Setting Up Hierarchical Tagging in Dovetail: Best Practices

Bert t. · 2025-12-01T10:00:12.035Z

Hi everyone, I’m currently setting up a hierarchical tagging structure in Dovetail (parent tags + subtags). In our workflow, each subtag includes an explicit reference to its corresponding parent tag so the structure remains clear and we avoid information overload. Does anyone know the best way to define or configure this in Dovetail? In other words: how can I formally link a subtag to the parent tag it belongs to within Dovetail? Example Parent tag: Adding other pensions + description of the observation Subtags: • Full understanding – 100% + description of when an observation scores 100% • Partial understanding – 50% + description of when an observation scores 50% • No understanding – 0% + description of when an observation scores 0% Thanks in advance!

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Setting Up Hierarchical Tagging in Dovetail: Best Practices | Dovetail Champions

8 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Sophia C.
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my workaround has been to create tag groups & make sure i include tag descriptions since i don't think a hierarchical structure exists. the group would be the parent tag and then the actual tags are the subtags. you could also maybe include the parent tag with the subtag like "Adding other pensions: Full understanding – 100%" definitely not a perfect solution and very much hope parent + subtags becomes a capability soon!
Bert t.
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That's roughly the same approach I've taken as well. I currently have one group for the parent tag and a separate group for the subtags, resulting in a 1:3 relationship. In the parent tag, I've added an extensive description explaining the function and context. Each subtag includes a similar description with an explicit reference back to the parent tag (e.g., "This subtag belongs to the parent tag '[name]' and represents score 100%"). Not perfect indeed, but it works for now. Definitely hoping for true parent–child tag hierarchy soon! 🤞
Jocelyn S.
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Or reading other people's replies, I'm realizing we use double tagging to accomplish this. For example, one tag group would have tags for different workflows and another tag group would have the observation type. Then each observation gets double tagged and we filter the highlight table to show highlights with whatever combination we're interested in.
➕1
Bert t.
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So in that setup it’s really the researcher who defines the connection — Dovetail doesn’t automatically link the score (100/50/0) to a workflow. The ‘magic’ is only in filtering combinations after you’ve added both tags manually.
Jocelyn S.
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Bert t. yes. It does keep the tag set much more manageable though. If I have 10 workflows and 3 states, then I have 13 tags (and 30 tag combinations.) Otherwise, I'm duplicating score tags for each workflow, which means I have 30 tags. I can get fancy with filtering too. Just see all the highlights with score 100 (and I'll see the other tags on those ones to get a quick idea of which workflows are scoring high) I think you can use the chart tab to visualize these types of things as well. I will say that in general Dovetail doesn't do the best at giving you scores/numbers. There's always some by hand work/calculation invovled.
Bert t.
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That’s a smart workaround. It’s a bit different from how we structure things now, but I can see how it keeps the tag set much cleaner. Especially with multiple workflows and states. I might experiment with this approach as well. Thanks for sharing!
Jocelyn S.
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Took a while for us to get to it, but we do find it works well and is much clearer. Curious if you try it to know how it works for you, and any changes/refinements you make that we could learn from.
👍1
Emi F.
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Most of our highlights are many tags applied to the same highlight: user type, research method, and a variety of topic tags. Filtering and searching by highlights that contain both your parent tag and the score tag could probably work!
➕1

Sophia C.
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·
my workaround has been to create tag groups & make sure i include tag descriptions since i don't think a hierarchical structure exists. the group would be the parent tag and then the actual tags are the subtags. you could also maybe include the parent tag with the subtag like "Adding other pensions: Full understanding – 100%" definitely not a perfect solution and very much hope parent + subtags becomes a capability soon!
Bert t.
·
·
That's roughly the same approach I've taken as well. I currently have one group for the parent tag and a separate group for the subtags, resulting in a 1:3 relationship. In the parent tag, I've added an extensive description explaining the function and context. Each subtag includes a similar description with an explicit reference back to the parent tag (e.g., "This subtag belongs to the parent tag '[name]' and represents score 100%"). Not perfect indeed, but it works for now. Definitely hoping for true parent–child tag hierarchy soon! 🤞
Jocelyn S.
·
·
Or reading other people's replies, I'm realizing we use double tagging to accomplish this. For example, one tag group would have tags for different workflows and another tag group would have the observation type. Then each observation gets double tagged and we filter the highlight table to show highlights with whatever combination we're interested in.
➕1
Bert t.
·
·
So in that setup it’s really the researcher who defines the connection — Dovetail doesn’t automatically link the score (100/50/0) to a workflow. The ‘magic’ is only in filtering combinations after you’ve added both tags manually.
Jocelyn S.
·
·
Bert t. yes. It does keep the tag set much more manageable though. If I have 10 workflows and 3 states, then I have 13 tags (and 30 tag combinations.) Otherwise, I'm duplicating score tags for each workflow, which means I have 30 tags. I can get fancy with filtering too. Just see all the highlights with score 100 (and I'll see the other tags on those ones to get a quick idea of which workflows are scoring high) I think you can use the chart tab to visualize these types of things as well. I will say that in general Dovetail doesn't do the best at giving you scores/numbers. There's always some by hand work/calculation invovled.
Bert t.
·
·
That’s a smart workaround. It’s a bit different from how we structure things now, but I can see how it keeps the tag set much cleaner. Especially with multiple workflows and states. I might experiment with this approach as well. Thanks for sharing!
Jocelyn S.
·
·
Took a while for us to get to it, but we do find it works well and is much clearer. Curious if you try it to know how it works for you, and any changes/refinements you make that we could learn from.
👍1
Emi F.
·
·
Most of our highlights are many tags applied to the same highlight: user type, research method, and a variety of topic tags. Filtering and searching by highlights that contain both your parent tag and the score tag could probably work!
➕1