What is a navigation and how do I use it?

Navigations: Automatic Actions in a Video

Short answer

A navigation is an automatic action. It runs when playback reaches its Action Time, with no click from the viewer. To add one, click More in the interaction bar and choose a navigation such as Pause, Change Time, Switch Video or Redirect Link.

How to do it

Select Interactions and move the playhead to the moment the action should run.
Click More in the interaction bar.
Choose a navigation from Playback & Navigation or Logic & AI.
Check the Action Time. A navigation cannot run before 0:01.
Fill in the navigation’s value, such as the time, video, link or variable.
Save, then test from the share link in a private browser window.

More menu in the Mindstamp editor with the Media group (Video Clip, Audio Clip, Drawing) and the Playback & Navigation group (Change Time, Pause, Switch Video, Switch to Previous Video, Redirect Link) highlighted — The More menu groups interactions by type. Navigations are in Playback & navigation.

Change Time navigation editor in Mindstamp with Action Time set to 0:20 and Time to switch to set to 0:10 — A Change Time navigation: at the Action Time (0:20) the video jumps to the Time to switch to (0:10).

Playback and navigation

Change Time: jumps to the Time to switch to and keeps playing. Use it to skip a section or to loop one.
Pause: stops the video until the viewer presses play, or for 5 to 60 seconds.
Switch Video: branches to another video.
Switch to Previous Video: returns to the video the viewer came from.
Redirect Link: leaves the video and opens a web page.

Logic and AI

Set Variable: stores a value about the viewer (Core and higher plans).
Ask ChatGPT: asks ChatGPT a question and stores the answer in a variable for other interactions to use.
Open Magic Menu: opens the video’s Magic Menu.
Reset Interactions: clears the viewer’s clicks and answers and resets their scores. The viewer and their other variables stay.
Reset Viewer State: clears all viewer data, including name, email, clicks, responses and variables.

Run a navigation for some viewers only

Add conditional logic to a navigation to run it only when a variable matches (Pro and higher plans). For example, a Change Time navigation can skip a review section for viewers who answered a question correctly.

Test as a viewer

When you play the video as its owner, Mindstamp skips Redirect Link, Switch to Previous Video and the reset navigations, and asks before a Switch Video leaves the editor. Open the share link in a private browser window to see what viewers see.

Navigation or click action

Use a navigation when the action should happen to everyone at a set time. Use a click action when the viewer should choose.