---
title: "Themes"
description: "Find recurring themes across recordings, classify each mention, and count how often each theme appears and who raised it."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.speakai.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Themes

![The Create field panel open over the Fields page under Settings, with the list of fields the workspace already holds sitting behind it. Name is empty behind a Field name placeholder, Type is set to Text and Privacy is set to Public. Below them sit a Description box, an optional Prompt box for guiding AI extraction, an Allowed values box that takes one value per Enter, and a Not-applicable values box, with Cancel and Create field buttons at the bottom.](/help/media/insights/insights-themes.jpg)
Qualitative work slows down at the point where you have to name the themes in your data, tag every
response against them, and count the results. Speak AI does all three with one prompt: it reads the
files, writes the theme it finds into an [AI field](/help/insights/fields/), and gives you a column
you can sort, filter, and export. This page walks through the whole run, from upload to a count in a
spreadsheet.

## Video walkthrough

The walkthrough analyzes a synthetic Spotify cancellation survey and identifies, classifies, and
counts its themes from start to finish:
[watch the walkthrough](https://embed.speakai.co/how-to-identify-classify-quantify-themes-in-speak-9d5ec1b88d6f).

## Upload and organize the data

Bring in the data you want to analyze. Speak AI takes audio, video, and text, through the app, a
[CSV import](/help/uploads/csv-import/) of written responses, the
[Zapier integration](/help/integrations/zapier/), or the API. Upload from
[your dashboard](https://app.speakai.co/dashboard) or from the **Quick Actions** menu anywhere in
the app. [Uploads](/help/uploads/) covers each route in full.

Put every file you want in the analysis into one folder. Choose the folder while you upload, or move
the files into it afterwards.

## Create the fields that hold your themes

The analysis writes its answer into a field, so create the fields first at
[Settings → Fields](https://app.speakai.co/profile/fields). You can create as many as you need.
[AI fields](/help/insights/fields/) explains the properties that control what each field accepts.

### When you do not know the themes yet

Create a text field named **Exploratory Themes** and let the AI name what it finds. This is theme
identification: you are looking for the language your data already uses. Once you can see which
themes recur, turn them into a fixed list and run the process again to classify against it.

### When you already know the themes

Name the field **Themes** or **Standardized Themes** and give the AI the list to choose from in the
prompt. The AI picks one or several of the themes you listed instead of inventing wording. This is
theme classification, and it is what makes the counting step possible, because every file uses the
same labels.

### Put the fields in view

Open the folder, select **Columns** in the top right, and drag the fields you created from the right
side to the left. Speak stores the choice for your session. If the columns disappear after you clear
your cache, add them back the same way.

## Run the analysis

1. Open the folder holding your data. Your folders are listed on the left.
1. Select the files you want. If you select none, Speak analyzes every file in the folder.
1. Select **Prompt** in the top right.
1. Choose **Map Response to Field** and pick the field you created, so each answer lands in that
   column.
1. Write your prompt and run it.

How long the run takes depends on how much data you selected. Results fill in the columns as each
file finishes. To try different wording or an updated theme list, run it again the same way and the
fields update with the new results. [Batch analysis](/help/ai-chat/batch-analysis/) covers running
one prompt across every file in a folder in more detail.

### Prompt for identifying new themes

```text
Review this [type of] data and give the main theme for why [question].
Be concise and return only the theme name.
```

### Prompt for classifying against a list

```text
Review this [type of] data and give me only one theme from this list:

1. Theme 1
2. Theme 2
3. Theme 3
4. Theme 4
5. Theme 5

Respond with nothing but the selected theme from the list above. Do not
include the number. For example, return only: "EXAMPLE THEME". Consistency
matters, because these are standardized themes we need to count.
```

## Count the themes in a spreadsheet

Export the folder to CSV to do the counting. Select the files you want, choose
**More → Export → Media Details (.csv)**, then select **Export All**. Speak builds a single
structured CSV of your data with the theme columns included. CSV is one of the formats the Premium
Export Add-On unlocks, and [Transcripts](/help/exports/transcripts/) lists what each plan includes.

Open the file in Excel, Google Sheets, or your own tool, and the theme column gives you how many
files fall under each theme, the share of the set each one accounts for, and which themes come up
most and least often.

## Automate it for every new file

To classify themes without running the prompt yourself, build the same prompt and field mapping into
an [automation](/help/automations/). It then runs on each new file as it arrives, so the theme
column is filled in by the time you open the folder.

## Get help with your theme analysis

Book a paid session with a Speak AI specialist and go through your own data together:

1. [30-minute session](https://calendly.com/speak-ai/30-minute-customer-support?utm_source=docs&utm_campaign=consult)
1. [45-minute session](https://calendly.com/speak-ai/45-minute-paid-customer-support?utm_source=docs&utm_campaign=consult)
1. [60-minute session](https://calendly.com/speak-ai/60-minute-paid-customer-support?utm_source=docs&utm_campaign=consult)

Evaluating Speak AI for a team? [Book a demo and see your own recordings analyzed](https://calendly.com/speak-ai/demo?utm_source=docs&utm_campaign=book-demo).

---
Related: [Insights](/help/insights/) · [Categories](/help/insights/categories/)

Source: https://docs.speakai.co/help/insights/themes/index.mdx