Insights

The word 'insight' has a variety of different definitions. In Dovetail, an insight is a specific object type where you summarize and share your research findings in a simple format, connected directly to your raw data.

From an insight view

• Open Insights in your project and select + New insight.

From the 'Your work' page

• Open Your work at the top of the page and press Create → Insight.

From a highlight view

• Open Highlights in your project and select the highlights or tags you wish to add to the same insight.

• From there, navigate to the bottom toolbar, select ✨ Add to insight, and enter a title to name your new insight.

This new insight will then appear and live in Insights within your project.

From a tag view

• Open Tags in your project and select the tags you wish to add to the same insight.

• From there, navigate to the bottom toolbar, select ✨ Add to insight, and enter a title to name your new insight.

This new insight will then appear and live in Insights within your project.

Add data to an insight from across your Dovetail workspace using the reference picker.

• To do this, open your insight and type / within the editor to see all available formatting options.

• Using this menu, select References. You can search for and filter content by object type (highlights, tags, notes, etc.) to select/drag and drop these directly into your insight.

• From there, toggle on or off the content you want to display on the embed.

• Once data is within your insight, a magic summary can be generated. Learn more about summarizing your data with AI →

By default, references won’t show project name and creator information. Dovetail will remember your preferences for each subsequent reference that is added.

Ease stakeholders through your findings by polishing how text and data is displayed in your insight.

• Use the insight text editor to establish clear headings with different sizes, quote blocks, and bulleted lists to summarize key points.

• Arrange content in visually appealing ways and group related references into 2 or 3-column layouts, dividers, and headings and subheadings.

• You can create distinct side-by-side text sections, feature callouts, and embed references, images, or files. You can define the appearance of your reference, choosing from landscape or portrait.

Dovetail supports previews for public links from Maze, Figma, Google Docs, YouTube, Loom, and Vimeo. Embed public web links into the insights editor as either text, cards or previews.

• To embed a public link into your insight, copy and paste the URL into the body of the insight.

• From there, you can change how your content is displayed within the insight. To change this, click Actions (•••) and select Full document, Single page or Card.

The link must have public access enabled in the original app to ensure a successful preview.

You can create and embed a reel that stitches together key highlights created in your project. Learn how to curate and edit a highlight reel in your insight →

Insight cover photos give you a quick way to make your insight more visual. You can upload your own image as a cover photo or search for one from thousands of free photos using our Unsplash integration. Just click Change cover in the insight and select your image.

Publishing your insight is the last step in creating your insight. When published, the insight will become read-only and will display in presentation mode.

• To publish your insight, select Publish in the top right corner of your insight page.

Only published insights are viewable by guests when web link access to your project's insights is enabled.

Present your insights

Presentation mode is a bit like a slideshow. It’s a way to share your insights in a focused, fullscreen experience, with large font sizes and a horizontal carousel where you can move between insights with the arrow keys.

• Click Present to open presentation mode.

Share insights with those outside the workspace

You can share your insights with those outside Dovetail by enabling public access to your project. Learn more about enabling public access to project insights.

Insight metrics help you capture traction and engagement by providing information on who is engaging with your insights and how. These metrics are captured per-insight.

• To view an insight's metrics, open your insight, click View/s and select Metrics.

Currently, insight metrics capture –

• Reached audience: Number of unique accounts that have seen the insight.

• Insight discovery: Where users discovered the insight.

• Audience role: Who is accessing the insight.

• Audience access: What level of access in Dovetail.

• Engagement ratio: Percentage of unique accounts who opened content in the insight.

• Full page read: Percentage of unique users who scrolled to the bottom of the insight.

• Most Popular: Number of unique users who clicked through a link within an insight.

Adding project data (notes, highlights, tags, or insights) to an insight will create a point-in-time snapshot of the object so that it will remain unchanged if the underlying data is modified or deleted.

• To update a reference, you must have manager or contributor access with Can edit access to the project.

• From there, select Update reference (↻) while hovering over it or in bulk by pressing Update all from within the insight's menu (•••) in the top right.

References to objects that have been deleted will be retained, and an alert will appear on the reference to notify users that the underlying object no longer exists.

References in dynamic feeds, such as search blocks, are live blocks that automatically update and will always display the most up-to-date version of any displayed references.

You can organize and store structured information about and on your insights using fields. Fields help teams categorize findings and support the discovery of prior research in Dovetail. Learn more about fields and how to use them for organizing your insights in the workspace →

When an insight is published, empty fields will be hidden, making the insight cleaner and easier for your team to consume.