Understanding topics

How Synthight clusters conversations into topics, and how the Topics page is laid out.

Last updated: 3 min read
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A topic is a cluster of conversations about the same underlying subject. Where a finding tells you what's wrong, a topic tells you what people are talking about — separately from whether it's a problem at all. A topic can be entirely neutral or positive; a finding is always a problem or request.

Every conversation gets exactly one topic — its single overall subject. That same conversation can still surface several separate findings, since a topic and its findings are assigned independently. See Topics vs. findings for the full picture.

Where to find them

Sidebar → Topics. Like Findings, the page has Main and Archived tabs, plus a Skipped view for tickets Synthight chose not to process (with a Process Anyway action if you disagree with the skip).

The stat cards

Four clickable stat cards summarize the page: Total Topics, New, Relevant Topics, and Avg Sentiment — click any to filter the table below.

Building topics

Synthight builds the topic structure from your actual conversations — you don't define a taxonomy up front. As each ticket is analyzed, AI checks its subject against your existing topics: a close enough match joins that topic, otherwise a new one is created. This runs per ticket, in real time, and is why topics that didn't exist last month can appear the moment they start mattering, without anyone configuring a new category.

You can still shape the result: create a topic manually, rename one to match your team's vocabulary, merge two that describe the same thing, or archive one you don't want to track.

Warning

A topic's volume dropping to zero isn't always good news — it can mean people stopped asking because they gave up. Cross-check against churn risk before treating it as resolved.

Customizing and exporting the table

Like every data table in Synthight, you can reorder or hide columns and export to CSV — see Customizing table columns and Exporting table data to CSV. On Topics specifically, the export dialog lets you choose between exporting at the Topic level or the underlying Incident level.

Next steps

Frequently asked questions

Can a conversation belong to more than one topic?
No. Every conversation gets exactly one topic — its single overall subject — even though it can still surface several separate findings.
What's the Skipped tab for?
It lists tickets Synthight chose not to process. If you disagree with a skip, use Process Anyway to have it analyzed.
Does a topic's volume dropping to zero always mean the problem is resolved?
Not necessarily — it can mean people stopped asking because they gave up. Cross-check against churn risk before treating a volume drop as good news.
Can I export Topics data at the individual conversation level?
Yes. The export dialog on the Topics page lets you choose between exporting at the Topic level or the underlying Incident level.
How does Synthight decide whether a conversation joins an existing topic or starts a new one?
As each ticket is analyzed, AI checks its subject against your existing topics in real time — a close enough match joins that topic, otherwise a new one is created automatically.

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