Create and manage contact groups
Group contacts in Upper with a custom field like Territory or Customer Type, then filter, build routes, or export by group — no separate groups feature needed.
Upper organizes your contacts into groups using custom fields. There is no separate "groups" feature — instead, you create a custom contact field (for example, "Territory" or "Customer Type"), and the values you give that field become your groups. Once a group field exists, you can filter your address book by it, build routes from a single group, or export one group at a time.
Custom fields used for grouping are defined in Settings > Customization > Custom Fields under the Contacts scope. The same field then appears as a column you can show in your contact table and as a filter option in the Filter dropdown.
Why group your contacts
A large address book is only useful if you can slice it down to the contacts you need. Once you have a group field defined, every contact workflow — filtering, route building, exporting — can work on one group instead of your full list. That is how teams pull a single driver's territory, run reports by customer type, or build a route for just one service day.
Before you start
- Custom contact fields are required to create groups. They are configured in Settings, so you will need access to Settings > Customization > Custom Fields.
- Decide what your groups represent before you create the field — for example territory, customer type, or service day. This keeps your values consistent.
Create a group field
Open custom field settings
Go to Settings > Customization > Custom Fields and find the Contacts scope.
Add a new contact field
Create a new field and give it a clear name that describes the grouping — for example "Territory", "Customer Type", or "Service Day".
Define the group values
Add the values that make up your groups (for example "Downtown", "Suburbs", "Industrial"). Each value becomes a group you can filter and route by.
Save the field
Save your changes. The field is now available on contacts and in the Filter dropdown.
Assign contacts to a group
You set a contact's group by giving it a value for your group field.
- One contact at a time — When you add or edit a contact, open the Other Info tab (this tab appears once contact custom fields are configured) and choose the group value.
- In bulk during import — When you import contacts from a file, include a column for your group field and map it to that field on the column-mapping step. Both Import Contacts and Import Contacts With Preview can map custom fields.
When you first create a group field, existing contacts have no value for it — the field starts empty on every current contact. Set the value by editing those contacts, or re-import them with the group column filled in.
Work with your groups
| What you want to do | How |
|---|---|
| See one group | Open the Filter dropdown and select the values you want under your group field. |
| Build a route from a group | Filter to the group, select the contacts, then use Create New Route (or Add To Existing Route). |
| Export a group | Filter to the group, then use Export. |
| Move a contact to another group | Edit the contact and change its group field value. |
You can run more than one group field at the same time. A "Territory" field plus a "Customer Type" field lets you filter on both axes at once — for example, every Commercial contact in the North territory.
Common ways teams group contacts
- Driver territories — A "Territory" field lets a dispatcher pull one driver's zone in a single filter.
- Service days — A "Service Day" field (Mon, Wed, Fri) makes it quick to build the right route for each day.
- Customer segments — A "Customer Type" field (for example Residential vs. Commercial) separates contacts that route or bill differently.
Your workspace may show Technician/Service labels instead of Driver/Delivery — the wording is configurable per workspace. The grouping behavior is the same either way.
Related
Create a route from saved contacts
Turn saved contacts into a route in Upper. Filter and select the contacts you want, then create a new route or add them to an existing one as stops.
Delete contacts
Delete contacts in Upper one at a time from the row Action menu, or several at once by selecting rows. Export a backup first if you may need the data later.