Yes, you can import and export project data from and to NVivo, Atlas,ti and several other QDA software programs into MAXQDA using the universal “REFI-QDA Project” exchange format.
You can learn more about this features in the REFI-QDA Project chapter of our online manual.
To do so. follow these steps:
1. Save or export your project as a REFI-QDA Project (.qdpx)
2. Open MAXQDA. In the Welcome Screen click "Open" and select the file
You can now continue working in your project with MAXQDA!
If the project doesn't open properly export a .qdpx file and import it again in both the source and destination programs. This will allow you to verify that there are no internal errors in either program.
Please note that the interoperability between software programs is limited by their internal structure. Therefore, some of the information may not be successfully migrated.
If the transfer is not successful, please check the specifications for each program:
To ensure the best possible outcome, we recommend simplifying the structure of the original project before exporting it to the REFI-QDA format.
You can make a copy of your project and try the following recommendations :
1. Simplify the code system
- Avoid more than two levels of nesting (that is, parent code and subcode).
- Remove empty codes.
- Remove special character and emojis from the labels.
2. Simplify the documents classification
- Remove all the folders, so that all your documents are in a single list
3. Transcripts with linked media files may not be exported
- Save the transcripts as text documents. You will be able to relink the multimedia files in MAXQDA
4. Temporarily remove PDF documents
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