How to keep a group of 100 people in touch without a spreadsheet
A guide from FiveClose · 2 November 2026
A choir, a class of parents, a volunteer team, the alumni of one year, a walking group: once a group passes about thirty people, nobody can hold it in their head. The usual answer is a spreadsheet and a group chat. The spreadsheet goes stale the week after it is made, and the chat tells you who is loud, not who has gone quiet. Here is a way to run a group of a hundred or more that takes a few minutes a week.
1. Decide what the group is for
A big group is not a close circle. You are not going to check on each of a hundred people every week, and they should not be asked to check on you. Keep one list of everyone, with the aim of noticing who is slipping away and reaching them before they are gone. In FiveClose that is a group circle: any size, free, with none of the safety features of a close circle (no timer, no moods, no location, no alerts to the members).
2. Get everyone in, in one go
- One QR code or one link. Show the code at a meeting or forward the link to the group chat. Whoever opens it joins by themselves; the link works for 30 days and you can make a new one or lock the group so people ask first.
- Paste a list. Copy the names out of a chat, a class list or a spreadsheet column and paste them in, one person per line, with a mobile number or email after the name if you have one. It is read on your phone, free, and nothing is uploaded.
- A contacts file. A CSV or vCard export from your phone, Google, Outlook or Yahoo is read on the device the same way. Any other file, a PDF roster, a photo of the sign-up sheet, is read by AI as part of FiveClose Plus.
- Add all. Everyone found is listed with a tick each; tap the ones you want or add them all at once. People already in your circles are recognised by number or email and never added twice.
Adding people emails nobody. Invite them when you are ready, or let them join through the code.
3. Find anyone in seconds
- Search by name, by what you call them, by email, by tag, or by a few digits of a mobile number.
- Sort by longest since you were in touch (the default), newest added, or A to Z. Past thirty people the A to Z list gets letter headings and a row of letters to jump to.
- Filter with one tap: who has joined, who has not yet, who has been quiet for 30 days or more, who you have no way to reach, who was added this week. The count on each chip tells you the shape of the group before you tap.
- The list comes thirty at a time, so even 400 names open instantly on an old phone.
4. See who is slipping away
Each week Home suggests three people to say hi to: the members you have been out of touch with longest. One tap opens a message and notes it, and they move to the back of the queue. The Quiet 30+ days filter is the same idea for the whole group at once, before a meeting or a term starts. If a particular member worries you, add them to your close circle as well; close circles carry the timer and the nudges that groups leave out. Don't turn the whole group into a close circle: everyone who joined would be asked to check on you. FiveClose says how many first, and asks for a tick when the group has more than 20 people.
5. Keep the list tidy
- Select several at once. Tap Select people, tick the ones who left, and take them out in one step. Filter to Not joined yet first and Select all to clear out invitations that never landed.
- Tag people. Select the committee, tap Tag and type "committee"; the tag becomes a chip that shows only them. Year groups, roles, the choir within the club: up to 10 tags a person. Tags are your own labels: they follow you to your other devices, and only you see them.
- Move people between circles. Select the volunteers in a members' group and add them to a volunteers circle too. Someone can be in several circles and stays one person with one history.
- Copy or download. Copy the names for a message, or download the list as a spreadsheet (CSV) with name, mobile, email, whether they joined, when you were last in touch and when they were added.
- Fix the odd entry. Tap a name to edit details, or merge two entries that turn out to be the same person.
- One account keeps up to 500 people across all its circles. The app says so when you get close, so a very large organisation splits into a few accounts or a few groups.
6. Respect the members
- Members who join see the first names of the others who joined, nothing more. In groups of more than 20, and for anyone under 18, names start hidden until each person chooses to show theirs.
- People who are only in a group never see your timer, mood or location, and are never asked to check on you.
- There is no feed and nothing to post. Members do not have to keep up with anything.
How FiveClose helps
FiveClose is a private circle for the people who matter, with no feed, no followers and no likes. Group circles hold a class, a club or a hundred customers for free, with search, filters, select mode and a download; close circles carry the 7-day timer, moods and a nudge when someone goes quiet. Members join with one tap and nothing to install. See also: FiveClose for clubs and teams, for volunteers, caregivers and organisers, and the group questions in the FAQ.