Answer ID 12864   |    Updated 06/08/2018 08:28 PM

Creating a Group from the Groups view

1. Click Groups from the Navbar on the left-hand side of Act!
2. At the top of the screen, click Groups > New Group, or click the New button
3. In the new Group record that appears, enter the name into the Group Name field
4. If desired, enter a description
5. Click the Save icon

Creating a group from a Contact Lookup

1. Create a lookup of the Contacts you wish to create a group of. For information on creating lookups, refer to the following knowledgebase article:How to perform a lookup in Act!
   Answer ID 26841
2. Depending on whether you are using Act! for Windows or Act! Premium (access via web)/Act! Premium cloud:
   • Act! for Windows: Click Lookup > Groups > Save Lookup as Group
   • Act! Premium (access via web) or Act! Premium Cloud: Click Contacts > Save Lookup as Group
3. In the new Group record that appears, enter the name into the Group Name field
4. If desired, enter a description
5. Click the Save icon

Note: When creating a group this way, contacts are added as Static members. For more information about membership types, refer to the section of this article titled “Adding and removing Contacts to a Group or Subgroup from within the Group/Subgroup”.

Creating a Subgroup

If you need to break down a larger group of people into smaller groups, you can do so by using subgroups. You can create up to 15 levels of subgroups, and have an unlimited number of groups and subgroups at each level. To create subgroups:

1. From the Groups Detail View, select the group or subgroup you wish to create a subgroup for
2. At the top of the screen, click Groups > New Subgroup
3. In the new Group record that appears, enter the name into the Group Name field
4. If desired, enter a description
5. Click the Save icon

Note: If you have many levels of subgroups, you can view and switch between these records by either using the Group list to the left of the Group Detail View, or by going to the Subgroups tab of the group or any of the subgroups and using Hierarchy drop-down and Subgroups field. You will need to double-click the subgroup you wish to view.

There are two types of Group membership

• Static membership: Static members of a group are added to the group manually and will remain a member of the group until you manually remove them from the group.
• Dynamic membership: Dynamic members of a group are added to the group based on a match of specified field criteria. Dynamic memberships use Advanced Queries to define membership.

Depending on which method you wish to use to add the contacts, refer to the steps below:

Note: You can use Static and Dynamic membership in a single group at the same time. This can be useful if you have certain criteria that needs to be met, but you also have contacts you wish to be members of the same group regardless of their contact details

Static Membership

1. Navigate to the Detail View of the Group or Subgroup you wish to add contacts to
2. In the Contacts tab, click Add/Remove Contacts…
3. Under Static members, click Contacts…
4. Under Select from, choose either
   • All Contacts
   • Current Lookup
   • Groups
   • Companies

   Note: If choosing Groups or Companies, click the drop-down to the right to choose the appropriate Group or Company before proceeding to the next step

5. Manually add contacts in one of two ways:
   • Pick and choose: In the list of Contacts to select from, click to highlight a single contact or Ctrl + Click each individual contact you wish to add to the group, then click the greater than ( > ) button to add the contacts to the selected contacts list
   • Add entire Lookup, Group, or Company: Skip highlighting any contacts and just click the double greater than ( >> ) button to add the entire lookup to the selected contacts list

   Note: If you accidentally add one or more contacts that you did not intend to add, or you just wish to remove contacts from the group, you can can remove them by doing the inverse of the options above by selecting the contacts in the Selected contacts section, and clicking the less than ( < ) button, or clear the entire list and start over by using the double less than ( << ) button

6. When finished adding contacts, click OK
7. Click OK again to close out of the Add/Remove Contacts window

Dynamic membership

1. Navigate to the Detail View of the Group or Subgroup you wish to add contacts to
2. In the Contacts tab, click Add/Remove Contacts…
3. Under Dynamic members, click Edit Criteria…
4. In the Group Criteria window, configure the desired criteria for which contacts you wish to include in the groupNote: The Group Criteria window uses Advanced Queries for configuring Group criteria. You can either define the Group Criteria here or, if you have a saved Query, you can load it into the Group Criteria window to use as your Group Criteria. To learn how to configure Advanced Queries, refer to the following knowledgebase article:How to create an Advanced Query in Act!
   Answer ID 26794
5. When you are satisfied with the criteria, click OK
6. Click OK again to close out of the Add/Remove Contacts window

Note: Individual contacts added to the group using Dynamic membership cannot be manually removed from the group from the Add/Remove Contacts window. In order for a contact to be removed from the group, their Contact Details must be changed so that they no longer match the criteria, or you will need to update your criteria

You can add Static Group members from the Contact Views by using the following methods:Adding from Contacts List View

1. Create a lookup of the contacts you wish to add and select all of them, or individually select the desired contacts (or contact)
2. Click Contacts > Add Selected to Group
3. Choose the group you wish to add them to, then click OK

Adding a single Contact from Contact Detail View

1. Navigate to the Detail View of the Contact Record you wish to add to a group
2. Click the Groups/Companies tabNote: This tab will show any groups that this contact is currently a static member of, however it will not show Dynamic membership in the list. To view the Dynamic Membership, you can click the Show Dynamic Membership button (not available in Act! Premium (access via web) or Act! Premium Cloud).
3. Depending on how you are using Act!:
   • Act! for Windows: Click Add/Remove Groups
   • Act! Premium (access via web) or Act! Premium Cloud: Add/Remove Contact from Group
4. Select the group you wish to add the Contact to, then click the greater than ( > ) buttonNote: You can also remove the contact from a Group using this screen.
5. When finished, click OK

Subgroups can be promoted to be Groups, or they can be moved to be a subgroup of an entirely different main group. Additionally, a main group can be demoted to being a subgroup of a different Main Group. To do this:

1. From the Groups Detail or List views, click to select the group or subgroup you wish to promote or demote
2. Click the Groups Menu, then click Move Group
3. Do one of the following
   • If you wish to promote a subgroup, choose Promote subgroup to group
   • If you wish to move a subgroup to another main group, or to demote a main group to be a sub group of another main group, choose the option to Change to be subgroup of, then choose the desired group from the list
4. Click OK to complete the move

If desired, it is possible to duplicate a group. Duplicating the group record will create a new group with the same group information and the same group members as the original group. To duplicate a group:

1. From the Group Detail View or Group List View, select the Group or Subgroup you wish to duplicateNote: Duplicating a subgroup will create a duplicate subgroup of the same main group as the original subgroup
2. Click the Groups menu, then choose Duplicate
3. Choose one of the following:
   • Duplicate data from primary fields
   • Duplicate data from all fields

   Note: For more information about Primary fields, refer to the following knowledgebase article:

   Primary fields in Act!
   Answer ID 14576

4. Click OK to create the duplicate group
5. Enter a name for the new group and fill out any other fields as you require
6. Click the Save icon