> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://orgo.space/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Lists & Segments
> Build reusable groups of members and contacts by criteria, and use them as newsletter audiences
A list is a reusable set of members and contacts. Lists answer questions like
"who joined in the last 60 days", "which members have an active donation", and
"who has not paid this year", and they double as the audience when you send a
newsletter.
**Use a list when you need to:**
* Send a newsletter to part of your organisation rather than all of it
* Keep a group up to date automatically as people join, pay, or lapse
* Pull a recurring report without rebuilding the same filter each time
***
## Two kinds of list
**Automated** lists are defined by criteria and re-evaluate themselves. Someone
who becomes eligible tomorrow is in the list tomorrow, with no action from you.
**Manual** lists contain exactly the people you add, and change only when you
change them.
The type is fixed when the list is created and cannot be changed afterwards. If
you build a manual list and later want it to maintain itself, you have to create
a new automated list. Decide which you need before you save.
***
## Creating a list
**Administration** → **Lists**, then **Create list**.
You can type the audience in plain language, for example "members in Cluj who
joined this year and have not paid". Orgo suggests criteria from that
description, which you can then review and adjust. The suggestion is a
starting point, not the saved definition, so always check the criteria it
produced before saving.
Automated for anything you want kept current. Manual for a fixed set, such as
a working group or an invitation list. Remember this cannot be changed later.
Decide whether the list covers **members only**, **contacts only**, or
**both**. Contacts are people in your database who are not members, such as
newsletter subscribers and past attendees.
**Active**, **inactive**, or **all**. Active is the default, so a list will
silently exclude lapsed members unless you widen this.
Combine as many conditions as you need. See below for what you can filter on.
***
## What you can filter on
| Criterion | Typical use |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Status | Members at a particular stage of their membership |
| Age | Age-banded groups, for example members under 18 |
| Tags | Anything you tag people with yourself |
| Name, email | Narrowing to a known set |
| Donations | Has an active donation, a past donation, any donation, or none |
| Fees | Has paid, or has not paid |
Text and number criteria support equals, not equals, greater than, less than,
and contains, so age and date-style questions can be expressed as ranges rather
than exact matches.
***
## Using a list as a newsletter audience
When composing a newsletter, pick the list as the audience instead of selecting
recipients by hand. With an automated list, the audience is resolved when the
newsletter is sent, so a list that grew since you drafted it reaches the people
who qualify at send time.
***
## When a list is not enough
List criteria cover the questions organisations ask most often, but they are not
a general query language. If you need something they cannot express, such as a
report combining several years of payment history, contact support and describe
the question you are trying to answer. Custom queries are set up for your
organisation and then appear alongside your lists.