Supported File Types

Transcripts

Format speaker IDs correctly, upload transcripts prepared elsewhere, and review or edit transcripts inside QInsights.

Whether a transcript comes from QInsights' built-in transcription or from another service, the way speakers are labeled matters - it determines whether QInsights can reliably tell respondents and interviewers apart.

Formatting speaker IDs

When analyzing interview and focus group transcripts, you may want to attach metadata to speakers - age, gender, region, education, profession - for filtering or for prompts like "Do respondents from different educational backgrounds differ in their response to…?"

QInsights recognizes speakers reliably when the format is a name followed by a colon, for example Alexander:.

An interview excerpt formatted with clear speaker IDs (INT: / ALEXANDER:).
An interview excerpt formatted with clear speaker IDs (INT: / ALEXANDER:).

Don't use generic speaker IDs - labels like R:, Speaker 1, or Speaker A make it hard to distinguish respondents across multiple documents or focus groups later in analysis.

If you're transcribing or anonymizing the data yourself, use unique made-up names per respondent instead of generic placeholders - see the Data Anonymizer Tool if you need to de-identify real names first.

Uploading a transcript prepared elsewhere

  1. Click Upload New File and select Detect Speakers.
  2. Click Proceed, then select the file.
Selecting Detect Speakers when uploading a transcript prepared elsewhere.
Selecting Detect Speakers when uploading a transcript prepared elsewhere.

Processing takes a few minutes - QInsights isn't just uploading the file, it's preparing it for analysis. When processing finishes, the Data Context panel opens automatically so you can assign a role to each detected speaker. If the transcript uses generic labels like Speaker A / Speaker B, you may need to open the document preview first to work out who is who - you can edit roles at any time. See Data Context for the full role-assignment workflow.

Checking and editing transcripts

Open the three-dot menu on a transcript's document card and choose Edit to review the text alongside the source audio or video.

Reviewing and editing a transcript alongside its audio recording.
Reviewing and editing a transcript alongside its audio recording.
  • Click a timestamp to jump playback to that point.
  • Double-click inside the text to correct it.
  • Use the Speakers tab to rename detected speakers - names are saved for the transcript and reused across analysis and references.
  • Playback controls let you jump ±10 seconds and adjust speed (0.75x–2x).
Renaming detected speakers before assigning roles in Data Context.
Renaming detected speakers before assigning roles in Data Context.

Once names are correct, open Data Context to assign each speaker's role - Respondent, Interviewer / Moderator, or Exclude.

Next steps

Continue to Data Context to finish assigning roles and characteristics, then Filters to select documents for your first analysis.