External Content Activity

This feature is currently in limited availability. Contact our Support team to learn more.

The External Content Activity type allows researchers to upload and analyze research data captured outside of Recollective. Researchers can bring externally captured video and audio recordings—such as interviews, focus groups, and UX sessions—directly into the platform for review and AI-powered analysis.

By consolidating qualitative data in one place, researchers can leverage the full power of Recollective’s AI capabilities without managing insights across disconnected tools. This allows admins to transform their Recollective site into a centralized insights hub that supports the full research workflow, regardless of where the data originated.

Creating an External Content Activity

Analysts and Moderators can create an External Content Activity to house and manage their imported recordings. This activity type is only visible to admins and will not be displayed to participants.

To create a new External Content Activity, follow these steps:

📍 Go to the Activities tab of your Study

Click on Add Activity.
Select External Content from the Activity Type menu.
Enter an Activity Name.
Optional: Set Activity Dates.
1. Note: Unlike other Activity Types, dates are optional for External Content and are used primarily for organization and tracking.
Configure Activity Access to determine which Clients can view the uploaded content.
1. Note: By default, all clients will have read-only access to the activity unless otherwise configured.
Optional: Add a Description for other admins and clients to reference.
Click Next: Upload Content.

Uploading and Managing Files

Once the activity is created, admins can immediately begin uploading files. Files are managed within a centralized dashboard where their processing status and metadata are visible at a glance.

Uploading Content

Analysts and Moderators can upload files by dragging and dropping them into the activity or by browsing their local device.

The External Content Activity type supports video uploads in .mp4, .mov, and .m4v, and audio uploads in .mp3, .m4a, and .wav.

Each activity can host up to 500 files. Individual files may be up to 2 GB in size and 3 hours in length, with a maximum of ten total speakers per recording.

During the upload process, admins must provide the following information for each file:

Name: The identifier used for the file in the platform.
Language: The language spoken in the file (selected from your Study Languages).
Source Date: The original recording date which will be referenced by Ask AI.
Speakers: Indicate if the recording features Single (no host) or Multiple speakers.
Number of Hosts: The number of moderators or admins in the recording. The system defaults to Auto-Detect.

Note: Only the Name can be edited after the upload is complete.

If needed, admins will have the option to Cancel Upload, which will abandon all files in the current upload, or, use the Skip & remove option when uploading multiple files to cancel the upload of the current file and proceed to the next one.

Upon completion of the modal, admins will need to stay on the page until the Uploading phase is complete. Files will be ready to be viewed and analyzed once they reach the Completed status.

Viewing Recordings

To view a recording, simply click on the file card to open the File Details page. From here, admins can review the file’s upload information or view the recording in-platform using the integrated media player.

Admins can also review the automatically-generated transcript beneath each recording. Clicking a word in the interactive transcript skips to the associated timestamp in the media player. The transcript automatically differentiates and separates speech between unique individuals, with Roles assigned to each individual in the recording:

Host: An identified speaker equivalent to an Admin. Contributions are not included in AI Summaries, Ask AI, or the Word Cloud.
Attendee: An identified speaker equivalent to a Participant. Contributions can be reviewed and analyzed using AI Summaries, Ask AI, and the Word Cloud.

Note: In multi-lingual studies, recording transcripts can be translated to any of the Study Languages set in the Study Settings. Admins can use the Language control at the bottom left of the screen, select their preferred Display Language, and toggle on “Translated responses”.

In-Platform Analysis

For every recording, Recollective automatically generates an AI Summary with Key Takeaways in addition to the associated transcript.

All transcribed speech from Attendees will be included in Ask AI for analysis. Content from External Content Activities will also be included in Word Clouds.

Note: When using Ask AI for External Content, ensure the study state is set to one of the following: Open, Closed, or Archived.

Downloading & Exporting

Each file in an External Content Activity offers the following export options:

Download (Recording file)
Export Transcript
- Export to HTML
- Export to Excel

These options are available from the File Details page under Options.

🗣️ Still have questions or want to leave feedback on how we can do better? Contact us at helpdesk@recollective.com.