Collections

7 minutes read

Level: Beginner

Last Updated: February 2026

Collections

Collections is a feature in Glific to keep one set of users in one place and use it to communicate with all users in that collection in one go.

Create a Collection

1. Click on the Manage in the left panel of the Glific screen. Click on Collections to access the collections page

2. Collections page will open up. Click on the +Create to create a collection

Assign staff to a Collection

3. Add details of the Collection

   1. Title
   2. Description
   3. Assign staff members to the collection who will be chatting with the contacts in the collection.

Click on save after adding the details.

4. Verify the collection created on the collections page.

Add beneficiaries to Collection (Manually)

b. Add contacts to the collection. From Add contactspop up, select the contacts from the dropdown and click on the Save button.

Send a message to the Collection

1. Send a message or start a flow with all contacts of a group. Go to Chats page and click on collections icon from the right hand menu.

2 . Click on the collection to which you want to send a message or HSM template.

3 . Type the message in the Type a message box and Clink on send Icon.

or

click on the up arrow and go to templates button to select the approved HSM template.

4 . Variable input box will open up. Enter the variable and click on Done button

5 . Message will appear in message input box. Click on send icon to send the HSM template to all contacts in the selected collection.

6 . A contact status message popup will open up. Click on OK, send button to send the message.

7 . Verify the message sent to the contacts

Start a flow for the Collection

1 . Click on the arrow icon next to the collection name.

2 . Click on start a flow menu item. Select the flow from the drop-down and click on start button to start a flow for all the contacts in the collection.

Get a list of all the collections contact is part of

Use contact.in_groups lists all the group ids that the given contact is part of.

Bulk Import and Update Contacts

Glific offers two key features to help manage contacts efficiently:

• Import Contacts (Add new contacts in bulk)
• Move Contacts (Update contact fields or add contacts to a collection)

These tools are especially helpful during onboarding, data migration, or large-scale updates.

1. Import Contacts

When to Use

Use the Import Contacts feature when you need to add new contacts in bulk into the Glific Platform.

For example:

• Onboarding a new group of users.

• Migrating from another CRM system.

• Adding participants for an upcoming campaign or event.

How to upload contacts in bulk

Steps

1. Login to Glific Platform.

2. In the left panel navigate to Manage and select Contacts

3. Find the Import contacts(left side) and click Continue.(as shown in the below image)

4. Download the sample csv and provide the information of the contacts in the format of the sample csv(as per the below screenshots)

5. Select the collection where the contacts will be added (it is advised to add contacts being uploaded in a new collection)

6. Check the Opt-in status.

7. Click on upload file, this allows you to upload the csv file from your computer.

8. Click on upload

9. Check the notifications page to see the status of the upload.

Important Notes

• Ensure that the country code is present in the phone number without +

• This feature uploads all the contacts into the platform and does not validate the phone number (if it is less than 10 digits or if the number exists on WhatsApp or not). Any invalid number which gets added, when broadcasted to, will not get the message.

• Language field is to provide the language preference. Leaving it blank will cause the language preference to be the default language selected in the org’s Glific platform.

• Contacts blocking the chatbot can lower your quality rating with Meta.

• Always import in small batches to avoid message delivery issues or account flagging.

2. Move Contacts (Bulk Update)

When to Use

Use the Move Contacts feature to:

• Add existing contacts to specific collections
• Update custom contact fields (e.g., language, location, group, status)

This is especially useful when:

• Used to segment users for campaigns (e.g., surveys, reminders)

• Used to update location, interest, or status based on recent interactions.

• Used to tag contacts by region or type (e.g., Maharashtra Contacts, Grade).

• Can be used for bulk updates without creating duplicate contacts.

How to move contacts

Steps

1. Login to Glific Platform.

2. Navigate to Manage and Contacts from the left panel.

3. Go to Import Contacts (right side).

4. Click on Download sample and download the sample CSV file from the screen.

5. Enter the details in the given sample data in excel and save it as .csv file. Enter the name of the collections in the collection column comma separated in which you want to move the contacts.

6. Please use the below .csv file format.

name: The contact’s name.

phone: The contact’s phone number in E164 format (without +).

collection: Enter the names of the collections where the contact should be added.

• If a contact needs to be added to multiple collections, separate them with a comma (as shown for John Doe).

some_contact_field_1, some_contact_field_2: Additional contact fields to update or create.

7. Here is the sample CSV file for reference:contact_fields_csv.csv

8. Click on upload file, this allows you to upload the csv file from your computer.

9. Click on the upload button to process the file.

10. After upload:

• Check for successful updates in the Notifications tab
• Fix any errors (e.g., invalid phone format) and re-upload if needed

Example Use Cases

• Adding all users from a school to a SchoolA Collection.

• Updating contact field language to Hindi for 500 users.

• Moving feedback participants to a Survey Completed collection.

Important Notes

• CSV file must match the sample format exactly.

• You can add multiple fields in one go (e.g., collection + language).

• Opt-in is still required for sending messages after the update.

Contact Not Added to Collection – Troubleshooting Guide

If a contact is not appearing in a collection, please check the following points:

1. Verify if an Add to Collection node exists in the flow.

• Open the flow in the Flow Editor.
• Check whether there is an Add to Collection node configured.
• Confirm that the correct collection name is selected.
• If this node is missing, the contact will never be added to the collection.

How to fix:

• Add an Add to Collection node at the appropriate step in the flow.
• Publish the flow again.

2. Check if the contact actually reached the Add to Collection node.

Sometimes the node exists, but the contact never reaches it due to conditions or flow exits.

How to verify:

• Go to the contact’s chat history.
• Check the flow execution path.
• Confirm the contact passed through the Add to Collection node.

Possible reasons:

• Conditional split redirected the contact elsewhere.
• Flow exited early.

3. Check if there is a Remove from Collection node immediately after adding.

• If there is a Remove from Collection node using the same collection name right after the Add node, the contact will be removed immediately.

How to verify:

• Open the flow.
• Check if a Remove from Collection node exists.
• Confirm whether it uses the same collection name.

How to fix:

• Remove the unnecessary Remove from Collection node, OR
• Ensure it is only triggered when intended.

4. Confirm the collection name is correct.

• Ensure there are no duplicate collections with similar names.

• Verify the correct collection is selected in the node.

5. Ensure the flow is published.

• Changes will not work unless the flow is published.

How to verify:

• Check if the flow status is Published and not Draft.