Lists and segments

Komma offers two tools for selecting contacts for newsletters, group emails or letters: lists and segments. At first glance, they appear similar, but they work in fundamentally different ways.

Lists: fixed compilations

A list is a manually maintained collection of contacts. You add or remove people individually – the list only changes when someone actively edits it.

Typical examples:

• ‘Parish newsletter recipients’
• ‘Executive committee’
• ‘Summer festival volunteers’

Segments: dynamic filters

A segment is a saved filter. You set criteria (e.g. ‘lives in Konstanz’ and ‘has an email address’), and Komma recalculates the matching contacts each time it is used. If a new contact is added who meets the criteria, they are automatically included in the segment.

Typical examples:

• “Everyone with an email address” – for the newsletter
• “Everyone without an email address” – they’ll receive the letter by post
• “Birthday in July”

When should I use which one?

Situation	Tool
The composition is a deliberate, editorial selection	List
The composition is based on the contacts’ attributes	Segment
The group should remain up to date automatically	Segment
The group should only change if someone modifies it	List

Interaction with attributes

Segments become really powerful when combined with attributes: any attribute you maintain for contacts can serve as a filter criterion – such as “receives newsletter”, “is a member” or “participation in 2026”.