How to open projects from older versions in MAXQDA 24?

MAXQDA 24 includes features not available in previous MAXQDA versions and several improvements have been made to the data structure of project files. As a result, MAXQDA 24 uses a new file format with the extension .mx24.

You can open projects from previous MAXQDA versions in MAXQDA 24, they will be converted automatically.

1. Start MAXQDA 24 and select Open Project in the start window.

2. Navigate to the location on your computer where the project file that you want to open is saved. Select the project and click Open. 

3. MAXQDA 24 will read the data from the old project file and save it into a new MAXQDA 24 project file (.mx24). A message box is displayed as soon as the conversion is successfully finished. 

4. The new MAXQDA 24 project file (.mx24) is saved in the same folder as the old project. Your old project file remains untouched.

View detailed instructions for this action in the Switching from older versions to MAXQDA 24 chapter of the MAXQDA online manual.

No Teamwork Exchange between MAXQDA 24 and older versions

Due to the improved text handling, it is not possible to send project elements to older versions via teamwork exchange. If you are coding the same data in a team, it is recommended that all team members work with the same program version.

Moving your projects to MAXQDA 24 in a team using a mix of Windows and Mac computers

For research teams of mixed Mac and Windows users, who are planning on using teamwork functionality relying on text character counts (intercoder agreement, merging projects, moving codes etc. from one project file to another) we kindly recommend converting their project files to MAXQDA 24 on one computer and then distributing the new MAXQDA 24 project files to all team members. Due to the improved text handling the converted projects might differ slightly in their character count when they are converted on a Windows or on a Mac computer.

However, once the projets were converted on either a Mac or a Windows machine, thus ensuring each team member uses exactly the same data, MAXQDA 24 projects are accessible from either Mac or Windows, without any further need of compatibility optimizations.