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How to Use NVivo

Welcome to NVivo for Mac

Upon downloading NVivo you will be presented with the following screen:

Nvivo for mac start screen

Getting Started with Nvivo for Mac

You can create a new project (saved as a .nvpx file) on your computer.

1. On the Welcome to NVivo for Mac window, click Create new project or choose File > New Project.

2. In the Save As field, type a name for this project (you can change the title and add a description if you want to).

3. Click Create

To open a project saved on your computer:

1. Choose File > Open. To open a recent project choose File > Open > Recent.

2. Select the .nvpx project file you want to open, and then click Open.

Note: If you want to convert an NVivo for Windows project (.nvp), so that you can work with it in the NVivo for Mac format (.nvpx), you can use the copy project feature in NVivo 12 for Windows and save the project to the NVivo for Mac format. 

NVivo work area screen

You can work with NVivo using the menu commands or the ribbon. The Ribbon commands have changed in NVivo 12 AND MAY APPEAR DIFFERENTLY FROM THESE ILLUSTRATIONS.

On the ribbon, commands are organized into logical groups, collected together under tabs. Each tab relates to a type of activity, such as creating new project items or analyzing your source materials. 

NVivo ribbon command screen

Navigation View:

NVivo navigation view screen

List View:

NVivo list navigation screen

Detail View: 

When you open an item from List View it is displayed in Detail View.  You can click edit in the top right corner to make any changes to this document.