Keyword search across transcripts
Transcript Keyword Search is a time-saving feature in Axon Evidence that allows you to quickly search all transcribed evidence to find a specific moment when something was said.
If your organization has an Auto-Transcribe Unlimited Add-On plan, you can search by keyword across all transcribed evidence you have access to. This search functionality appears on the evidence search page, the case page, and in the Axon app.
Keyword search can't be used from the case search page. It can only be used from the Evidence tab on a specific case page to search for a keyword in all transcripts that have been added to that case.
See this video for a quick explanation of this feature.
This functionality only appears for users with specific permissions. Whenever a user searches for keywords across transcripts, an event is logged in the user audit trail.
Keyword search mechanics
Keep the following mechanics in mind when searching for keywords across evidence:
Keyword search supports exact text matches, not phonetic matches.
For example, a search for “John” will return transcripts with “John”, "Johnathan", or “john”, but not “Jon” or “jawn”).
Keyword search supports phrase matches.
You can search for an entire phrase rather than only single words. Evidence with a matching phrase will be ranked higher in the results than evidence with some, but not all, matching words in the query.
Keyword search works with all other filters.
You can also narrow down your search using the ID, User or Group, Date, etc. filters in addition to the Transcript filter.
Keyword search respects your Evidence List permissions.
For example, if your List Unrestricted Evidence permission is set to “Only Their Own”, you can only search transcripts for your own evidence.
If you have List Restricted Evidence permissions enabled, but not View Restricted Evidence permissions, you will see evidence in the search results list, but keyword matches or preview highlights will be hidden.
All transcript keyword searches are logged in the user audit trail.
For more information, see Auto-Transcribe audit trail.
Keyword search only searches evidence that has a transcript.
It is possible that your organization may have some evidence that does not have a transcript, even if you have the Auto-Transcribe Unlimited Add-On plan. If your organization wants all of your evidence to be back filled with a transcript, see the keyword search FAQs.
Evidence search
To use search for keywords across evidence from evidence search, take these steps:
- Enter a keyword or string of keywords in the Transcript Keyword filter.
- In the Keyword Search column, select Preview Details to reveal a thumbnail preview of each point in the evidence transcript where the keyword appears. The portion of the transcript with the keyword highlighted is also displayed.
- Select the arrow icon to scroll to the right and view all instances in that piece of evidence in which the keyword appears. This row includes up to 20 of the most relevant matches.
- Select a thumbnail to open that piece of evidence to the moment that keyword appears. The keyword you entered in the Transcript Keyword search is auto-filled in the search box that appears above the transcript on the evidence detail page.
- If you instead select the evidence thumbnail that appears in the Image column, the evidence will open at the beginning of the recording.
- If you instead select the evidence thumbnail that appears in the Image column, the evidence will open at the beginning of the recording.
The Detail view that includes the Preview Details section only appears when the Transcription Keyword filter is used. If you switch to Table or Grid view, you can select a Preview button that will return you to the Detail view with the Preview Details section already expanded.
The Transcript Keyword filter also appears and functions as outlined above when you are searching to add evidence to a case.
Case page search
Keyword search can be used from an individual case page (and not the Case search page). This feature is not yet available for Axon Justice cases. To search across all evidence transcripts in a single case:
- Open the case and switch to the Evidence tab.
- Select Filters to reveal the filter list.
- Enter a keyword or string of keywords in the Audio transcript filter.
- In the Keyword Search column, select Preview Details to reveal a thumbnail preview of each point in the evidence transcript where the keyword appears. The portion of the transcript with the keyword highlighted is also displayed.
- Select the arrow icon to scroll to the right and view all instances in that piece of evidence in which the keyword appears. This row includes up to 20 of the most relevant matches.
- Select a thumbnail to open that piece of evidence to the moment that keyword appears. The keyword you entered in the Transcript Keyword search is auto-filled in the search box that appears above the transcript on the evidence detail page.
- If you instead select the evidence thumbnail that appears in the Image column, the evidence will open at the beginning of the recording.
- If you instead select the evidence thumbnail that appears in the Image column, the evidence will open at the beginning of the recording.
The Detail view that includes the Preview Details section only appears when the Transcription filter is used. If you switch to Table or Grid view, you can select a Preview button that will return you to the Detail table view with the Preview Details section already expanded.
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