LNK Connect as customer: see the shop exactly as your customer does

On a customer's page, on the customer list and on an order, a "Connect as this customer" button appears. A small window asks which cart to use:

• the customer's own cart, the last one saved on their account;
• your current cart, copied into a cart made for the session;
• an empty cart, made for the session.

The shop opens in a new tab, logged in to the customer's account. A discreet banner shows the customer's name, the minutes left and an "Exit" link. With the customer's own cart, your additions change their real cart. A cart made for the session is deleted when it ends, unless it was ordered.

The module's page, in the Customers menu, also lets you search a customer by name or email and connect from there.

The button creates a random token, valid once and for two minutes by default. It only works in a browser logged in to the back office, and can be tied to your IP address. The number of links per employee is limited over time. The back-office form is protected by PrestaShop's security token: a third-party page cannot start a connection on your behalf.

The session lasts one hour at most. If the employee's account is disabled or deleted meanwhile, the session closes on the next page: the customer is logged out and the end goes to the journal with its reason.

An order placed during the session gets a private message, visible in the back office only: "Order placed by First Last, connected as the customer". Customer service always knows who placed the order.

The module adds its right in Advanced parameters > Team > Permissions: "View" opens the journal, "Edit" lets the employee connect as a customer and change the settings. At installation, only the super-admin profile has it: you give it profile by profile.

Every link created, every session start and end (with its reason: exit, hour reached, employee disabled) and every order are written with the employee, the customer, the shop, the IP address and the time. Names are copied: the journal stays readable after an employee or a customer is deleted. It is kept 12 months, then deleted automatically.

If the Connect As Customer module (lnksuperuser) is installed, its settings and its journal of the last 12 months are taken over at installation, then it is disabled. Its data stay in place: you uninstall it when you wish. The module's page shows the date of the takeover and the number of lines taken over.

The journal belongs to each shop and the page shows the shops of the chosen context, with their names. The settings show which shops they apply to. A deleted shop takes its journal with it.

Version 2.9.0 for PrestaShop 9.0 to 9.x, with a native Symfony back office. Shops on PrestaShop 1.7.6 to 8.x get version 2.1.0, with the same features. Details in COMPATIBILITY.md.

This module installs no override. The override/ folder does not exist. It does not conflict with your other modules and leaves nothing to clean before a migration.

Nothing is loaded for your visitors: the banner's stylesheet (0.7 KB compressed) and script (0.9 KB) are only sent during a session as a customer, in your browser.