Groups Overview

Groups let you organize students, instructors, and guardians into named collections, making it easy to communicate with specific sets of people and manage them together. Whether you need to send a recital reminder to all participants, coordinate with parents of beginners, or email a class roster, groups keep everything organized.

The Three Kinds of Groups

Before you use groups, it's important to understand that not all groups behave the same way. Conductly has three kinds:

Kind	How It's Created	Membership	Deleting It
Roster Group	Created automatically for each class session	Mirrors the class's enrollment — read-only	The action is labeled Delete Session and deletes the class session itself
Dynamic Group	Created from the Students or Guardians list with Save As Group, choosing Auto update students based on my filter	Re-evaluates your saved filters every time the group is opened — read-only, no manual add/remove	Removes only the group; members are unaffected
Custom Group	Created manually by you, or saved from a bulk selection	You add and remove members, or merge another group's members in	Removes only the group; members are unaffected

warning

Roster groups are not just lists — they ARE the class session. Deleting a roster group (the menu item is labeled Delete Session) deletes the class session and its roster from your school, not just the group. Only delete a roster group if you intend to remove the class session itself.

Roster Groups

Every class session automatically gets a roster group. Its membership always mirrors the class's enrollment: enrolling a student adds them, unenrolling removes them. You can't add or remove members from a roster group directly — manage the class's enrollment instead. Roster groups are great for emailing everyone in a class or downloading a class roster.

Dynamic Groups

A dynamic group saves a set of filters instead of a fixed list of people. Every time you open it, Conductly re-runs those filters against your current roster, so people who newly match show up on their own and people who no longer match drop out — no manual upkeep.

You create one from the Students or Guardians list: apply the filters you want (for example Started lessons: Last 14 days, or Status: Active), then use Save As Group and choose Auto update students based on my filter. Because membership is computed rather than stored, you can't add or remove individual members by hand — if you need a different set of people, save a new group with different filters. See Save As Group, from Filters or a Selection for the steps.

Dynamic groups are the right choice for anything you want to stay current without touching it again -- like "students who started in the last two weeks" or "families with an outstanding balance."

Custom Groups

Custom groups are named lists you build yourself. You can think of them like folders for people — they help you stay organized without changing anything about the members themselves. A single person can belong to multiple groups at the same time. Custom groups are purely organizational: they don't affect scheduling or billing.

When you need one list spanning several classes (for example, all piano classes for a recital), create a custom group and Merge Group the rosters into it one at a time — see Merging Groups for the steps. The original roster groups (and their sessions) stay intact; the merge is a one-time copy, so it won't stay in sync with later enrollment changes.

Common Use Cases

Groups are flexible and can be used in many ways. Here are some popular examples:

Use Case	Example Group Name	Who to Include
Recital planning	Spring Recital 2026	Students performing in the recital
Age-based grouping	Ages 5-7	Young students for age-appropriate communications
Instrument sections	Violin Students	All students studying a particular instrument
Class communication	(automatic)	Every class already has a roster group — no need to build one by hand
Communication lists	Newsletter Recipients	Guardians who want updates
Event coordination	Summer Camp 2026	Students registered for camp
Skill levels	Advanced Performers	Students at a certain proficiency

How Groups Are Created

There are several ways groups come into being:

Automatically

Every class session gets a roster group without any action on your part. These appear on the Groups page alongside your own groups.

Manual Creation

You can create a custom group from the Groups page at any time with the Add group button. Choose a Group Type — Students, Instructors, or Guardians — give it a name, and then add members.

Save As Group, from Filters or a Selection

When you're on the Students or Guardians list page, Save As Group builds a group from either a checkbox selection or your active filters — you choose which when you save:

• Auto update students based on my filter — a dynamic group (see above) built from whatever filters are currently applied
• Use students I manually selected — a custom group with exactly the people you checked

tip

If you find yourself repeatedly applying the same filters to find the same set of students, save them as a dynamic group instead. Next time, just open the group — and it'll already include anyone new who matches.

What You Can Do with Groups

Once you have a group, you can:

• Send emails and SMS to all members of the group at once
• Add or remove members of custom groups as your needs change (roster groups sync automatically with enrollment; dynamic groups recompute from their saved filters)
• Download a roster PDF or member list CSV
• Duplicate a group to create a new one with the same members
• Merge another group's members into a custom group (the source can be any group, including a roster)
• View past emails to see what messages have been sent to the group
• Archive groups you're no longer actively using but want to keep for records
• Delete custom groups you no longer need (and restore them if you change your mind)

Groups vs. Courses

You might wonder when to use a custom group versus a course. Here's a simple rule of thumb:

• Use a course when students are attending scheduled lessons or classes that appear on the calendar and may involve billing. Its roster group is created for you automatically.
• Use a custom group when you just need to organize people for communication, planning, or reference purposes — no scheduling or billing involved.

Custom groups are lightweight and flexible — purely an organizational tool. Roster groups, on the other hand, are tied to real class sessions, so treat them with care.

Getting Started

Ready to create your first group? Head over to Managing Groups for step-by-step instructions on creating groups, adding members, and sending communications.