---
title: "Prevent Accidental Sendout to Certain Recipients"
slug: "prevent-accidental-sendout-to-certain-recipients"
description: "Exclude specific recipients from a Mapp Engage sendout with a personalization rule and the skiprecipient tag in a message, template, or group."
status: "update"
updated: 2026-11-04T13:40:49Z
published: 2026-11-04T13:40:49Z
canonical: "docs.mapp.com/prevent-accidental-sendout-to-certain-recipients"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mapp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Prevent Accidental Sendout to Certain Recipients

## Goal

Exclude specific recipients from a sendout with a personalization rule.

---

## Background Information

The tag `<ec:skiprecipient/>` prevents the message from being sent to a recipient. You place the tag as content in the `InsertIf` block of a personalization rule. Recipients who meet the condition of the block do not receive the message.

You can insert the rule into a message, a CMS template, or the settings of a group. In a group, the rule applies to every email that is sent to the group.

> [!NOTE]
> Note
> 
> The rule always suppresses the whole message for these recipients, even if you insert it into only one text field or one CMS paragraph.

---

## Procedure

### 1 Create the rule

1. Open the Personalization Builder:
  - For a message or template: Open the message or template, place the cursor in any text field, click **Personalisation**, and then click **New**.
  - For a group: Go to *Audience > Segmentation > Personalization* and click **Create**.
2. Define the conditions that identify the recipients you want to exclude.
3. In Structure Mode, add the tag `<ec:skiprecipient/>` as the content of the `InsertIf` block. Alternatively, click **Code** and enter the rule directly. See the example below.

For details on conditions and content, see [Create a Personalization Rule](/v1/docs/create-a-personalization-rule).

### 2 Insert the rule

#### Into a message or template

1. In the Personalization Builder, click **Use**.
2. Insert the rule at any position in the message, for example by right-clicking. See [Insert Personalizations into HTML Emails and SMS Messages](/v1/docs/insert-a-personalization).

#### Into a group

1. In the Personalization Builder, click **Code** and copy the code of the rule.
2. Open the group settings: *Audience > Group Management > Groups > Change Settings*.
3. Open the **Sendout Options** tab.
4. In the **Leading Content and Closing Content for Email** area, paste the code into **Leading Content** or **Closing Content**.
5. Click **Save**.

For all settings of the tab, see [Group Creation: Sendout Options](/v1/docs/sendout-options-tab).

---

## Example

You send a message that was created with a German-language CMS template. Only German-speaking recipients should receive it. German-speaking recipients have the value `German` in the custom attribute `Language`.

The following rule skips all recipients with a different value:

```plaintext
<%InsertIf expression="${user.CustomAttribute['Language']!='German'}" id="NonGerman"%>
<ec:skiprecipient/>
<%/InsertIf%>
```

Recipients without a value in `Language` are also skipped, because an empty value is not equal to `German`.

> [!WARNING]
> Warning
> 
> The comparison is case-sensitive. If the value in the rule does not match the stored value exactly, for example `german` instead of `German`, the rule skips every recipient. Check the stored value in a contact profile before you send the message.

## Related

- [Create a Personalization Rule](/create-a-personalization-rule.md)