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Grouping devices

Device groups let you organize your devices, so you can view information about a group of devices and perform operations on the group.

Creating groups

Tip: With a free-tier account, you can create up to 10 groups at a time. With a commercial account, you can create an unlimited number of groups. See Choosing your account type for more information about the other benefits of commercial accounts and how to upgrade a free account to a commercial account.

In Portal: Creating groups

You can add a new group using the Wizard or Quick create.

To create a device group using the Wizard:

  1. Click the + Add group button. New device group form opens.
  2. Select Wizard.
  3. Give your group a meaningful a name and optionally a free text description.
  4. Click Next.
  5. Tick the checkboxes next to the devices you want to include in your group.
  6. Click Next.
  7. (Optional) Select one or more custom attributes for the group.
  8. Click Next.
  9. Review your group details.
  10. Click Finish to complete or Previous if you still wish to change something.

To create a device group using Quick create:

  1. Click the + Add group button. New device group form opens.
  2. Select Quick create.

The process of adding a new group is similar to the Wizard process, just without pressing Next between different steps. It all happens on the same page.

Using the API: Creating groups


To create a device group, use the /v3/device-groups/ POST API.

Adding devices to a device group

Note: A device can be in a maximum of 10 groups.

In Portal: Adding devices to a device group

To add devices to a device group:

  1. Select devices to add to a group. Either:

    • Tick the checkbox next to each ID you want to add to a group.
    • Click Saved filters to use an existing filter, or create a new one. Tick the checkbox next to Device ID to select all devices in the filter.
  2. Click the Actions button.

  3. Select Add to device group.

    A pop-up window with available groups opens.

  4. Select a group, and click Add to confirm the selection.

The devices are now associated with the group you selected.

Using the API: Adding devices to a device group


Add a device to a group using the /v3/device-groups/{device-group-id}/devices/add/ POST API.

Deleting groups

In Portal: Deleting groups

To delete groups:

  1. Tick the checkbox for one or multiple groups.

  2. Click Actions.

  3. Select Delete groups.

    A confirmation pop-up window opens.

  4. Click Delete to confirm the deletion.

The devices that belonged to that group had all other devices belonging to the same group listed as values of the groups attribute. Because the group does not exist anymore, all devices that were attached to it lose the values of that attribute. However, a device can belong to several groups. If a device still belongs to another group, the attribute list is not empty.

Using the API: Deleting groups


To delete a device group, use the /v3/device-groups/{device-group-id}/ DELETE API.

Viewing and editing group details

In Portal: Viewing and editing group details

When you click on a group name, a Device group pane with three tabs opens:

  • The Summary tab lists details of the selected group, including:
    • ID.
    • Name.
    • Description.
    • Created at date and time.
    • Updated at date and time.
  • The Devices tab lists the devices attached to the group.
  • The Attribute tab lists the attributes related to the group. These attributes are not related to individual devices.

To edit a group's name or description, add or remove devices, and add new attributes:

  1. Click the group name to open the Device group pane.
  2. In any of the tabs, click the Edit icon.
  3. The Edit device group window opens.
  4. The rest of the process is identical to the group creation.

Another way of removing devices from the group:

  1. Select the Devices tab.
  2. Tick the checkboxes next to the devices you wish to remove.
  3. Click the Actions button.
  4. Select Remove devices from group.
  5. A confirmation pop-up window opens.
  6. Click Remove to confirm the removal.

To view the list of devices attached to a group:

  1. Go to Device directory > Devices.

  2. Click the Device groups button at the top of the page.

    A list of available groups opens.

  3. Select a group from the list.

    The page shows you the group details and the devices attached to the group.

  4. Click the Clear button to return to the view with all devices listed.

Using the API: Viewing and editing group details


Listing all groups

To see a list of all groups, use the /v3/device-groups GET API.

Viewing group information

To view information for a specific group, including custom attributes, use the /v3/device-groups/{device-group-id} GET API.

To retrieve a list of devices in a particular group, use the /v3/device-groups/{device-group-id}/devices/ GET API.

Modifying group attributes

To modify group attributes, such as name and description, use the /v3/device-groups/{device-group-id}/ PUT API.