NVivo 12: Automatic coding in documents

Autocode documents in NV12 to automatically organize content by paragraph, style, speaker, themes, or existing coding patterns for faster analysis.

Aug 26, 2026
Knowledge

Title

NVivo 12: Automatic coding in documents

Answer

Related material

Automatic coding techniques

Coding

Coding techniques

Automatic coding in documents

You can auto code document, memos and externals based on paragraphs or paragraph styles. If you are working with structured documents (like interviews that ask the same set of questions) then auto coding can help you to organize the material into nodes for further exploration.

Understand automatic coding in document files

You can auto code based on:

Paragraph styles If you have applied paragraph styles in your documents you can use them to automatically code the content. You can apply paragraph styles in Word before you import the file, or you can apply them in NVivo.
For example—if you have a collection of question/answer interview documents, you could auto code to create a node for each question (based on heading 1 [H1] and heading 2 [H2] styles) and code all respondent answers at the nodes.
Paragraphs You can auto code 'by paragraph' if one or more documents are tightly structured—for example, paragraph 1 in each document is about fossil fuel and paragraph 2 is about government policy. NVivo makes a node for each paragraph and uses the paragraph number as the node name. You can rename the nodes as required.
Speaker If a document has multiple 'speakers' (for example, the participants in a focus group) you can automatically create a case for each speaker and code the content at the case. This means you can open a case to see everything a particular participant said. You can also assign attribute values to the cases and use them to make comparisons - What do women say?How does it compare to what men say?

Interview transcript auto coded by speaker.

Existing coding patterns You can also code using existing coding patterns.
For example, if you have already coded some files to the nodes Water quality and Habitat, then you can automatically code additional content containing similarly worded text passages to the nodes Water quality and Habitat.
Themes or sentiment Identify themes or sentiment in documents, and code the results to theme or sentiment nodes. Automated insights . (NVivo 12 Plus only)

Auto code documents based on paragraphs or styles

In List View, select the documents you want to auto code.
On the Home tab, in the Coding group, click Auto Code.
Follow the steps on the Auto Code Wizard.

Wizard step	Description
Step 1	Click Use the file style or structure.
Step 2	Click Paragraph to make a numbered node for each paragraph. Click Paragraph styles to use consistent paragraph styles to auto code From the Available paragraph styles list, select the styles you want to use for coding. Click the right arrow button >> to add the styles to the Selected paragraph styles list. A node is automatically created for each paragraph that is formatted in the selected style, and the text under the style is auto coded at the node. The order of the styles in the list determines how they are nested in the node hierarchy—the first style is the parent of the second and so on.
Step 3	Select where you want to store the newly created nodes. Existing Node to store the created nodes under an existing parent node—click Select and choose the parent node. New Node to store the created nodes under a new parent node—in the Name field enter a name for the new parent node. Click Select to choose a different location for the new parent node. Existing Folder to store the created nodes in an existing folder—click Select and choose the existing folder. New Folder to store the created nodes in a new folder—in the Name field, enter a name for the new folder. Click Select to choose a different location for the new folder. (Optional) Select the Aggregate coding from child nodes check box, if you want the content coded at child nodes to be shown in the parent node.

Wizard step

Description

Step 1

Click Use the file style or structure.

Step 2

Click Paragraph to make a numbered node for each paragraph.
Click Paragraph styles to use consistent paragraph styles to auto code
1. From the Available paragraph styles list, select the styles you want to use for coding.
2. Click the right arrow button >> to add the styles to the Selected paragraph styles list.
  A node is automatically created for each paragraph that is formatted in the selected style, and the text under the style is auto coded at the node. The order of the styles in the list determines how they are nested in the node hierarchy—the first style is the parent of the second and so on.

Step 3

Select where you want to store the newly created nodes.

Existing Node to store the created nodes under an existing parent node—click Select and choose the parent node.
New Node to store the created nodes under a new parent node—in the Name field enter a name for the new parent node. Click Select to choose a different location for the new parent node.
Existing Folder to store the created nodes in an existing folder—click Select and choose the existing folder.
New Folder to store the created nodes in a new folder—in the Name field, enter a name for the new folder. Click Select to choose a different location for the new folder.

(Optional) Select the Aggregate coding from child nodes check box, if you want the content coded at child nodes to be shown in the parent node.

NOTE

If a heading contains reserved characters such as ( \ / : * ? " < > | they are replaced by a tilde symbol (~) in the newly created node name.
To indicate that auto coding is successful, a confirmation message is briefly displayed in the NVivo status bar.
You can edit the node names in the Node Properties—select the node in List View, then on the Home tab, in the Item group, click Properties.

Auto code documents based on speaker

If a document contains comments from multiple speakers, you can automatically create a case for each speaker and code the comments at the case. You can then define the demographic attributes for each case and use them to make comparisons - for example, do men and women have different views about community? Organize your demographic data

In List View, select the documents you want to auto code.
On the Home tab, in the Coding group, click Auto Code.
Follow the steps on the Auto Code Wizard.

Wizard step	Description
Step 1	Click Speaker name.
Step 2	Enter the name of each speaker as identified in the selected documents. NVivo checks the start of each line (in the selected documents) to confirm that the speaker exists. Choose a document from the preview list, to see the speakers highlighted.
Step 3	Choose whether you want to create a new classification for the cases that will be created, or whether you want to add the cases to an existing classification. If you choose to create a new classification, enter a classification name. Select where you want to store the newly created cases. Once the cases are created, you can assign demographic attributes. Classify cases (set attribute values to record information)

Wizard step

Description

Step 1

Click Speaker name.

Step 2

Enter the name of each speaker as identified in the selected documents. NVivo checks the start of each line (in the selected documents) to confirm that the speaker exists.
Choose a document from the preview list, to see the speakers highlighted.

Step 3

Choose whether you want to create a new classification for the cases that will be created, or whether you want to add the cases to an existing classification. If you choose to create a new classification, enter a classification name.
Select where you want to store the newly created cases.

Once the cases are created, you can assign demographic attributes. Classify cases (set attribute values to record information)

NOTE

When auto coding by speaker, follow these guidelines for formatting the transcript:

The speaker name must appear at the start of a line. It cannot be proceeded by any characters—including tabs and spaces.
The speaker name can appear on the same line with the response or on a separate line above the response—as long as it is at the start of a line.
The transcript can be formatted as a table with the speaker name in the left column and the response in the right.
Each speaker must be identified by a unique name. NVivo creates a case for each unique speaker name and codes all content by that speaker at the case.

Auto code documents based on existing coding patterns

(NVivo 12 Plus only)

Pattern-based auto coding is an experimental feature that you can test and try out. This feature is designed to speed up the coding process for large volumes of textual content.

When you auto code using existing patterns, NVivo compares each text passage—for example, sentence or paragraph—to the content already coded to existing nodes. If the content of the text passage is similar in wording to content already coded to a node, then the text passage will be coded to that node.

You can also use pattern-based auto coding in conjunction with the other automatic coding techniques. For example, you could auto code your structured interview documents to create nodes for the responses to each question. Then, you could use pattern-based coding to 'code on' from a question node.

Pattern-based auto coding is an experimental feature that may work better for some projects than others. Automatic coding using existing coding patterns

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NV12Win-Automatic-coding-in-documents

NVivo 12: Automatic coding in documents

Information

Automatic coding in documents

Understand automatic coding in document files

Auto code documents based on paragraphs or styles

Auto code documents based on speaker

Auto code documents based on existing coding patterns

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