--- title: How do I set the personal filter? description: "Use the person filter to find the people in your congregation whose membership you want to automate. [Personenfilter der automatischen Mitgliedschaften verstehen](https://www.youtube.com/embed/gTLLoVnBIIc?feature=oembed) In the *Groups module* (1), call up your *group* (2) and open the *settings* (3) in the menu…" url: "https://staging.churchtools.academy/en/help/churchtools-modules/automatic-membership/how-to-set-the-personal-filter/" updated: "2026-03-16" category: Groups / My Group / Automatic Membership --- # How do I set the personal filter? Use the person filter to find the people in your congregation whose membership you want to automate. [Personenfilter der automatischen Mitgliedschaften verstehen](https://www.youtube.com/embed/gTLLoVnBIIc?feature=oembed) In the *Groups module* (1), call up your *group* (2) and open the *settings* (3) in the menu on the left-hand side. Here you will find the menu item *Automatic membership* (4). In the upper half of the "Automatic membership" page you will find the *person filter*, which you can use to filter out the people in your congregation whose membership you want to automate for your group. Use the *plus symbol* (1) below the heading *People filter* to set your filter. Use the *Reset* button (2) to reset the filter and under *... Show people* (3) you will see a list of all the people you have filtered so far. Here you can check at any time whether your filter settings match. By default, archived persons and groups are excluded from filtering. If you want to include them in the filter set, remove the corresponding filter using the three-dot menu at the end of the line: - *Archived is ‘No’* or - *Group: Group status is one of ‘Active’, ‘Draft’, “Closed”, ‘Archived’* Using the same menu, you also have the option to rename, nest, negate or ignore each filter. [![Groups - Automatic membership - Filter for people](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Groups_Automatic-membership_Filkter-for-people.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Groups_Automatic-membership_Filkter-for-people.png) Use the *plus* sign to filter the people in your congregation either by their direct characteristics as a *person* (1), such as name or zip code, or by their *membership of a Group* (2). If you combine several filter criteria, you can define filter groups to refine your selection of people even further. Both *AND and OR connections* (3) are available here. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Filter options](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-CleanShot-2025-05-26-at-12.33.12@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-CleanShot-2025-05-26-at-12.33.12@2x.png) If you collapse all filter groups using the arrow at the end of the line and go through your filter from top to bottom, you will see an overview of the properties and group memberships you have set. Finally, check the result under *... Show people* and change your filter until you have found the group of people you would like to have. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - show People result](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CleanShot-2025-05-26-at-12.42.44@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CleanShot-2025-05-26-at-12.42.44@2x.png) ## Option 1: Filter by person Under *Select* (1) you search directly for people (2) and mark them for selection (3). **Note** Selecting makes sense if you want to filter a group of people that does not change or changes very little. In many cases, it makes more sense to filter people according to defined parameters, as the group of people will then be automatically adjusted in the future. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Filter by person](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-by-person-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-09.40.29@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-by-person-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-09.40.29@2x.png) Under *Filters* (1), you filter the people according to certain *properties* (2), such as the person's status. You decide whether only one of the selection options should be filtered or several at once (3). If you use a date, both relative and formula-based filters are available. *Select* the properties you want by *marking them* (4). Whether *selecting* or *filtering*: It makes sense to *describe* your filter (5) before you *save* it (6). This creates an overview and clarity. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Filter by Person](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-by-status-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-09.37.27@2x-1.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-by-status-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-09.37.27@2x-1.png) ## Option 2: Filter by membership in a Group To filter people according to their membership of a group, first select *Groups* (1) from which you want to filter people and then the *filters* (2) that the group members of the previously selected Groups must fulfill. Here, too, you can of course combine *AND* and *OR connections* to create filter groups. Under *Show filter result* (3), you can see all Groups or persons found with your filter at any time. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Filter by membership in a group](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Membership-in-a-group-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-09.53.33@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Membership-in-a-group-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-09.53.33@2x.png) ### Step 1: Filter Groups Use the *plus symbol* under *Define Groups*, *...* to open the dialog box for filtering Groups. Here you can filter by both *groups* and *subgroups*. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Filter Groups](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-plus-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-09.56.19@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-plus-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-09.56.19@2x.png) When *filtering by group*, search for the group directly under *Select* (1) and select it again by *marking it*. Under *Filter* (2), you can filter Groups according to group information (such as graduation date or age group) and then select. Here too, you decide whether only one of the selection options should be filtered or several at once. If you use a date, both relative and formula-based filters are available. For more clarity, it makes sense to *describe* your filter in more detail (3). [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Filkter by Group](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-by-groups-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.02.17@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-by-groups-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.02.17@2x.png) When filtering by subgroups, you define supergroups (1) and which levels of subgroups (2) should be taken into account. [![Groups - Automatic membership - Is a supbgroup of](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Groups_Automatic-membership_Is-a-supbgroup-of.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Groups_Automatic-membership_Is-a-supbgroup-of.png) ### Step 2: Filter group members Once you have filtered out Groups, use the *plus symbol* at the bottom to set the filters that the group members of the previously defined Groups must fulfill. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Filter group members](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-plus2-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.16.34@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-plus2-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.16.34@2x.png) You can also filter people according to certain properties, such as person status, and according to their group memberships (see section "Setting people filters"). [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Filter by people properties](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-people-by-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.20.03@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-people-by-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.20.03@2x.png) ## Option 3: Add AND or OR connections In addition to the filters that you have previously set for people or their group memberships, you have the option of adding *AND* *or OR connections* to refine your filter even further. This works the same for both operations. Use the *plus symbol* to add a connection and, in the next step, select additional filters for people or their group memberships as shown in the "Setting people filters" section. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - And or Or connections](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Add-connections-Filter-people-by-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.20.03@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Add-connections-Filter-people-by-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.20.03@2x.png) You can *rename*, further *nest*, *convert*, *remove* or *delete* a shortcut using the 3-dot menu. You can also *negate* or *ignore* shortcuts (as well as all filters). [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - 3-dot functions](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-functions-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.27.27@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Filter-functions-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.27.27@2x.png) ## Option 4: Nesting filters Whether just simple filters or And/Or connections: You can *nest* them to narrow down properties even further or add to them. For example, if you want to filter people from a specific district that contains several zip codes, you can filter people by several zip codes using an OR nest. [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Nesting filters 1](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Or-connection-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.34.38@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Or-connection-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.34.38@2x.png) [![Groups - Settings - Automatic membership - Nesting filters 2](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Or-connection-Postalcode-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.37.23@2x.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Or-connection-Postalcode-CleanShot-2025-05-27-at-10.37.23@2x.png) ## Read more - [Understanding automatic membership](https://staging.churchtools.academy/en/help/churchtools-modules/automatic-membership/understanding-automatic-membership/) - [Which actions can I have executed?](https://staging.churchtools.academy/en/help/churchtools-modules/automatic-membership/which-actions-can-i-have-executed/)