Create a Recording action

The Recording action allows you to record participants' screens during a portion of the survey with their consent. It can also capture video and audio through participants' cameras and microphones if these options are enabled.

Prerequisites:
Note: This survey action type is available in modern view only.

Including a Recording action in your survey is a key part of creating an unmoderated usability test. Without it, you will not have screen, audio, or video recordings. For more information, see The unmoderated usability testing workflow.

Tip:

Need to get started with unmoderated usability testing fast? Check out our quick start guides:

Sample modern view:

  1. From the Survey Builder Toolbox, under Survey Actions, do one of the following:
    • Drag the Recording action to the Table of Contents.
    • Click the Recording action in the Survey Toolbox.
  2. In the Table of Contents, click Recording Starts Here.
    Result: The Edit pane appears.
  3. Under Recording Options, select or clear recording methods.
    Screen recording is always on, but you can choose whether to enable these options.
    Option Description
    Camera Recording

    Record participants through their web cameras and capture video footage.

    If this option is enabled, participants see a Turn on your front camera for video recording message. They must allow their web browsers to access their cameras in order to proceed.

    Microphone Recording

    Record participants through their microphones and capture audio.

    If this option is enabled, participants see a Speak into the microphone message. They must allow their web browsers to access their microphones in order to proceed.

    Both methods are selected by default.

Tip:
  • There can only be one Recording action per survey.
  • Place the Recording action where you want to start recording. The Recording action must be its own top-level item and cannot be nested under anything else or on a survey page. It should be placed before the Usability Task question in the Table of Contents.
  • Starting from the Recording action to the end of the survey, participants have 60 minutes to complete the task and any follow-up questions.
  • If participants exceed 60 minutes, they will be marked as incomplete and the recording will not be available in the report. Participants will have to begin the task again.
  • Recording is supported on desktop devices only, not mobile devices.
  • Recordings are considered sensitive and will adhere to your data purge configuration.

  1. Optional: Select or clear Hide Recording.
    This option is useful after the survey is distributed. Since you cannot delete elements from live surveys, you can use this option to hide the Recording action if necessary.
  2. Optional: To preview the Recording action, in the Edit Pane, click Preview.
    Result: A preview of the Recording action appears.
    Note: Although you can toggle between desktop and mobile in survey preview, once the survey is distributed, mobile participants will not see the Recording action and will not be able to proceed unless they switch to desktop.