Suppression and Do Not Contact lists
Upload your Do Not Contact list once and Operelio keeps those people out of every file you clean. Matching runs in your own workspace. Starter and up.
By Operelio team · Updated November 1, 2026
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What a suppression list does
A suppression list is a list of people you must never contact, such as those who unsubscribed, addresses that hard bounced and people who marked your email as spam. In Operelio it is your Do Not Contact list, and it can also hold anyone you leave out on purpose, such as competitors or current customers. Upload it once and Operelio screens every file against it, so a suppressed contact never slips back into a list you are about to send.
What goes on an email suppression list, how to build and manage one, and what the law asks are on the Do Not Contact lists page. This guide covers how the list works in Operelio.
Suppression is on Starter, Pro, and Agency plans. You manage the list in Settings, on the Do Not Contact tab. That tab is admin only.
Building your list
Upload a CSV or Excel file, add one entry by hand, or add entries with the API (Pro and up). Operelio reads the columns it knows how to match on and stores those values for your workspace. You can add to the list at any time, and everyone in the workspace screens against the same one.
Each upload takes a file of up to 4 MB. Split a bigger list into smaller files and upload each one with Add to your list, so the entries from the earlier files stay.
You do not need a perfectly formatted file. Operelio normalizes what you upload before it matches, so different casing and spacing on your list and in your data still line up.
What it matches on
Operelio matches a contact to your list on any of four identifiers, each normalized first so small differences do not cause a miss:
| Match on | What it catches |
|---|---|
| The same address in different casing, or Gmail dot and plus variants, folded to one form. | |
| Phone | The same number with different spacing or brackets. Type the number the way it appears in your files, with or without the country code, because +44 20 7946 0199 and 020 7946 0199 are read as different numbers. |
| Domain | Anyone at a company domain you have suppressed, for example every address at example.com. |
| Company | Company names that are the same after suffix and casing folding, for example Westmarch Ltd and WESTMARCH. |
Country rules
Beyond named contacts, you can suppress by country. Operelio reads each row's country from a country column if your file has one, otherwise from the country code on a phone number, then applies your rule. You can check a whole region at once, and a one-click Add sanctioned button selects the comprehensively sanctioned countries. You also decide what happens to a row whose country can't be placed: keep it, or remove it.
Where suppression applies
The CRM Formatter screens against your list by default. Everywhere else you add it or switch it on:
| Place | How it is used |
|---|---|
| CRM Formatter | On by default: every list is screened as you map and format it for HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive. An admin can choose to keep listed contacts for a run. |
| Trails | Add a Remove suppressed contacts step and select Contacts on your list, Blocked countries, or both. A file that could not be checked waits for you instead of going out. |
| Data Health Check | Marks rows on your list [DNC] in the report's Issues column, so you can review them. It doesn't remove them, and they don't change the score. |
| Email Verifier & Finder | Drop suppressed contacts before you spend credits verifying them. |
| Workflows | Add a Remove suppressed contacts step and select Contacts on your list, Blocked countries, or both. |
| Bridgeant | Ask Bridgeant to drop your Do Not Contact matches as one step of a cleanup. |
| API and AI assistants | Check values with POST /dnc/check or the MCP server's check_dnc, and add or remove entries over the API. |
The excluded-contacts file
Removed rows do not vanish. A CRM Formatter run that screens people out returns a separate file, Do Not Contact rows, listing exactly who came out. You get a clean list to send and a clear record of who was held back and why.
Where your list goes
Nowhere. Matching runs inside your workspace on Operelio's own servers. Your suppression list is never sold or shared, you choose which of your own tools can read it, and screening a file against it never uses verify credits. Your Do Not Contact records are some of the most sensitive data you hold, so they stay in one place.
Plans and list size
Suppression is a Starter feature. The number of entries your list can hold rises with your plan:
| Plan | Suppression entries |
|---|---|
| Free | Not included |
| Starter | 5,000 |
| Pro | 25,000 |
| Agency | 100,000 |
Run it automatically with a trail
Once the settings are right for the files you get every week, a trail can run them for you. A trail watches a folder and screens the rows against your Do Not Contact list with a Remove suppressed contacts step on every file that lands there, then pushes the result into HubSpot, Salesforce or Pipedrive, with nine always-on safety checks, two more you set, and approval built in. Set it up once and the cleanup, the verification, the lead routing and the CRM import are automated from then on.
Trails run on Starter and above.
Screen a list against your Do Not Contact records while you format it for HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive.
Related
Frequently asked questions
Does suppression use verify credits?
No. Matching runs locally on your workspace data with no third-party calls, so screening a file against your list never costs credits.
Where do the removed contacts go?
The CRM Formatter returns them in a separate excluded-contacts file with your result. It lists every row that was removed, so you have a clear record. A Remove suppressed contacts step in a trail or workflow drops them without a separate file.
Can I suppress a whole company or country?
Yes. A domain entry catches everyone at that company when your file has a website or domain column: it is checked against that column, not the domain in an email address. Or use country rules to suppress by derived country, selecting whole regions at once, with a setting for how unknown-country rows are handled.
Does this make my outreach compliant?
It helps you honor do-not-contact requests by keeping flagged contacts out of your files. The Do Not Contact lists page covers whether a suppression list is required by law. This is not legal advice and does not replace your own compliance process.
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