Assigning abstracts to reviewers both manually and automatically

Is it possible to assign abstracts manually to reviewers already known according to their topics and to allocate the remaining abstracts to reviewers automatically?

Can we combine both functions or would the review assignments get messed up?

You can use the automatic review assignment function and also assign submissions for reviewing both before and after that process manually.
Already assigned reviews will never be changed by the automatic process.
However, you can refine the results of the automatic process manually.

You can assign contributions to reviewers manually on this page:
Overview => Submissions & Reviews => Program Committee and Reviewers
In the right-hand column "Action" click on "Assign Reviews".
From the list of all submitted contributions, check the box "Assign" if you want to assign this submission to the reviewer (see image 1).

Then assign the remaining contributions to reviewers automatically (see image 2):
Overview => Submissions & Reviews => Automatic Assignment of Reviews
You can choose from a number of specific options and filters.
This assignment function will automatically consider preferences of reviewers entered by them.

We recommend using both functions depending on your requirements.

After having assigned submissions automatically you can use the manual assignment again to test the result of the automatic assignment or to further refine the results of the automatic assignment.


You can find a full manual here:
How to Assign Reviews in ConfTool

Take a look at how the automatic assignment process works in detail here:
Automatic review assignments: How does it work?