A Roles list is the third List Category option in the List Builder, alongside People and Organisations. Where a People list returns one row per person (with their primary organisation), a Roles list is based on contacts' connections — it returns one row for every relationship a person has, so a single person can appear multiple times, once per role or position they hold.
This is the difference that matters: a person who is a Member of one organisation, a Treasurer of another and a Delegate of a third will appear as three separate rows in a Roles list, each showing the details of that specific relationship. In a People list they would appear only once.
When to use a Roles list
Use a Roles list when the relationship — not just the person — is what you care about. For example:
- A list of everyone holding a particular position (for example every Delegate), showing which organisation each holds it with and the dates it runs.
- A full view of a subset of your database broken out by every one of their connections, rather than collapsed to one row per person.
- Reporting on relationships to a particular organisation — who is connected, in what position, and for what period.
If you only need one row per person, use a People list instead (see List Builder — Overview).
Creating a Roles list
- Open Lists from the left-hand menu and click Create list.
- On the List Details step, give the list a name.
- Under List Category, choose Roles. (Switching category after you have added conditions will clear those conditions — SwiftFox asks you to confirm.)
- Choose the List Type (Live or Fixed) and the Circles that can view it, then click Next.
Setting conditions
On the Conditions step you build Rules and Criteria exactly as you would for a People list — every field you can filter a People list on is available here (Profile Details, Custom Fields, Locations, and so on). See Building conditions: rules, criteria and AND/OR logic and Field menus and operators.
The Organisation Connections field menu is especially useful in a Roles list, because it filters on the relationship itself. You can filter by Organisation, Current relationship, Position, Category type, Industries and Regions — for example, Position is Delegate returns every delegate relationship and the organisation each is held with.
Remember the output is one row per person, per relationship, so a filter that matches a person can still return several rows for that person.
Reading the results
On the Results step, a Roles list shows relationship-specific columns that a People list does not:
- First name and Last name — the person.
- Role: Organisation — the organisation the relationship is with.
- Role: Position — the position or title held in that relationship.
- Role: Start Date and Role: End Date — the dates the relationship runs (either may be blank).
Any custom fields you add appear after these, just as in any other list. Use the column visibility (eye) icon to show or hide columns; as with all lists, an export includes only the columns currently visible (see Reviewing results and choosing columns for export).
Because each row is a single relationship, the record count reflects the number of relationships matched, not the number of unique people.
Acting on a Roles list
A Roles list can be saved and acted on like any other list from the Actions step. You can also build an Action Centre on a Roles list: when you create a Lists Action Centre and choose the source list, Roles lists are available as source types, giving you a live, relationship-level view for your team to work from.
Related guides
- List Builder — Overview
- Field menus and operators (Organisation Connections)
- Building conditions: rules, criteria and AND/OR logic
- Reviewing results and choosing columns for export