Recordings Playback List Guide

This article gives an overview of the Recordings playback list dashboard. For more information on the Recordings player itself or our FAQ page, see the links below: 

• Recordings playback list: You're here! This is where you find, filter, and access Recordings. 
• Recordings player: This is where the magic happens! See how users interact with your site.
• Recordings troubleshooting FAQ: Having any trouble with Recordings? Look here!

To enable data capture and start collecting recordings, visit our guide to configuring Site Settings.

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Exploring the Recordings dashboard

The Recordings dashboard is separated into five sections:

1. Playback list
2. List tools
3. Traffic coverage widget
4. Filters
5. Segments

1. Playback list

Each row in the Recordings playback represents a session recording. You can watch each session by clicking on the Play from top button. Within each row you will see the following columns that contain data about each session:

• Select checkbox (to delete): Selecting one or more sessions will cause a delete button to appear. If you decide to delete one or more recordings, keep in mind that it is not possible to restore data after it has been deleted.
• Highlights: Displays reactions and comments that have been applied to the Recording through the Highlights feature. (Hover over the icons to display the reaction label or comment text)
• Relevance score: The relevance score uses various data points to estimate a recording's usefulness. The score is impacted by multiple metrics, including; session duration, number of pages visited, number of actions, rage clicks, u-turns, typing, and interacting with forms. If you send recording events with JavaScript, these also impact the relevance score.
• Date: The date/time when the session was processed by Hotjar, displayed in your local timezone. This points to the end of the user's session, not the start of it.
• User: Hotjar User ID associated with the session.
• Country: Origin country of the user, based on their internet connection.
• Actions #: Number of actions taken by the user in the session.
• Pages #: Number of times a page was loaded during a session. (includes page refreshes)
• Duration: Length of the recorded session, displayed in your local timezone.
• Device: Device type (phone, tablet, desktop) and screen resolution in pixels.
• Browser: Browser type (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.)
• OS: Operating system (Mac OS, Windows, Android, Linux, etc.)
• Referrer URL: Page that the user was on before their Hotjar session started. (if available)
• Landing page: Page the user was on when their Hotjar session started.
• Exit page: Page the user was on when their Hotjar session ended.

*Note: You may need to scroll horizontally in the Recordings list section, in order to see all the columns in your Recordings list.

Clicking on a column heading allows you to sort your Recordings according to the specified column. The 'up' and 'down' arrows next to the column heading informs the direction of the sort, either ascending or descending order.

Some data types provide more information in a tool-tip from within the playback list. To activate a tool-tip, hover over the data entry.

Clicking on the checkbox for a Recording allows you to select a Recording you want to delete, while clicking on the column header checkbox allows you to select all Recordings on this page. Learn more about deleting Recordings.

Relevance score and default sorting

The relevance score uses different data points to estimate a recording's usefulness. The score includes basic session attributes such as the session length or number of pages visited. It also considers user behavior such as rage clicks, u-turns, clicks, typing and interacting with forms. If you send recording events with JavaScript, these are also included. This static formula is just the beginning of how Hotjar will score recordings. In time, we will use machine learning to find new patterns in relevant recordings!

2. Recordings list tools

You have three tools available in the Recordings list tools panel.

The first is the 'already played' toggle. This allows you to display/hide recordings based on one of the following options:

• All recordings
• Not played
• Already played

This is useful when trying to find recordings you haven't played yet, or only those you've seen before. By default, this is set to Not played.

Second, you can show/hide different columns by clicking on the "Select columns" dropdown menu. These column headers correspond with the session attributes found inside the Recording player for each Recording. 

 

Third, if you need to download the data from your Recording list into a spreadsheet, you can click the Export list button. This will generate an export file that will be sent to you via email. You can read more about Exporting Recordings' metadata.

3. Traffic coverage widget

The Traffic coverage widget allows you to see an estimate percentage of user sessions that Hotjar is able to track on your site each day. It will also show what Recordings targeting settings are enabled.

With admin permissions, you can click Edit Settings to make changes to your Recording settings. Learn more about configuring Recordings capture.

4. Filters

Filters let you quickly search through your Recordings, giving you a list of those that match the criteria you choose. For example, you might only be interested in people who visited your sign-up page but failed to sign-up, in the past 7 days. To see these visits you can click + Add Filter, and select the relevant filters. Learn more about Filters.

5. Segments

Segments let you save filters after you've set a specific criteria, so that you can quickly apply these filters again in the future. Rather than having to set up the same filters each time, you can save them as a Segment by clicking Save segment after the desired filters have been applied (Note that the "Save segment" button only appears after two or more filters have been applied). Learn more about Segments.