References from reference management tools

If you have already created files in your project that correspond to bibliographical data stored in a reference management tool, you can import the bibliographical references and link them to the existing files.

CAUTION  If your existing files have linked memos and you choose to replace memo contents with abstract, keywords and notes, you will lose any existing content you have currently recorded in the memo. If the memo content is important to you, you can unlink the memo and associate it with the file using a see also link, before you import the data, so that your existing memo is retained in the project, and the abstract, keywords and notes are written to a new linked memo.

As part of the import process, NVivo checks the references to be imported against the files already in the project. The count of references are then grouped according to how closely they match existing files as follows:

• Already linked includes references that were previously imported from EndNote.
• To be linked includes references that match names of existing files.
• Import new includes references that do not match names of existing files. You can still manually match them as follows:

1. Follow the steps for importing references for your reference management tool as above.
2. Click Advanced.
3. Locate the references that you want to match and for each, do the following:
   1. Under Matched Files, select <Select Existing>.
   2. Select the file to be matched to the reference and click OK.
4. When you have finished matching references, click OK.
5. Click Import.

For each reference you import, NVivo checks whether a matching file already exists in your project—if there is no matching file, a new file is created.

References without associated files are imported into NVivo as external files. References with associated files can be imported into NVivo as internal files. For example, if you have a reference to a journal article and the actual article is attached as a PDF file, then NVivo can import the PDF file as a PDF file.

By default, file names are based on the title of the publication (for example, 'Rising seas in the Pacific'), but you can change the import options to use the author and year of the publication as the file name—for example, 'Smith, Andrew (2010)'.

Files created when you import your references are assigned to a file classification (so that reference information can be stored as attribute values on the file). By default, all the files are assigned to the classification Reference—this allows you to see all your references in a single classification sheet and can be useful if you want to create queries that search different types of literature that have common attributes—for example, all references published in a particular year. If you prefer, you can create a separate file classification for each  reference type—for example, Journal Article or Book.

The reference information is imported as follows:

• Title (or author and year) is used to name the file—this information is also stored as attribute values on the file.
• The abstract becomes the description of the file. It can also be imported into a linked memo so you can code and query the text.
• Keywords are imported as attribute values on the file. They can also be imported into a linked memo.
• Notes are optionally imported into a linked memo—if you do not select this option during the import, then they are not available in NVivo.
• All other reference information—for example, journal and volume—is stored as attribute values on the file.

If you accept the default import options, then a reference will be imported into NVivo, as shown in the diagram below.

When you import references, you can choose to import content from file attachments, file URLs (file://host/path) and figures.

If you choose not to import content, then the reference is imported as an external, with a link to the file. The reference information is stored as attribute values on the external.

If you choose to import content, where possible, NVivo imports the file as a new file—for example, as a PDF or picture file. The reference information is stored as attribute values on the new file.

If for any reason a file cannot be imported, then NVivo creates an external to represent the file attachment. The reference information is stored as attribute values on the new external, and the external has a link to the file.  Files cannot be imported when:

• The file is password or copy-protected—PDFs are sometimes protected.
• The file is not in a supported format. Files
• The file cannot be accessed—for example, the reference library is not on your computer or cannot be accessed across your network.

Only one file attachment, URL or figure per reference can be imported into NVivo. For example, if a reference contains multiple file attachments, then, by default, the first file attachment is imported—if you want to import a different file, click the Advanced button (on the import dialog box) and select the file you want to import for that particular reference. The path and file name for all file attachments, URLs or figures are recorded in the file attribute values.