Smart groups automatically add or remove users from a group based on live conditions such as job role, location or start date. This helps reduce manual admin and keeps your user groups up to date, without relying on your HR system or updating multiple automations.
They're ideal for fast-moving teams, large organisations or any situation where you want groups to reflect real-time user data.
š§ How to create a smart group
Follow these steps to create an automation that keeps your group up to date:
š„ Important:
Make sure you already have at least one group set up. If not, create one before starting.
Step 1: Go to Control > Behaviour > Automations
Click Create new automation
Give your automation a clear name (for example, Sales Team Smart Group)
Set the trigger event to Check periodically
This ensures the system regularly checks for matching users
Step 2: Set your conditions
Choose the attributes that determine who joins the group. Examples:
Job role
Department
Contract start date
Location
Any other available user attribute
Step 3: Add the group action
Under action, choose Add user to smart group
Select the group from the drop-down menu
š” Note:
Once enabled, users will be added or removed automatically based on your conditions.
š How smart group automations work
Smart groups are dynamic. Users enter or leave automatically based on whether they meet your set criteria.
Example:
You want to group Managers in the Benelux region
Set up conditions like:
Location is Netherlands OR Belgium OR Luxembourg
AND Role is Manager
These users will automatically join your Benelux Managers smart group.
š” A smart group belongs to its automation
If you disable the automation, every member is removed from the group at once, including users you added by hand. When you enable it again, the group matches exactly the users who meet the conditions, so it is best not to manage a smart group by hand.
Programmes, widgets and automations that use the group follow its membership within a minute, so check where the group is used before you disable the automation.
Pending users join a smart group once they log in. If a user meets the conditions but is missing from the group, disable and enable the automation to re-sync the whole group, or remove the user from the condition group and add them back.
š Good to know about smart groups
Simplify automations: Reuse smart groups across automations, no need to repeat conditions.
Automatic updates: Groups update automatically as user data changes.
Easy to monitor and edit: Adjust criteria or check performance anytime in Control > Behaviour > Automations.
Customised grouping: Create learning-focused or reporting-specific groups without relying on HR systems.
Better reporting: Smart groups make it easier to track progress, completions, and engagement, with no need to manually sort users.
ā Final checks and tips
Confirm that the Check periodically event is active
Hover the eye icon next to the automation to see how many users meet the conditions and, for each action, how many have not had it yet. For an enabled automation that already ran, a 0 is normal because the action is already done
Use the Activations tab to see who currently matches, and the user's Audit tab to see what ran
Keep conditions clear and specific to avoid unexpected group changes
š„ Important:
If your group was initially created by the user importer, it may be recreated unless your data source is updated. Always check the source of group membership.