> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.fullsession.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.fullsession.io/segments.md).
# 11. Segments
A **segment** is a saved, named definition of an audience — *"mobile visitors from Germany who rage-clicked this week."* Build it once, and you can reuse it across the Sessions list, dashboards, heatmaps, funnels, Lift AI, and alerts. Segments are FullSession's single saved-filter mechanism: there's no separate "saved filters" concept — when you save a set of filters, you're creating a segment.
***
### 11.1 What Is a Segment?
A segment bundles a **filter definition** with a name and a little metadata. Each segment has:
| Part | Detail |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Title** | The segment's name |
| **Description** | Optional notes (short — a sentence or two) |
| **Filters** | The audience definition (the filter tree) |
| **Owner** | Who created it (shown as *"Created By You"*, *"Created By FullSession"*, or *"Created By \[name]"*) |
| **Favorite** | A star that pins it to the top of the list |
| **Created / updated** | Timestamps |
#### Segments and funnels are cousins
Internally, **funnels** are built on the same model as segments (distinguished by a flag), which is why they share filtering concepts. In the app they appear in separate lists — **Segments** and **Funnels** — so you work with each in its own place. Funnels get their own chapter (\[Chapter 12 — Funnels]).
#### The built-in "Everyone" segment
Every site has a default segment called **Everyone** — essentially "all activity" over the last 30 days. It's always present, always starred, and can't be edited or deleted. It's the baseline you see before you apply a more specific segment.
***
### 11.2 Building a Segment
You build a segment with the **categorized filter editor** — the same filtering system used on the Sessions list (\[Chapter 5, section 5.2]). Define the filters you want, then save them as a named segment.
#### Filter categories
The filter fields are grouped into categories:
| Category | Examples |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **User Identification** | Any User, Email, Name, Signed-up Status, User ID |
| **Events** | Any Activity, Clicked on, Error/Rage/Dead Clicks, Thrashed Cursor, Abandoned Form, Input Changed, Error Log, Uncaught Exception, Network Error |
| **Engagement** | Visited URL, Query String, Page visits, Total Sessions, Landing/Exit page, Total Time, Total/Average Active Time, Average Session Length, First Seen, Last Seen |
| **Technology** | Device Type, Browser, Operating System, Is Mobile App |
| **Location** | City, Country, IP Address |
| **Performance** | Page Load Time, Avg Page Load Time |
| **Others** | UUID, Number of clicks, Screen height/width, Referrer URL, Is Live Session, Has Answered Feedback |
If your account has the **Optimizely** integration, you'll also get Experiment/Variation fields, and any **custom attributes and events** you've sent appear here too.
#### Operators
Each condition uses an operator appropriate to its field:
| Operator | Use for |
| ------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------- |
| **is / is not** | Exact match or negation |
| **contains / starts with / ends with** | Text matching |
| **equals** | Equality |
| **greater than / at least / less than / at most** | Numeric comparisons |
| **between / not between** | Numeric or date ranges |
#### Combining conditions: AND / OR, and how to exclude
Conditions are combined into groups using **AND** and **OR**, and groups can be nested for complex logic — *"on checkout AND (rage-clicked OR abandoned a form)."*
> **There is no "NOT" group.** To **exclude**, negate the individual condition with its **"is not"** operator (or "not between" for ranges) rather than wrapping a group in NOT. For example, *"Country is not United States."*
#### Saving the segment
1. Build your filters.
2. Click **Save segment…**
3. In the **Save new segment as…** dialog, enter a **title** and an optional **description**.
4. Save.
> **Tip** — while you're editing filters but haven't saved, you're working in a temporary "draft" state on top of whichever segment you started from. Saving turns that draft into a permanent, named segment; navigating away without saving discards it.
***
### 11.3 Generating a Segment with AI
If your plan includes the AI filtering feature, you can describe an audience in plain language and let FullSession build the filters for you.
#### How it works
1. In the **Quick Filter** box, type a natural-language description — e.g. *"mobile users in Canada who rage-clicked in the last week."*
2. Click **Generate Filters** (the wand button) or press Enter.
3. FullSession shows **"AI is Generating data please wait"** while it works.
4. The generated filters are applied to your draft segment.
5. **Review** them, adjust if needed, then **save** the segment (section 11.2) — or discard.
#### Good to know
* The generator is **aware of your custom events and custom attributes**, so prompts can reference the events and traits specific to your product.
* It produces an ordinary filter definition — once generated, you can fine-tune every condition by hand.
* If you submit an empty prompt, you'll see *"You need to give a description to receive an answer."*
* This feature (Smart Filter) is available from the **Growth** plan (\[Chapter 17, section 17.1]); if you don't see the **Generate Filters** option, it isn't included in your plan.
> **Tip** — treat the AI output as a **first draft**. It's a fast way to get 80% of a complex segment in place; always glance over the conditions before saving to confirm they match your intent.
***
### 11.4 Segment Size & Stats
When you open a segment, FullSession shows **how big it is** relative to all of your data — computed live from the current filters.
The stats include:
| Stat | Shows |
| ------------ | ----------------------------------------------- |
| **Users** | Visitors matching the segment, vs. all visitors |
| **Sessions** | Sessions matching the segment, vs. all sessions |
| **Events** | Events matching the segment, vs. all events |
These are displayed with **percentages** so you can immediately see what share of your traffic the segment represents. The counts are **computed on demand** — they reflect the data matching your filters right now, not a cached number — so a segment's size naturally changes as new sessions arrive.
> **Tip** — segment size is a quick sanity check. If a segment you expected to be large comes back tiny (or vice-versa), one of your conditions is probably narrower or broader than you intended.
***
### 11.5 Managing Segments
Your segments live in the **Segments** list, where favorites are pinned to the top and you can search by name.
#### What you can do
| Action | Detail |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Rename / edit description** | Update the title and description from the inline editor |
| **Update filters** | Save changes to the segment's filter definition. FullSession confirms first: *"Are you sure you want to update the filters of \[segment]?"* |
| **Favorite (star)** | Toggle the star to pin a segment to the top |
| **Search** | Filter the list by segment name |
| **Delete** | Remove a segment, after confirming. (The **Everyone** segment can't be deleted.) |
#### Ownership and who can edit
Segments are **owned by whoever created them**, but **everyone in the workspace can see all segments**. The difference is editing rights:
* You can **edit and delete segments you created**.
* Segments created by teammates (and built-ins like **Everyone**) are visible and usable, but you can't edit or delete them.
> **No private/team toggle.** Unlike dashboards, segments don't have a private-vs-team visibility setting — every segment is visible to the whole workspace. Ownership only governs who can change it.
#### What segments don't have
To set expectations clearly, segments are intentionally simple — these features **don't exist**:
* **No status/lifecycle** (no draft/active/archived) — a segment is either saved or deleted; the only flag is *favorite*.
* **No duplication** — there's no one-click clone; to base a new segment on an existing one, rebuild and save under a new name.
* **No folders/categories** — the list is flat, organized only by favorites and search.
* **No export** and **no side-by-side segment comparison** (comparison is a funnels feature).
***
### 11.6 Using Segments Everywhere
The payoff of building a segment once is reusing it across the product. A segment can scope:
| Where | What it does | Reference |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| **Sessions** | Filters the session list to the segment | \[Chapter 5 — Sessions] |
| **Dashboards** | A *connected segment* scopes every card on the dashboard | \[Chapter 9, section 9.7] |
| **Heatmaps** | Restricts a heatmap to the segment's audience | \[Chapter 8, section 8.6] |
| **Funnels** | Analyzes a funnel for the segment | \[Chapter 12 — Funnels] |
| **Lift AI** | Runs AI analysis on the segment | \[Chapter 14 — Lift AI] |
| **Alerts** | Triggers an alert on sessions matching the segment | \[Chapter 15 — Alerts & Notifications] |
Per-area segment context
Each area keeps its **own selected segment**, so the segment you're viewing on the Sessions page is independent of the one connected to a dashboard or applied to a heatmap. This lets you analyze the same audience in several places at once without them interfering — pick the segment in each area as you go.
> **The big picture** — a segment is a named, reusable filter definition built with the standard categorized editor (AND/OR grouping, with per-condition **is not** to exclude), optionally drafted by **AI** from a plain-language prompt. It reports its **size** live against your totals, is **owned by its creator** but visible to the whole workspace, and can be **applied across sessions, dashboards, heatmaps, funnels, Lift AI, and alerts**. There's no private/team setting, no status lifecycle, and no duplication, folders, export, or comparison.
***
> **Next up:** \[Chapter 12 — Funnels] builds on segments to analyze conversion — defining multi-step flows, measuring drop-off at each step, and jumping into the sessions behind every lost conversion.
