Reuse filters across audiences

Define a filter once, and every audience that uses it stays consistent

Many audiences share the same building blocks: everyone who may be contacted, households that gave in the last year, people in one region. When each builder rebuilds these conditions by hand, the definitions drift apart. One audience leaves out people who opted out of email, the next one forgets. The Filter Library keeps these building blocks in one place. A curator saves a filter once as a library entry, and builders add it to their audiences instead of rebuilding it.

The library lives on the CAB Filter Library tab.

How it works

1. A curator creates an entry. The entry holds conditions on one object, optionally with related objects or a calculation over related records. See Create a library entry.
2. The curator decides how fixed the entry is. A fixed entry always applies the same values. A configurable entry leaves one or more values for the builder to fill in. See Make an entry configurable.
3. Builders add the entry to their audiences. In the filter editor of an audience, Copy Existing Filter lists the library entries for that object. See Use a library filter in an audience.
4. An administrator can make an entry a default. CAB then adds the entry to every new filter on that object. A Locked default can also be applied to the filters that already exist. See Set defaults and enforce filters.

Words used on these pages

Word	What it means
Library entry	A saved filter in the Filter Library. Example: “Exclude do-not-contact” keeps only Contacts who did not opt out of email and calls.
Chain	An entry that also filters related objects. Example: “Active households” keeps Accounts that have a paid Gift Transaction in the last 12 months.
Aggregate entry	An entry that calculates over related records, such as the sum, count or maximum of a field. Example: households whose paid gifts add up to at least an amount.
Configurable entry	An entry with one or more parameters. The list marks it Parameterized · N.
Parameter	A value that the builder fills in when they add the entry, for example “Minimum total”. Everything else in the entry stays as the curator saved it.
Copy	The entry’s conditions are copied into the audience. The builder can edit them, and later changes to the entry do not reach the audience.
Sync	The audience keeps a live reference to the entry. Changes to the entry reach the audience until a builder detaches it.
Locked	An administrator enforces the entry. Builders can see it but cannot edit or detach it.
Default	An entry that CAB adds by itself to every new filter on its object, as Copy, Sync or Locked.

Choose how an entry reaches an audience

	Copy	Configure & copy	Sync	Locked
Who chooses it	The builder	The builder	The builder, or an administrator through a default	An administrator
Works for	Fixed entries	Configurable entries	Fixed entries	Fixed entries
Later changes to the entry	Do not reach the audience	Do not reach the audience	Reach the audience	Reach the audience
Builder can edit the conditions	Yes	Yes	After Detach	No
Use it when	The entry is a good starting point that each audience adapts	The definition is shared, but one value differs per audience, such as an amount or a region	Every audience must follow one shared definition, and a builder may still opt out	A rule must apply to every audience without exception, such as contact preferences

Read the library list

Select an object on the left to see its entries. Find object… narrows the object list, and Search library… searches the entries, including their descriptions and parameter labels. The buttons above the list show only one kind of entry: Default, Locked, Chain, Parameterized or Aggregate.

Each entry shows its conditions under Filter logic, the number of matching records under Records, and where it is used under Used in. Select the arrow in front of an entry to see all of its conditions.

Badge	What it means
Default · Copy	CAB copies the entry into every new filter on this object.
Default · Sync	CAB adds the entry to every new filter on this object as a live reference.
Default · Locked	CAB enforces the entry on the filters of this object. Builders cannot remove it.
Chain	The entry also filters related objects.
Aggregate	The entry calculates over related records.
Parameterized · N	The entry has N parameters that the builder fills in.
Copy-only	The entry can only be copied. Configurable entries are always copy-only.

An entry without a Default badge is optional: CAB never adds it by itself. The default only decides what CAB adds automatically. When a builder adds a fixed entry by hand, they still choose between Copy and Sync.

A configurable entry shows no record count, because the count depends on the values a builder fills in.

For admins

To create and edit library entries, a user needs the Campaign Audience Builder Filter Library Management permission set. Builders who only add entries to their audiences do not need it. See Set defaults and enforce filters.