Summary: The recipient picker is the screen you use to choose who a task gets assigned to. This guide covers how the picker works, its selection restrictions, and how to use the CSV upload.
1. What the recipient picker is for
The recipient picker is where you choose the assignees of your task. Both individual and shared tasks let you select multiple entities, but what happens to those selections differs by task type. For the full breakdown of individual versus shared tasks, see How to Create a Task.
2. The three sections of the recipient picker
The picker screen is split into three sections, arranged left to right:
| Audience types (left) | People (middle) | Your selection (right) | |
| What it shows | A search bar and four tabs: Regions, Teams, All groups, My groups. Under each tab, a checkbox list starting with Entire Network (globe icon, total member count), followed by Business Units and Local Departments, each with a checkbox, an icon, a member count, and an expand arrow. | A search bar and a header that reads "People from [name]," listing the individual members of whatever Business Unit, Local Department, Team, or group is currently open in the left section. | Every audience, department, team, or person you've picked, each with an X icon next to it, plus a "Clear all" link. A "+" (file) icon at the top opens the CSV/XLSX upload. |
| What you do there | Browse or search for the Business Unit, Local Department, Team, or group you want to assign the task to, and check it to select it. | Check or uncheck individual people to fine-tune exactly who on that list gets the task. It's not mandatory to select a group first — you can select only individuals directly from this section. | Review everything you've selected so far, remove individual items with the X, clear the whole selection, or upload a file to bulk-select Business Units or Local Departments. |
At the bottom of the screen, click Back or Discard changes to leave without saving your selection, or click Apply to confirm it. Apply stays grayed out until at least one recipient is selected.
3. How selecting a Business Unit or Local Department affects what's underneath it
Checking the box next to a Business Unit or Local Department selects that whole unit as a recipient, and automatically selects everything inside it too:
- Any departments or Teams inside it appear as accordion items directly underneath it in the left section, and those are checked automatically as well.
- Every individual person inside it appears checked in the middle section's people list.
- The unit itself, along with any departments or Teams inside it, each show up as their own separate item in the Selection section on the right.
You can fine-tune this after the fact: uncheck a specific department, Team, or individual person while leaving everything else selected. The unit you originally selected stays selected even if you've removed one item from underneath it.
You can remove any selected item either by clicking the X next to it in the Selection section, or by unchecking it again wherever it appears in the left or middle section.
4. Selection restrictions
A few combinations aren't allowed when building your recipient list:
- Secret groups can't be combined with anything else. If you select a Secret group, it must be the only recipient on the task. You can't add a Secret group alongside any other person, group, Business Unit, or Local Department.
- Entire Network can't be combined with anything else. Selecting Entire Network as the recipient is also exclusive — you can't select Entire Network together with any other specific audience.
- You can't select yourself together with other recipients. A task assigned to "yourself" has to be exclusively for you. Related to this: if you assign a task to a group you're personally a member of, you will not receive that task yourself. Group task assignment excludes the creator, so keep this in mind if you're part of the group you're assigning to and expect to also get a copy of the task.
5. Bulk-selecting with a CSV, XLSX, or TXT file
Instead of manually checking boxes, you can upload a file to select multiple Business Units or Local Departments at once.
- Click the "+" (file) icon at the top of the Selection section to open the upload option.
- You'll see two separate upload buttons: one for uploading Business Units, one for uploading Local Departments.
- The file must be a CSV, XLSX, or TXT file, encoded in UTF-8, containing a list of the exact names of the Business Units or Local Departments you want to select.
- This upload only works for Business Units and Local Departments. It cannot be used to bulk-select people or groups.
- Once you upload the file, every entry in it is selected automatically. You can still manually add or remove items afterward to adjust the result.
- After the upload finishes, the picker shows you how many matches were found. Use this to check whether any names in your file didn't match anything in your network, so you can fix and re-upload if needed.
- This capability is enabled upon request. Contact Speakap support at support@speakap.com to have it turned on for your network.
- This upload is available on web only. It is not available in the mobile apps.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I select a Secret group along with other people?
Secret groups have to be the sole recipient of a task. If you need to also notify other people or groups, create a separate task for them.
If I assign a task to a group I'm in, why don't I get the task too?
Group task assignment automatically excludes the creator, even if you're a member of that group. Assign a separate task to yourself individually if you also want a personal copy.
Can I use the CSV upload to select individual people?
No. CSV/XLSX upload only works for bulk-selecting Business Units or Local Departments. People and groups always need to be selected manually in the picker.
The bulk upload buttons aren't showing up for me. Why?
This capability is enabled upon request and isn't switched on by default. Contact Speakap support to request it for your network.
Still stuck?
Email us at support@speakap.com with your network name, what you were trying to select, and a screenshot, and we'll help you out.