---
key: create-an-account
title: Create an account
audience: staff
section: accounts
routes: ["/accounts", "/accounts/quick-add", "/accounts/new"]
permissions: ["crm.accounts.create"]
features: ["crm.accounts"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Add a new lead or customer from All Accounts with the Quick add page, choose whether it starts as a lead or an active customer, then fill in the rest later.
keywords: [new customer, add customer, new lead, prospect, client, company, household]
related: [add-a-contact-to-an-account, work-on-a-customer-account, edit-an-account, create-a-sub-account]
---

In the sidebar, open **Accounts**, then **All Accounts**. The page address is `/accounts`. An account is the record Nova keeps for anyone you work with, a household or a company. Every quote, work order, and invoice hangs off one.

## Before you start

Your admin has to give your role the **Create accounts** permission. If you do not see the **Add Account** button, ask them.

A lead is someone who has not bought anything yet; a customer has. In Nova the difference is the account's lifecycle status: a status under **Leads** marks a lead, and a status under **Active accounts** marks a customer. You can change it any time, so pick what fits today.

## Steps

1. Select **Add Account**. The **Quick add** page opens. Its address is `/accounts/quick-add`.
2. Choose the **Account type**: a household for a person or a family, a company, or other. For a company, type the **Company name**.
3. Leave **Account number** blank unless your organization numbers accounts by hand. Nova assigns the next number when it saves.
4. Pick the **Lifecycle status**. Choose one under **Leads** for a prospect, or under **Active accounts** for a paying customer.
5. Type the **First name** and **Last name** of the person you deal with. Nova builds the **Account name** from what you type.
6. Add the **Email** and **Phone** you will use to reach them, and anything worth remembering in **Notes**, such as a gate code or a second number.
7. Optional: under **Address**, find the address with **Search** or type it with **Manual**, then under **Use for** turn on what the address is for, such as service or billing.
8. Select **Create account**. If Nova finds an account that looks the same, **Possible duplicate account** opens so you can compare them. Choose **Merge into existing account** to add what you typed to the existing account, **Create separate record** to save a new one anyway, or **Keep editing** to go back.

## What you see

Nova opens the new account. Its number and lifecycle status sit at the top, and the details you typed are already in place. From here you can add more people ([[add-a-contact-to-an-account]]), addresses, and work for this account.

## If something looks different

- The full form opens instead of the quick one. Your admin chose the full form as the default under **Settings**, then **Create Defaults** under **Accounts**. The full form has the same essentials in its **Account** section, then **Contacts**, **Account locations**, and **Billing basics** sections you can open as needed. The lifecycle field is called **Lifecycle** there. Finish with **Create account**, or press **Quick add instead** to switch back.
- You want the full form. Select **Open full form** on the quick page; what you already typed comes with you. You can also open the arrow beside **Add Account** and pick the full form. Its page address is `/accounts/new`.
- You started from **All Leads** or **All Customers**. The button there is named for leads or customers and pre-selects the matching lifecycle status; the steps are otherwise the same.