Importing Your Transcripts into NVivo

1. Create a folder for your transcripts (optional)

• In the navigation pane, under Data → Files, right-click and choose New Folder.
• A folder per interview round or participant group keeps larger projects organized from the start.

2. Import your transcripts

• Open the folder, then use the Import ribbon and choose Files — or simply drag and drop your transcripts into the Files area.
• Select multiple files at once with Ctrl-click (Cmd-click on Mac), then confirm the import.
• NVivo accepts Word documents (.doc/.docx), rich text, plain text, and PDFs — all formats we deliver.
• NVivo copies each file into the project, so your originals stay untouched on your computer.

3. Open a transcript and start coding

• Double-click any file to open the full text and begin coding. You can have several documents open at once.
• If your transcripts use consistent speaker names, NVivo can automatically code passages by speaker — our speaker tracking formats transcripts exactly this way, which makes auto-coding by participant possible out of the box.

Keep in mind

• Word, rich text, and plain text files import as editable documents — you can correct or annotate the content inside NVivo.
• PDFs import as PDF sources: you can code them, but you cannot edit their content within NVivo. If you expect to edit, ask us for a Word deliverable.

That's it — your transcripts are in NVivo and ready to code.