed states are shown only under the Change Pipeline option.