Creating and Using Smart Lists
Smart Lists enable you to have lists of names that meet various criteria. For example, you might create a Smart List that will show you everyone who is an active member of your church. As new names are added to your church database that meets the Smart List's criteria, those names will automatically appear when viewing the Smart List.
Creating Smart Lists
Navigate to the People screen and select the "Set Up" tab. Then select "Smart Lists" from the list of options.
Select the "Add" button and create a name for your new list in the "Smart List Name" field.
Next, select the "Add Criteria" button to begin adding the criteria for your list. You'll find there are dozens of criteria and options that you can choose from when creating your Smart List. You can even use the User-Defined fields that you have created as criteria for your Smart Lists!
When creating a Smart List, you have the option to include names that "Match ALL of the following" criteria or names that "Match ANY of the following" criteria.
Nesting Smart Lists
You can also create a Smart List containing one or more other Smart Lists within it.
- Create a New Smart List.
- When adding new criterion, select "Smart List" from the list of options.
- Then select "Equals" and the name of the existing Smart List you want to include. This feature allows you to conduct more advanced lists of criteria.
For example, you may need to send an email to the people who participate in the High School and Middle School. To do this select each of these independent Smart List names as criteria, and ChurchTrac will create a list of all the names in both lists without duplication.
Editing Smart Lists
To Edit a Smart List, select the Smart List you wish to change on the left-hand side of the screen. Then add more criteria or change whether a person must meet all or any criteria to be included in the list.
Existing criteria cannot be edited. You must first delete the criteria you want to change by clicking the ( ) next to it. You can then create new criteria as normal.
Pro Tips
Each user can specify the default Smart List that will be displayed each time the People Screen is opened. This is accomplished by:
Settings People Screen Preferences Default People Screen Smart List
Limit the permissions on a user account so that they can only view the names from Smarts Lists that you specify. To set a user's Smart List permissions go to: Settings → User Accounts → People and Families → "Add and Edit Smart Lists." You can choose between "Allow this user to access names in all smart lists" or "Restrict this user to specific smart lists."
If you select "Restrict this user to specific smart lists," you will need to manually select the smart lists you want to provide access to. Learn more about User Account Permissions ›
Leverage Smart Lists to help you find gaps in your data. Watch our Pro Tip video to learn how this feature will help you gather member data.