> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.mediarithmics.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.mediarithmics.io/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-builders/standard-segment-builder.md).

# Standard Segment Builder

Assemble a segment from pre-built audience features, with live audience figures and dashboards as you build.

## What it is

The Standard Segment Builder is the fast, easy way to create most of your segments without being an expert in your data structure or in OTQL. It works by combining [audience features](/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-builders/standard-segment-builder/audience-features.md) - pre-built, parametric queries dressed up as business selectors - so the person building the segment thinks in business terms rather than in schema terms.

Reach it from the side menu: **Audience** > **Builders** > **Standard segment builder**.

It has two parts:

* The **query editor**, where you include and exclude users.
* The **audience and dashboards** panel, where the segment's figures update as you build.

{% hint style="warning" %}
This builder needs setup before its first use. See [Prerequisites](#prerequisites).
{% endhint %}

## Prerequisites

Before using the Standard Segment Builder for the first time:

* Manage your [audience features](/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-builders/standard-segment-builder/audience-features.md).
* Create at least one [template](#templates). It can be empty.
* Optional: configure dashboards to show in the query editor. You can have one global dashboard, and specific dashboards per template. Dashboard construction is documented in the **Setup & Monitor** section, under *Create a custom dashboard*.
* Optional: import your final values, if you want to search audience features by the values they hold. See [Search by final values](#search-by-final-values).

Configuring the builder - creating audience features and templates in datamart settings - is documented in the **Setup & Monitor** section, under *Standard segment builder*. This page covers using it.

## Select and exclude users

The editor is built from two verbs and one button.

<table data-search="false"><thead><tr><th width="140">Control</th><th>What it does to your audience</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Include</strong></td><td>Adds a criterion. Each new <strong>Include</strong> <em>restrains</em> the segment - the conditions accumulate.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>+</strong> inside an include</td><td><em>Expands</em> the segment - it selects people who match a different kind of criterion.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Exclude</strong></td><td>Removes a criterion's population from the segment.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>+</strong> inside an exclude</td><td>Expands the population being excluded.</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
Read it as: **Include** is AND across blocks, **+** is OR within a block. Two separate includes narrow the audience; two features joined by **+** widen it.
{% endhint %}

## Adding audience features

Clicking **Include**, **Exclude**, or **+** opens the audience feature selector. To find a feature, either walk the folder hierarchy, or type its name in the search bar. Click the info symbol on a feature to see the parameters it exposes.

Select as many features as you need by clicking their names, then click **add** to insert them into the editor.

To set values, click the empty fields on the inserted feature. Each field adapts to its type - a date picker for dates, autocompletion for strings, and so on.

{% hint style="warning" %}
An empty field is not a filter. Leaving **Categories** unset is equivalent to selecting *every* category, not to selecting none.
{% endhint %}

## Search by final values

**Final values** are the values stored in the leaves of your schema. Once they are imported, you can search audience features by the values they might hold, rather than only by name.

**Prerequisite:** import your final values first. The import is a CSV of up to 100,000 lines, with 1 to 8 hierarchy levels before the final value, and each line must match your schema. Only fields of type `String` or `[String]` can carry final values.

```
level1,level2,level3,level4,final_value
activities,channel_id,,,my channel id1
segments,creation_ts,,,123
```

{% hint style="info" %}
`UserPoint` does not have to be specified as `level1` - it is implicit.
{% endhint %}

### Searching

Type keywords into the audience feature search bar; matching final values autocomplete.

| Rule                          | Value                                                        |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Autocomplete starts at        | 3 characters                                                 |
| Maximum keywords              | 5, separated by spaces                                       |
| Authorised special characters | `é, è, ç, à, _, -, @, ', .`                                  |
| Results cap                   | 500 final values - beyond that, the surplus is not displayed |

Search returns audience features whose name, description, or final values contain **all** of your keywords.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Worked through.** Enter the keywords `audi car`. You will find features containing "Audi car model", "Car of model audi", "Audi and others cars" - and you will *not* find "Audi model" or "Car and others models", because each is missing one of your two keywords.
{% endhint %}

### Selecting from the results

* Click a feature's **name** to select it with no parameter set.
* Click a **final value** to select the feature and pre-set that value.
* Click **more** on a feature card to see all of its final values.

Click **add** when you are done. Where the features land - narrowing or widening the audience - depends on whether you opened the selector with **Include** or with **+**.

## Templates

A **template** is a saved configuration of this builder. There is always at least one; if you have several, you choose which to use in the builder selection interface.

Each template has:

* A name.
* Optional: a set of permanently selected audience features, automatically inserted into the query editor and impossible to remove there.
* Optional: an assigned dashboard, so this template visualises data differently from the others.

## Compute and save

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Compute

After each modification, click **Your query has been modified, please click here to refresh**. After a few seconds you see the metrics for the users matching your query.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Save

Click **Save as**. The segment appears in **Audience > Segments**.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Edit later

Click **edit** on the segment to reopen it in this builder. If you have several templates, you first choose which template to edit the segment with.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## Audience and dashboards

The top right of the builder shows the number of users in your audience, with dashboards underneath. You have no dashboards by default - they have to be configured. See [Segment dashboard](/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-capabilities/segment-dashboard.md).

{% hint style="info" %}
**Example.** To select female users who watched Sports within the last 10 days, you include a gender feature set to female and a content feature set to Sports with a 10-day window - and the right-hand pane tells you how large that audience is before you save anything.
{% endhint %}

## Related pages

<table data-view="cards" data-search="false"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Audience features</strong></td><td>What the selectors in this builder actually are.</td><td><a href="/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-builders/standard-segment-builder/audience-features.md">Audience features</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Compute your audience from stored data</strong></td><td>From criteria to an activation-ready segment.</td><td><a href="/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/target-your-audience-based-on-criteria/compute-your-audience-from-stored-data.md">Compute your audience from stored data</a></td></tr></tbody></table>


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