Skip to main content

Tools for reviewing phone collections

Use the review and annotation tools in the Hearsay web portal to search, comment, and tag messages shared from a collection.

Updated over a week ago

This article covers how to use the search and tagging features, leave comments, and manage display options while reviewing extracted messages. These tools help organize evidence for case strategy, reporting, and production.


Conversation Search Bar

Use the Conversation Search bar to locate specific conversations when multiple threads have been shared.

Locate conversations by participant

Search by contact name or phone number to find all conversations that include that participant.

Find conversations containing specific keywords

Search across all shared conversations for a specific keyword. The search term must contain at least three characters. All conversations that include the keyword will appear in the left panel.


Keyword Search Bar

Use the Keyword Search bar to find a specific keyword within the conversation you’re currently viewing. This search does not apply across all conversations shared from the extraction.

To search a different conversation, click the conversation name in the left panel and enter a new keyword.


Comments

Leave comments on individual messages by clicking the comment icon next to the message.

Once a comment is added, it can be viewed by clicking the commenter’s blue initials or by enabling the Comments panel under the Settings menu.

Exports support clean and marked up versions.


Tags

Tags help organize evidence by issue, theme, or pattern to support case analysis and production.

Tags can be applied to individual messages, groups of messages, or all messages containing a specific keyword. Once a tag is created, it can be reused throughout the case to keep related messages organized.

For details on creating and managing tags and exporting reports, including bulk and keyword tagging, see How to manage tags.


Using Jump To, Tools, and Settings

Jump to

Use Jump To to go directly to a specific date in a conversation. You can also click Jump to Start or Jump to End to quickly move to either end of the thread.

Tools

The Tools menu includes:

  • Toggle Bulk Tagging: Enables bulk tagging. A “+” button appears next to each message, allowing you to select and apply tags to multiple messages at once.

  • Quick Print: Exports the conversation currently being viewed for quick review. To download the Quick Print, click Back to Case in the top-left corner of the portal, then click Case Exports.

  • Advanced Export: Opens the export dashboard where you can customize your export or tag report.

  • Delete Conversation: Permanently deletes the conversation you’re currently viewing.

Settings

The Settings menu allows you to show or hide:

  • Numbers: Display or hide participant phone numbers (still included in metadata).

  • Tags: Show or hide inline tag icons.

  • Comments: Show or hide inline comment icons.

  • Comments bar: Show or hide the comments panel.

  • Actions: Show or hide comment and tag buttons next to messages.

  • Gap analysis: Display message gaps for deleted items during the conversation timeframe. Deleted messages are identified at the phone level.


View Participants

If a conversation includes a phone number without a saved contact name, or if the saved name is not appropriate for production, click View Participants to add or edit participant names.

Click the pencil icon next to a name to edit it. Updated names are labeled (Edited) to show that the change was made in review and does not reflect the name originally saved on the device.


Next steps

Once your review and annotations are complete, you can:

Did this answer your question?