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To add a source’s data to a channel, you need edit access to the channel and Can use on the source. Who can see the data in a channel depends on the channel’s own permissions. See Manage source access.
A channel adds its data from sources, which workspace admins create. Because the data is already in Dovetail, a new channel starts with everything those datasets have imported. Learn more about Sources → If your workspace doesn’t have Sources, see Connect a tool without Sources. 13 Source Channel

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Create a channel

1

Create the channel

In the sidebar, select New, then Channel. Dovetail creates a channel named “Untitled channel” and opens Add sources.
2

Pick a source

Add sources lists the sources you can use. Select a source to choose its datasets. To upload a CSV file instead, select the CSV card. See Upload a CSV.
3

Choose datasets

Turn on the datasets you want and confirm. You can then pick another source. When you’ve picked everything, select Continue.
4

Add context

On Add context to your channel, add focus areas and link docs that guide how Dovetail’s AI analyzes the channel, then select Continue. See Channel context.
5

Finish setup

If Channel settings opens, review its settings, then select Finish. Dovetail adds the datasets to the channel and starts generating ideas from their data.
6

Rename the channel

In the channel header, select •••, then Rename. Choose a name that reflects the channel’s focus, for example “Mobile app retention” or “Enterprise onboarding”.
The more data points a channel has, the higher the confidence of its ideas. We recommend a minimum of 200 data points to get started.

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What a channel gets from its sources

A channel gets every data point that the datasets you chose have already imported, with no date range. After that, new data arrives as each source syncs. In Channels 2.0, a new channel’s default view shows the last 28 days. Widen the date range to see older data. How far back a source’s data goes depends on the import period chosen when its datasets were added to the source. See Import period. Datasets added to a source later aren’t added to your channel automatically. To include them, see Add datasets or sources. You can’t limit the data a channel gets to a date range or a segment; you narrow it by choosing datasets. The source also decides how each data point arrives:
  • Contacts. If the source creates contacts, data points arrive linked to contacts. See Create contacts from source data.
  • Redaction. If the source has auto-redaction enabled, its data points arrive redacted. A channel has no redaction setting of its own. See Redaction is set where data comes in.
  • Fields. A data point’s fields come from the source. A channel can’t rename them or change their types. See Source fields.

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When a source is missing

Add sources lists only the sources you have Can use on, and leaves out sources that need reconnecting. You can’t create a source from inside a channel. Workspace admins create sources on the Sources page, and other users can request a new source or access to an existing one. See Request a source and Source not available in a channel.

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Manage the sources in a channel

In the channel header, select the sources button, for example 2 sources, to open the channel’s Sources dialog. It lists each source in the channel, with its datasets and sync times. Only users who can edit the channel can change it.

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Add datasets or sources

  • More datasets from a source. Under the source, select the add row, for example Add team, and choose the datasets.
  • Another source. At the bottom of the dialog, select Add source, then pick the source and its datasets.
Each dataset you add brings every data point it has already imported.

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Remove a dataset or source

  • One dataset. Select the cross next to the dataset.
  • A whole source. Select ••• next to the source, then Remove source.
Removing takes that data out of this channel only. Its data points no longer appear as evidence or count toward the channel’s ideas, and the ideas themselves stay. The source keeps importing, and other channels that use it aren’t affected. Pausing a source, or deleting its data from every channel, happens on the source itself. See Manage a source. A CSV upload exists only in this channel, so once you remove it, its data isn’t available anywhere else.

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Sync a source now

Sources sync about every hour. To check for new data sooner, select ••• next to the source, then Sync now. This works for workspace admins and the user who connected the source. See Sync a source now.

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Sources that need reconnecting

If a source loses its connection to the tool, it stops importing new data, and the data already in the channel stays. The channel shows a banner that names the integration, and the channel’s Sources dialog shows Reconnect on the source. Workspace admins and the user who connected the source can reconnect it there or on the source itself. Other users can ask one of them. See Reconnect a source.

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Connect a tool without Sources

In workspaces without Sources, a channel connects to a tool directly. You need edit access to the channel. Before you start, check what the tool needs on its side, such as an admin role or API access. Each tool’s page lists this under Before you start, in the section named after the tool.
1

Open Connect data source

Open the channel you want to add data to, or create a new one. In the channel header, select Add source. Connect data source opens.
2

Select the tool and follow the prompts

Select the tool you want to connect, then follow the prompts that appear. Depending on the tool, you sign in to it or enter its credentials, such as an API key, then choose what to import and, for most tools, how far back. Some tools, such as Zapier, continue in the tool itself.
3

Finish setup

Confirm the setup and select Finish. The first import starts right away.

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Upload a CSV

A CSV file isn’t a source. Uploading one is a one-off import into this channel only: the data doesn’t sync, and other channels can’t use it. Start an upload from the CSV card in Add sources, or from the CSV row of the channel’s Sources dialog to upload another file.
  1. Choose the file. It needs a header row, a date column, and text to analyze. See CSV import FAQs.
  2. On Map your data, choose the feedback column or columns to analyze, the date column and how to read its dates, and any metadata columns to keep as fields.
  3. In a Channels 2.0 channel, choose whether Dovetail creates contacts from email addresses in the file, and which columns hold each person’s email address and name. See Create contacts from source data.
  4. Choose whether Dovetail auto-redacts the text in this file. The choice is final once the file is uploaded.
  5. If this is the channel’s first data, add context to the channel. See Channel context.
  6. Select Finish.
All the CSV files in a channel appear as one CSV row in the channel’s Sources dialog, with one dataset per file. You can download each file from there. If a file has no data from the last 28 days, it doesn’t show in a new channel’s default view until you widen the date range.

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CSV import FAQs

Channels don’t use the project 5,000-row CSV limit. Each row you upload becomes a data point and uses 1 credit from your workspace’s balance, or 2 if you choose to redact it. See Credits and usage.
The file must:
  • Be a .csv with a header row and at least one data row
  • Include a column with valid dates
  • Include text for Channels to analyze (for example, feedback, comments, or ticket content)
If the file is empty, has no date column, or has no text to analyze, the import will not start.
There is no separate MB cap like the 10 MB project CSV limit. Very large files can still fail to open in the browser — if that happens, split the file and import it in parts.
Yes. You can select multiple feedback columns to analyze when you upload a CSV to a channel.

Sources

How sources import customer data that channels then analyze.

Request a source

Ask a workspace admin for a new source or for access to one.

Channel context

Add focus areas and docs that guide how a channel is analyzed.

Troubleshoot sources

Find out why a source or its data is missing from a channel.