With Pendo collaboration in Session Replay, you can add timestamped comments directly to replays or saved clips, highlight important interactions, and mention other Pendo users to start conversations about user behavior or findings.
Users that you interact with using this functionality are notified in the notification center and by email. You can turn off email notifications by following the instructions at the end of this article.
Collaboration is also available in dashboards and Listen. For more information, see Collaborate on dashboards and Collaborate in Listen.
Prerequisites
To use collaboration in Pendo Replay, you must first activate the functionality for your subscription. Pendo admin users can enable collaboration by completing the following steps:
- Go to Settings > Subscription settings.
- In the Information section, select the Collaboration setting.
- Read the information in the modal, and enter I accept to consent to the terms and conditions of the functionality.
After you activate collaboration for your Pendo subscription, all users in the subscription have access to commenting capabilities in Replay, regardless of their user permissions.
View comments and replies
Comments in Session Replay are represented as annotations on the timeline at the bottom of the replay player. Annotations appear as circles containing the commenter’s first initial at the timestamp where the comment was added.
If multiple users started threads at the same timestamp, the annotation displays +X (with X being the number of comment threads) next to the commenter's initial.
You can add comments to both full replays and saved clips. When saving a clip from a replay, comments made on the original replay aren't transferred to the new saved clip. Comments made directly on a saved clip remain associated only with that specific clip.
To view comments in a replay:
- Open the replay you want to view.
- On the replay timeline, look for annotations indicating comments.
- Hover over an annotation to see the timestamp and parent comment.
- Select the annotation to fully expand the thread and view all replies. Selecting an annotation pauses playback at the exact timestamp of the comment.
Annotations reflect the current status of their thread:
- Open threads have a blue annotation border.
- In progress threads have a yellow annotation border.
For more information, see Update comment status.
Add comments and replies
Anyone with access to a replay can add comments at specific timestamps.
Add a comment
To add a new comment to a replay:
- Open the replay, then select the comment icon in the bottom-right corner of the player.
- Select directly in the playback area to place your comment at a specific moment, or select and drag to highlight a specific area of the replay screen.
- Enter your comment in the input field, then select the send button on the far-right end of the text box to post the comment.
An annotation is added to the replay timeline at the timestamp of your comment.
Respond to a comment
To reply to an existing comment thread:
- Select an existing comment annotation on the replay timeline.
- Enter your reply in the input field beneath the existing comments.
- Select the send button on the far-right end of the text box to post your reply.
Mention other Pendo users
You can mention other Pendo users in your subscription, which notifies them in their notification center and sends them an email. To mention a Pendo user, enter @ followed by their name.
Selecting the notification takes users directly to the relevant timestamp in the replay where they were mentioned.
Add emoji reactions
You can react to comments with one or more emojis. To react to a comment with an emoji, hover over the comment, then select the emoji icon located in the top-right corner of the comment.
If someone has already reacted to a comment, you can select that emoji to add the same reaction or select the emoji icon next to the existing reactions to select a new emoji. You can react with multiple emojis.
Save drafted comments
If you exit a thread before sending your comment, a DRAFT label populates on the comment and the text in the comment is italicized. To send the draft, select the ellipsis (...) next to the comment and choose Edit, then send your message.
Update thread status
Use thread statuses to communicate the current status of a thread.
A comment thread can have one of two statuses: Open and In progress, indicated by the following icons when viewing the full thread:
|
Icon |
Status |
|
| Blue up-facing chevron | Open | |
| Yellow clock | In progress |
The default status is Open, shown with a blue border on the comment annotation. In progress displays with a yellow annotation border.
To view the status of a comment thread, select the comment annotation on the replay timeline. To change the status, select the status icon at the top of the thread, and choose a new status from the dropdown menu.
Share comment threads
In the top-right corner of a comment thread, select the Copy thread link icon. This copies a direct link for the comment thread to your device's clipboard so that you can share it with other users in your Pendo subscription.
Edit comments
To edit your own comment in a thread:
- Hover over the comment.
- Select the ellipsis (...) in the top-right corner of the comment, then choose Edit.
- Replace or edit the comment text to your preference.
- To save your changes, select the send button on the far-right end of the text box.
Edited comments aren't marked as edited.
Delete comments
Admins can delete comments by any Pendo user. Non-admin users can only delete their own comments. If you delete a parent comment with replies from other people, it also deletes the replies.
To delete a comment:
- Hover over a comment within a thread.
- Select the ellipsis (...) in the top-right corner of the comment or thread, then choose Delete.
- Confirm that you want to delete the comment or thread.
This action permanently removes the comment thread. Deleted threads don't leave a visible record of their removal.
Review and manage new comments and reactions
You can see a list of new comments, replies, and reactions that are relevant to you from the notification center in Pendo. This allows you to review and manage new comments, replies, and reactions that are relevant to you from a centralized location. Specifically, from the notification center, you can review and manage:
- New replies to threads you're involved in.
- New comments that mention you.
- New emoji reactions to your comments.
For more information, see Notification center.
Unsubscribe from comment threads
When you unsubscribe from a comment thread, you stop receiving notifications related to that thread in both the notification center and by email. To stop receiving notifications related to a thread, including replies, mentions, and emoji reactions:
- Select the ellipsis in the top-right corner of a comment thread.
- Choose Unsubscribe.
If you decide you want to receive notifications about the thread again, repeat the same steps to unsubscribe, but choose Subscribe.
Manage email notifications
By default, you receive an email notification whenever another Pendo user interacts with you using the collaboration functionality on a replay. Specifically, you're notified by email when:
- Someone replies to a thread that you started or that you're in.
- Someone mentions you in a comment.
- Someone adds an emoji reaction to one of your comments.
To stop receiving email notifications:
- Go to Settings > User profile.
- Under Collaboration preferences, turn off Collaboration emails.
This turns off email notifications for all collaboration in Pendo, not just on replays. This means that when you turn off Collaboration emails, you also don't receive email notifications about interactions in Listen and dashboards. You also won't receive further updates on that thread, even if you choose to resubscribe on the individual comment thread in Pendo.