Introducing the workspace

 


This topic describes the main elements of the NVivo workspace and provides links to other useful topics—for example, topics that explain how to customize the workspace to suit the way you prefer to work.

 

This video from the Fundamentals of NVivo 11 for Windows online course (no longer offered) describes the workspace beginning at 4:15.

 

In this topic


 


Identify the different parts of the NVivo workspace

1  Ribbon

2  Navigation View

3  List View

4  Detail View

5  Find bar

6  Quick Coding bar

7  Status bar

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Ribbon

The ribbon is designed to help you locate commands. 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.

Refer to Use the ribbon for detailed information about working with the ribbon.

The Quick Access Toolbar is displayed on the top left of the ribbon. It gives you easy access to frequently used commands and you can add or remove commands to suit the way you work—refer to Customize the Quick Access Toolbar for more information.

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Navigation View

This view provides access to all your project items. Items are organized under group buttons—for example, Sources, Nodes and Queries.  When you click on a folder in Navigation View, its contents are displayed in List View.

You can access Navigation View folders using the Go commands—refer to Accessibility for more information.

You can add custom folders to organize your project items In Navigation View. Refer to Work with folders for more information. 

You can customize or hide Navigation View—refer to Customize the workspace for more information.

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List View

This view displays the contents of your folders. You can double-click an item in List View to open it in Detail View.

In List View, you can:

  • Sort items (by clicking on the column headings)

  • Add selected items to sets

  • Delete, cut, copy, paste, print and export items

You can customize List View display by adding or removing columns—refer to Customize the workspace for more information.

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Detail View

In this view you can explore the content of your project items. For example, in Detail View you can:

  • Annotate or code the content of a source

  • See all the source content that has been coded at a node

  • View the results of a query

When you open a source or map (or open a report in Report Designer), it is displayed in Detail View in read-only mode and a blue information bar appears at the top of the Detail View. If you need to edit the source, map or report, click the blue bar to switch to edit mode—refer to Work in edit mode for more information.

You can undock Detail View, if you prefer to work with project items in a separate window—for more information refer to Customize the workspace (Display Detail View in a separate window).

You can open multiple items and use the tabs at the top of Detail View to move between them.

To close an item, click the on the Detail View tab for the item. To close all open items, on the View tab, in the Workspace group, click Close All.

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Find bar

The Find bar is displayed at the top of List View. It is a quick way to search for items in your NVivo project—refer to Find project items (Use the Find Bar to find project items by name) for more information.

You can hide the find bar. Refer to Customize the workspace for more information.

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Quick Coding bar

The Quick Coding bar is displayed at the bottom of a Detail View when you are working with sources and nodes. It provides a fast way to code or uncode and allows you to code by nickname.

You can undock the Quick coding bar so that it floats over the workspace—refer to Customize the workspace for more information.

You can also create nodes with the Quick Coding bar—refer to Coding techniques for more information.

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Status bar

The Status bar displays your user initials and contextual information that varies depending on what you are doing in your project.

For example, when you have a source open in Detail View, the Status bar shows:

  • Whether the source is read-only or in edit mode

  • When you have successfully coded or uncoded content at a node

  • The number of nodes that the source is coded at

  • The total number of coding references in the source

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