What is the best way to use tags?

How to Use Tags

What Tags Do

As your organization's members sign up for committees and get involved in activities, tags help you:

• Organize your membership into groups (committees, volunteer interests, book clubs, etc.)
• Identify affinity groups of members who share something in common
• Determine who can or cannot participate in, use, or view specific parts of your website

 The Two Kinds of Tags

• Committee tags (automatic): Your website automatically creates a tag every time you create a committee, and marks it with an asterisk (*) in front of the name. For security reasons, you cannot apply a committee tag to someone who isn't assigned to, approved for, or accepted into that committee.
• Manual tags (administrator-created): You can create an unlimited number of tags for anything — a book club, a volunteer group, a "Phase 2" designation, or a household's billing contact.

 Where to Create and Apply Tags

1. Go to the Members window and open a member's record — click the member's name, or click the View (eyeball) icon in the Actions column.
2. In the MEMBER DETAILS window, find the Tags area below the member's avatar.
3. Click + Add Tags, then select an existing tag or type a new tag name to create one.

 Applying Tags to One Member at a Time

Add or remove tags directly in that member's MEMBER DETAILS window at any time.

 Applying Tags to Many Members at Once

1. On the Members window, use the Search field to find the group of members you want to tag.
2. Click Members Actions.
3. Choose Add a Tag to Filtered Members to apply a tag to everyone currently in your search results.

You can also apply tags during a Member data import.

 Common Ways Organizations Use Tags

Tags aren't just labels — they actively control what members can see and do. Some real-world examples:

• Limit document access: Apply a tag to specific folders/documents in the Document Repository so only board members (or whoever holds that tag) can view sensitive files.
• Control dues invoicing: Apply a tag to a Dues and Fees item so only tagged members are invoiced for it. This is especially useful for households with multiple members registered individually — create a "billed party" tag, apply it to just one person per address, and only that person receives the invoice.
• Restrict website pages: In Site Setup, restrict a page's visibility to members with a specific tag or tags.
• Gate committees, events, calendars, and amenities: Use tags to control who sees or can register for a feature, or to open it to everyone.
• Target communications: Search for members with a specific tag, then use Members Actions > Message Filtered Members to send an e-blast only to that group.

 A Note on Households

Because HOA Start allows multiple people at one address to sign up individually for membership, tags are the recommended way to avoid double-invoicing a household. Create a tag to represent "the billed party" for an address, sort your membership list by address, and apply the tag to just one person per household.

Where to Learn Feature-Specific Tag Setup

Because tags work a little differently in each feature, check the help topic for the specific feature you're setting up (Dues and Fees, Site Setup pages, Documents, Amenities, Events, etc.) for step-by-step instructions on how to apply a tag restriction there.