Using the asterisk and pipe symbols, you can control whether to add a contact to a new or existing group during a file upload without changing or removing any existing groups.

The "Groups" column shows a contact's group affiliation in a specific format.

The "Groups" column displays the groups a contact is included in. The pipe symbol is used to separate the group names rather than commas.

Adding a new group is as easy as adding a name. We've added the "Administration" group in this example.

Please note that there are no spaces between the group name and the pipe symbol.

When this file is uploaded, the contact will be added to all of the groups in the cell, and removed from any groups that are not indicated in the uploaded file.

Remember, it's a best practice to download your existing contacts before making a change, like uploading a new file. That way, you always have a backup copy if your uploaded file causes unintended changes.

Some organizations have multiple methods of contact updates happening at any given time. When manually uploading contacts, it's important to consider existing group assignments.

For example, let's say the highlighted contact was just now added to a group named "Administration." Another admin user could do this manually or via a different upload process. The file below would not reflect that recent change. If the file below was then uploaded, the contact would be removed from the "Administration" group and would only be included in the "Support" and "Managers" groups.

To ensure that your changes won't unintentionally remove groups not reflected in the file, use an asterisk and a pipe together (*|) at the beginning of the "Groups" column value. Adding an asterisk and pipe (*|) to the beginning of the "Groups" column cell will cause the contact to be added to all the groups indicated WITHOUT removing the contact from any groups they may be assigned to and are not listed in your upload file. This is particularly useful when unsure about a contact's current group assignments.

NOTE: The asterisk and pipe mechanism only applies to "Update" type uploads. It does not apply to "Replace" type uploads.

Let's add a group using this method. I think I see all the correct group names here, but since I'm not sure, I'll use the asterisk and pipe method to ensure we don't accidentally remove any existing group assignments.

I'll clear out the cell to start fresh.

Add an asterisk and a pipe, then add the new group name. Again, there are no spaces between the pipe symbol and the group name.

Now, when I upload this file using the "Update" option, I've indicated that the only change I want to this contact's information is to add them to the group.

None of their existing groups will be modified or removed. Only the "Administration" Group will be added.

To keep group affiliation intact and not make any group revisions for a specific contact record, utilize the asterisk and pipe symbol with no other characters.