A Master List is your organisation’s central roster of people. It’s the source of truth that persists across sessions — create it once, keep it updated, and reuse it for photo days, data collection, card printing, and digital wallet passes.
The Master List detail screen
Opening a Master List gives you six tabs:
| Tab | What it’s for |
|---|
| People | View, search, add, edit, and deactivate the people on the list |
| Digital Cards | Generate and manage wallet passes for this list |
| Sync | Configure Entra or Airtable sync (only when a source is connected) |
| Schema | Define the fields stored for each person |
| Duplicates | Review records flagged as potential duplicates |
| Settings | List details, sync/changeset defaults, duplicate detection, data & privacy, and the danger zone |
Creating a Master List
- Go to Master Lists in the sidebar
- Click Create Master List
- Choose how to populate your list:
| Source | Best for |
|---|
| CSV Import | You have an existing spreadsheet of people |
| Directory Sync (Entra ID) | Your organisation uses Microsoft Entra ID |
| Airtable | Your roster lives in an Airtable base |
| Manual Entry | Starting from scratch or adding a few people |
- Follow the wizard to configure your source and define your fields
- Give your list a name (e.g. “Students 2026”, “Staff”, “Contractors”)
- Click Create
You can have multiple Master Lists for different groups — for example, one for students and another for staff. Each list has its own field schema and can be linked to different sessions.
Defining your schema
Every Master List has a schema — the set of fields that define what data you store for each person. You configure this when creating the list, and can add or edit fields later.
Field types
| Type | Use for | Example |
|---|
| Text | Names, IDs, departments | ”Emma Wilson”, “Engineering” |
| Number | Numeric values | Year level, age |
| Email | Email addresses (validated format) | emma@school.edu.au |
| Dropdown | Fixed set of options | House: “Blue”, “Red”, “Green” |
| Date | Date values | Date of birth, start date |
Adding and editing fields
From the Schema tab on your Master List:
- Click Add Field to create a new field
- Enter the field key (internal name), display label, and type
- Set whether the field is required
- For dropdown fields, define the available options
- Click Save
You can edit a field’s label, type, required status, and options at any time. Field keys cannot be changed after creation — this protects data integrity.
The UID field
Every Master List must have exactly one UID field — a unique identifier for each person. This is the field that links people across sessions, imports, and sync operations.
Good UIDs: Employee number, student ID, email address, staff code
Poor UIDs: Full name (duplicates), phone number (changes frequently)
The UID field is set when you create a Master List and cannot be changed once people exist in the list. Choose carefully — it’s the foundation of how CaptrID tracks and matches people.
Adding people
Manually
- Open your Master List
- Click Add Person
- Fill in the required fields (including the UID)
- Click Save
From CSV
The fastest way to populate a list. See Importing a CSV Roster for detailed instructions.
Key points:
- Existing UIDs are updated (not duplicated) on re-import
- New UIDs create new people
- Validation errors are flagged and skipped
From directory sync or Airtable
You can sync people automatically from an external source and keep the list current — including photos. See Directory Sync for Microsoft Entra ID, or Airtable Sync for an Airtable base.
Editing people
- Open your Master List and go to the People tab
- Click on a person’s row to view their details
- Edit any field values
- Click Save
People synced from a directory (e.g. Entra ID) have their directory-managed fields locked. You can still edit fields that aren’t mapped to the directory, and approved photos can still flow back from sessions.
Deactivating and reactivating people
Rather than deleting people permanently, CaptrID uses soft deletion — deactivating a person hides them from default views while preserving their data.
To deactivate:
- Select the person (or multiple people using checkboxes)
- Click Deactivate
- The person is hidden from the active list but their data is preserved
To reactivate:
- Use the status filter to show Inactive people
- Select the person
- Click Reactivate
Deactivated people don’t count towards your plan’s people limit.
Searching and filtering
The People tab includes:
- Search — Find people by name, UID, or any field value
- Status filter — Show Active, Inactive, or All people
- Sort — Click any column header to sort by that field
- Pagination — Navigate through large lists (50 people per page)
List settings
The Settings tab gathers everything about how the list behaves. Each section has its own Edit control.
| Section | What you control |
|---|
| Details | The list’s name and description |
| About | System-managed info — data source (Manual, CSV, or directory sync), status, created and last-updated dates (read-only) |
| Sessions & Changesets | Allow New Records (whether capturers can add people during sessions) and the Session Edit Policy (which fields flow back via changesets) |
| Duplicate Detection | Enable detection, choose the Match Field, and toggle Show Duplicate Badge on cards |
| Data & Privacy | Retention Policy (how long to keep data before auto-archival) and Allow Data Export |
| Danger Zone | Archive or Delete the list |
Organisation-wide defaults (coordinator permissions, default session settings, org-level retention) live in Organisation Settings. The Settings tab here is per-list and overrides those defaults for this list only. Archiving and deleting
From the Danger Zone:
- Archive keeps the data but hides the list from the sidebar — restore it any time. Archived lists don’t count towards your plan’s Master List limit.
- Delete permanently removes the list. Any wallet passes issued from it are revoked and voided first.
You cannot archive or delete a Master List while active sessions are using it. Archive or close those sessions first.
Using Master Lists with sessions
When you create a session, you can populate the roster from a Master List. CaptrID takes a snapshot — a point-in-time copy of the people. Changes in the session don’t affect the Master List until you explicitly sync them back.
This means you can safely edit data, capture photos, and approve submissions in a session without worrying about accidentally changing your source of truth.
Duplicates
CaptrID flags potential duplicate records so you can spot the same person appearing more than once — for example, a staff member who’s also in a contractors list.
By default it matches on the UID, but you can change the Match Field under Settings → Duplicate Detection (and toggle whether a badge shows on cards). Review flagged records from the Duplicates tab on any affected Master List.
Tips
- One list per population — Create separate lists for students, staff, and contractors rather than mixing them
- Keep UIDs consistent — Use the same format everywhere (e.g. always “STU001”, not sometimes “stu001”)
- Archive old lists — At the end of a school year or project, archive the list rather than deleting it
- Start with CSV — Even if you plan to use directory sync later, importing a CSV is the fastest way to get started
