How to edit themes in Manage themes area

In Manage themes area, you can review and edit the base and sub-themes that Thematic has found in your data.
Your input will improve the accuracy of Thematic and the quality of your analysis.

This article will explain different features of the Manage themes area.

Read more about best practices for themes editing here.

And watch an in-depth masterclass on how to edit themes.

How to find Manage themes area

You can see it in the top-right drop-down menu:

Our you can also find the orange button in the Analysis view of your dataset:

If you don't see the Manage themes option in the menu you haven't been given permission to edit themes. Check with your organization's administrator or reach out to your contact at Thematic if you're interested in being able to edit the themes.

Select the right dataset's themes

You may have access to multiple datasets or multiple theme sets. They will all appear in the top-left drop-down menu. Make sure you're looking at the right themes before editing. 

If you don't see the dataset you want to refine, check with your organization's administrator to make sure you have permissions. You are also welcome to reach out to your contact at Thematic to get this resolved.


Editing the themes

Tip: Before you start editing the themes, sort them by frequency. This way you will focus on the greatest impact themes first.


On the left, you see base themes and their sub-themes underneath. 

  • You can expand and collapse a base themes sub-themes with the left side plus or minus. 
  • A Merged tag means the theme has had other themes merged into it. 
  • The 0-6 vertical bars on the right estimate the volume of the theme, these will update as you make changes.
  • The plus icon next to the trash can creates a new sub-theme under that base theme.
  • The trash can icon allows you to delete a base or sub-theme. Deleting a base theme will delete all of its sub-themes

You can rearrange the themes by clicking and dragging them to their new location. Do this to make 

  • A new base theme
  • A new sub-theme
  • A new merged theme (A merged theme contains the mapped phrases of both themes)

Theme details and mapped phrases

Click on a theme to see more detailed information about it in the right section.

Theme name: This is usually the most common way this theme is expressed in comments. It's the name used in the analytic tools. You can rename a theme.

Discover similar themes: Will try to find related and more specific themes in comments tagged with this theme. 

Merged themes: AI, or another reviewer, might have merged other themes into this one. You can unmerge any theme by clicking the circle arrow icon. Unmerged themes will take their mapped phrases with them.

Mapped phrases: The list of phrases generated by Thematic's AI or by another themes reviewer. These phrases will be used to tag comments with the theme. You can delete phrases with the trash can icon to the right, or add a new mapped phrase at the bottom by typing them and hitting enter. 

Auto-suggest: Will create suggestions for other ways to refer to the same theme.

Note: A mapped phrase may only appear under one theme. Adding a mapped phrase will remove any other uses if they exist.

Example Theme Comments: Shows comments from your data that have been tagged with the theme.

Example of how to discover themes

If a theme is not specific enough, you should run a discovery! Click on "Discover similar themes" next to theme name

Particularly in frequent themes, the AI will discover many useful themes. You can choose which ones to add into your theme structure. You can also rename them and change where the theme should be placed.

Additional theme displaying options

The buttons at the top of the themes editor give useful options. From left to right

  1. Collapses all base themes to minimize their sub-themes
  2. Expands all base themes to show their sub-themes
  3. Display theme volume estimates (Toggles on and off) Useful for focusing on larger themes, but can add lag depending on the size of the dataset
  4. Arranges the themes by
    1. Name (Alphabetically)
    2. Frequency (Estimated volume)
    3. New (Themes recently discovered)
    4. Review (Themes that should be reviewed)
    5. By hand (current order)
  5. Add a new base theme (You will be prompted to name it)
  6. Undo last action (Last action is detailed to the right)
  7. Re-do last action

Saving changes

Any changes you make to the themes will be saved in a draft version automatically. If you want to apply the current set of themes to your data use the blue apply themes button in the top right.

Thematic will take up to 5 minutes to process and apply your new themes. You will receive an email when the new themes are visible in the analytic tools and dashboards.

Reverting changes

You can revert to the past 3 applied versions of your themes using the Revert Draft drop-down. You'll see details about who applied the themes and when. If you've made changes from the current live version, you can also revert the themes to the current version.

Click on a previous version to load those themes, then hit apply to return the live themes to that version.

Read more about best practices for themes editing here.

And watch an in-depth masterclass on how to edit themes.