Smart and static lists

Lists are reusable audiences: smart lists that refresh themselves from a rule, or static snapshots you curate by hand.

2 min read

A list is a saved group of people or households you can reuse anywhere: as a grid filter, a newsletter audience, a canvassing universe, or a form’s follow-up. Lists come in two types, and choosing the right one saves hours later.

Smart lists: a rule that refreshes itself

A smart list is defined by rules in the query builder: “everyone tagged lawn-sign in Springfield”. Membership updates itself automatically as people and households change: new matches join, non-matches drop out. Nobody maintains it, and it is never stale. Its count keeps changing on its own.

Static lists: a snapshot you control

A static list runs its rules once, at creation, and saves the result as a fixed snapshot. Today’s matches become the members and stay put. New matching people are not added later; membership changes only when you edit it by hand. Use one for a curated invite list, a board roster, or the attendees of a specific event.

Create a list

Open Lists and click +Name the list something your teammates will recognize in a dropdown.
Pick Smart or StaticAsk: should this group maintain itself? If yes, choose Smart; if it should stay frozen, choose Static.
Choose People or HouseholdsA list targets one or the other. Pick what you are grouping.
Build the ruleCompose conditions in the query builder: match all or any, with nested groups. The live preview does the math in public: “Matches 1,284 people right now”, with a note reminding you whether that count will keep moving (Smart) or freeze on save (Static).
Create itThe button carries the scale it will act on: “Create smart list (1,284 now)” or “Create static list (snapshot 1,284)”.

Read the Lists table

List: the name is a door. Click it to open People or Households with that list applied as a removable filter chip.
Type: a Smart or Static chip.
Of: People or Households.
Definition: the rule written as a plain sentence.
Members: how many records are in the list right now.
Last used in: the most recent newsletter, form, or turf that used this list.
Updated: when the list last changed.

Deleting a list names what it will affect

If a list is in use, the delete confirmation names its consumers (the newsletters, forms, and turfs that reference it), so you never break an audience by surprise. The people and households themselves are never touched; only the list is removed.

Lists are how good newsletters start

A newsletter audience built on a smart list is accurate on send day by definition. See Create and send a newsletter.

Try this on sample data.

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