Use this article to export the automatically generated text transcripts of video, audio, and screen recording responses that Participants submit in Standard and Journal Activities. You can export them as a read-through document (HTML) that shows each recording with its transcript, or as text only in a spreadsheet-ready file (CSV).
Who can export video, audio, and screen recording transcripts
Analysts and Moderators can export video, audio, and screen recording transcripts with the Activities Transcript. You’ll find it in the Transcripts area of a Study’s Study Admin menu.
By default, Clients can’t generate transcripts or exports. To allow it, select Generate transcripts and exports in Study Admin > Study Settings > Permissions. Transcripts and exports can include personally identifiable information (PII), such as Participants’ profile field information. Only grant this permission if your Clients should see that information.
Which transcripts this article covers
This article covers video, audio, and screen recording responses to Tasks in Standard and Journal Activities. Live Activities also produce transcripts, but they’re exported differently. For transcripts of Live Video Interviews or Live Group Chats, see Live Activity Transcripts and Exports.
How do I export video, audio, and screen recording transcripts?
To export video, audio, and screen recording transcripts within your Activities Transcript:
Log in to Recollective and open the Study.
From the Study Admin menu, select Transcripts, then select Activities.
Under Activity and Task, choose what to include. Keep the default All Activities to export the whole Study, or select only the Activities and Tasks that collected video, audio, or screen recording responses.
Under Output, choose one of these formats:
Formatted document (HTML), a web page you can read in your browser, with each recording shown above its transcript.
Text-only data export (CSV), a comma-separated values file that opens in Excel or another spreadsheet app, with transcript text and links to each recording, but no media files.
Under Optional Inclusions, select any extra data you want, such as Comments or Excerpts.
Under Response Date Range, keep All Time or choose a specific date range.
Under Participants, keep All Participants, or choose Select Participants or Select Segments.
Click Generate transcript.
What the HTML transcript looks like
When you choose Formatted document (HTML), the Activities Transcript opens in a new browser tab. Each video, audio, or screen recording response shows a thumbnail of the recording, the transcript directly below it, and a link to the media below the transcript. To keep a copy of the HTML Activities Transcript, use the Print option and choose Save as PDF in your browser, or copy the transcript text into a Word document.
How do I get only the transcript text, without the recordings?
To get only the transcript text, choose Text-only data export (CSV) under Output. The CSV Activities Transcript puts all Participant response data in a single sheet, including the full text of video, audio, and screen recording transcripts. It also includes links to the original recordings on your Recollective site.
Limitations and workarounds for transcript exports
Live sessions use a different export. The Activities Transcript doesn’t include Live Video Interviews or Live Group Chats. Use Live Activity Transcripts and Exports instead.
You will no longer be able to access media links once Administrator Access ends. Links to recordings in the Activities Transcript won’t open after Administrator Access ends. To maintain access to the video, audio, and screen recording files, download them via Media Exports before access ends.
Transcripts are generated automatically. If a transcript was created in the wrong language or has errors, open the response from the Videos summary, change the language or edit the words, then export again. See our Videos Overview article to learn more.
If you need the recording files instead of the text, use Export on the Videos summary to download recordings as a ZIP file, or use Media Exports for bulk downloads.
The Excel output links to transcripts instead of including the text. If you select Formatted Spreadsheet (Excel), the file includes a link to each transcript on your Recollective site, not the transcript text. This is because long transcripts can exceed Excel’s limit of 32,767 characters per cell. To export the transcript text, choose Text-only data export (CSV) or Formatted document (HTML) instead.
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