Set application options

You can set options and preferences for working with NVivo. Application options are 'user specific'—your preferences may differ from those set by another user on the same computer.

Some application options apply whenever you work in NVivo—for example, your preferred user interface language. Other options do not affect existing projects, and apply only when you create a new project—for example, your preferred custom transcript fields (columns).

View or change application options

1. Click the File tab, and then click Options.
2. Choose a tab to view or change the preferences.

• General

  Preference	Description
  Edition	Switch between the different editions of NVivo—NVivo Pro and NVivo Plus.
  Name	The user name associated with your default NVivo user profile. Your default NVivo user profile is used to create your project user profile in projects. User profiles
  Initials	The initials associated with your default NVivo user profile. If you change the initials, it applies to any new projects you create. To change your initials in an existing project, refer to Create, view or change user profiles (Change the initials associated with my project user profile).
  Prompt for user on launch	Prompt users to provide their user name and initials every time they launch NVivo. This is useful for standalone projects when more than one person accesses NVivo using the same computer and Windows user account.
  Display plain text for code with	Display large codes in plain text. By default, codes are displayed in rich text format. If large codes are taking a long time to open in Detail View, select this option and set the number of files.
  References displayed in coding reference view	By default, all references are listed on the Reference tab in node Detail View and in the associated view of a framework matrix. To limit the number of references displayed per file, click Up to <> per file and then enter the number of references you want to show.
  Update projects on network drives	If you are working with a project stored on a network drive, the project file on the network is updated either when you save or when you close the project. On save  The network project is updated every time you save the project On close (Default)  The network project is only updated when you close your project. To avoid loss of data, make sure that you close your project before you turn off your computer.
  User interface	The user interface language is the language used on the menus and dialogs within NVivo. Variable product name for update 1 is available in English, Chinese (Simplified Chinese), French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. If you select a user interface language other than English, you should ensure that the language is installed on your computer—refer to Microsoft Windows online help for more information.
  Code whole words	Code the whole word when you select only part of a word. When this option is selected, if you accidentally select  'ick brown fox' instead of 'quick brown fox', the words 'quick brown fox' will be coded.
  Participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program	By selecting this option, you can help to improve the features, quality, and performance of NVivo. Clear this check box, if you do not want to participate. Customer experience improvement program
  Show Learn and Connect tiles	Display the Learn and Connect tiles on the NVivo Welcome screen. These tiles provide you with links to a getting started tutorial, frequently asked questions, courses, support and other resources.
  Clear Recent Project List	Clear the Recent Projects list on the NVivo Welcome screen.

• Connections

  The 'Standalone' connection (if present) is used to connect to standalone projects—you cannot remove this connection. All other connections in the list are NVivo for Teams connections, which allow you to connect to NVivo for Teams projects.

  Use the Add, Modify or Remove buttons to configure connections.

  Preference	Description
  Add, Modify	Name  Enter any name that is meaningful to you—for example staff projects server. Host  Enter a server name, a fully qualified domain name (for example 'myserver.abccompany.com') or an IP address. Current Windows User  Connect with your current Windows user account. Specified User  Connect with a specified user account.
  Account Name	When connecting as a Specified Windows User, this column displays the user account name that will be used to connect to NVivo for Teams. You will be prompted for your password when you connect to NVivo for Teams to access a project.
  Default	Select this option to make this connection the default. If you mostly work with NVivo for Teams projects, you can set your NVivo for Teams connection as the default connection, so that Teams projects are preselected when you open projects.

• Notifications

  Preference	Description
  Enable project save reminders every	Select this option to get regular save reminders when you work in standalone projects. By default you are reminded to save your project every 15 minutes—you can increase or decrease the frequency of reminders by changing the value in the minutes box.
  Enable deletion confirmation messages	NVivo prompts you to confirm your action whenever you delete a project item.
  Check for software updates	NVivo can automatically check for software updates which may include enhancements, or fixes for known issues. Every 7 days Never  Select this option if you do not want NVivo to automatically check for software updates. You can still manually check for software updates—click File > Help > Check for Software Updates.

• Display

  Preference	Description
  Window	Docked (Default)  Detail View windows are docked to the workspace. Floating  Detail View windows are free-floating.
  Code display	Reference View (Default)  Display the Reference View tab when you open a node, showing all the references coded at the node. Summary View  Display the Summary View tab when you open a node, showing a list of all the files coded at the node.
  Highlight coding	None  Coding in files and nodes is not automatically highlighted when you open the item. All nodes  Coding in files and nodes is automatically highlighted when you open the item.
  Code user view	All Users (Default)  Coding references created by all users are displayed when you open a node. Current User  Only coding references created by the current user are displayed when you open a node.
  Word Frequency query display	Summary View  This option displays the Summary tab, listing the most frequently occurring words and a count of how often they occur. Word Cloud View  This option displays the Word Cloud tab, showing, by default, 100 words in varying font sizes, where frequently occurring words are in larger fonts. Tree Map View  This option displays the Tree Map tab, showing the results in a series of rectangles, where more frequently occurring words are in larger rectangles. (NVivo Pro and Plus only) Cluster Analysis View  This option displays the Cluster Analysis tab, showing, by default, a horizontal dendrogram, where words that co-occur are clustered together. (NVivo Pro and Plus only)
  Text Search query preview display	Summary View  This option displays the Summary tab, listing the files in which the word or phrase occurs. Reference View  This option displays the Reference tab, showing the word or phrase in a narrow context. Word Tree View  This option displays the Word Tree tab, showing the results as a tree with branches representing the various contexts in which the word or phrase occurs.
  Annotations tab	Display the Annotations tab when you open a file or a node.
  Automatic column sizing	Automatically adjust the width of columns in List View to fit the contents of the column. Do not select this option if you prefer to manually set the width of columns in List View.
  See also links tab	Automatically display the See Also Links tab when you open a file or a node.
  Relationships tab	Automatically display the Relationships tab when you open a file or a node.
  Media waveforms	Automatically display the media waveform behind the timeline when you open an audio or video file. The waveform provides a visual display of the sound patterns in a media file containing imported media.
  Framework Matrix Associated View	Content This option controls the content that is displayed by default in the associated view of a framework matrix. Row Coding (Default)  Show content coded at the row node—the rows in a framework matrix should be case nodes (for example, nodes that represent the people you interviewed). When you click in a row, the associated view shows everything that has been coded to a particular case. Cell Coding  Show content coded at both the row (case) and column node—the columns in a framework matrix should be your theme nodes. When you click in a cell, the associated view shows everything coded to both the case and theme. Summary Links  Show content coded at the row that is linked to text in the summary. When you click in a cell, only content linked to text in the current cell is displayed. This can be useful, when you are reviewing a framework matrix and want to see the supporting content. Highlight This option controls the default highlighting of content in the associated view of a framework matrix. None  No highlighting. Column Coding  Highlight content that is coded at the column node—this option is useful when you are showing row coding in the associated view, and want to be able to identify any content that is also coded at the column node. Summary Links  Highlight content that is linked to the current matrix cell. Summary Links from Position (Default)  Highlight content that is linked to your current position (or selection) in a matrix cell. Display This option controls the position of  the associated view of a framework matrix. Right (Default)  The associated view is shown to the right of the matrix. Bottom  The associated view is shown below the matrix. Hide  The associated view is not shown.
  Coding stripes display	None (Default)  Coding stripes are not automatically displayed when you open a file or node. All Nodes Coding Item Coding stripes for all nodes that code the item. You can display the stripes for up to 200 nodes—if more than 200 nodes code the item, then nodes that 'least' code the item are excluded. Nodes Most Coding Item  Coding stripes for nodes that most frequently code the item (of all the nodes coding the item) are automatically displayed when you open a file or node. Nodes Least Coding Item  Coding stripes for the nodes that least frequently code the item (of all the nodes coding the item) are automatically displayed when you open a file or node. Nodes Recently Coding Item  Coding stripes for the nodes that most recently code the item (of all the nodes coding the item) are automatically displayed when you open a file or node. Items Last Selected  Coding stripes for the nodes that were last selected for viewing are automatically displayed when you open a file or node. This option can be useful when you want to check coding at the same nodes across multiple files. Coding Density Only  The coding density bar is automatically displayed when you open a file or node.
  Maximum number of stripes	This option controls the number of coding stripes that are displayed when you choose Nodes Most Coding Item, Nodes Least Coding Item, Nodes Recently Coding Item or Items Last Selected. The default setting for this option is 7—you can select any value between 7 and 200.
  Text Date Format	Choose the date/time format which is used when you insert the current date and time into a file. Local Format (Default)  Use universal time (UTC) converted to your local time zone. Universal Format  Use UTC (coordinated universal time). UTC is the reference time zone from which all other time zones around the world are calculated—it is the successor of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
  Default color scheme	This option controls which colors used by default when you view coding stripes or create charts. Automatic  Select this option to use random system generated colors. Item colors  Select this option to apply the colors that you have assigned to your files, nodes, relationships, attribute values, or users. Items with no color are displayed in white.

• Labels

  Preference	Description
  "Unassigned" Attribute Value Label	The label that will be used for the system-created 'Unassigned' attribute value in any new projects that you create. If you prefer to use another term (for example, 'Blank'), you can change the label—you must choose a term that is unique among attribute values.
  "Not Applicable" Attribute Value Label	The label that will be used for the system-created 'Not Applicable' attribute value in any projects that you create. If you prefer to use another term (for example, 'Irrelevant'), you can change the label—you must choose a term that is unique among attribute values.
  "Associated" relationship type label	This option displays the label that will be used for the system-created 'Associated' relationship type in any new projects that you create. If you prefer to use another label (for example, 'Related'), you can change the label.
  Boolean Value Labels	Choose how Boolean values in classification attributes are displayed. This setting applies to any project you open. You can select: Yes/No True/False On/Off 1/0

• Paragraph Styles

  This options allows you to set the paragraph styles for any new project that you create. If you want to change the paragraph styles in existing projects, you need to access the project properties—click File > Project Properties.

  NVivo provides system-defined styles. You cannot remove these styles but you can modify their properties—for example, change the font size or color.

  Preference	Description
  New Style	Create your own custom style.
  Reset Style	Reset the selected paragraph style to its default setting. You cannot reset custom paragraph styles.
  Reset System Styles	Reset all system-defined paragraph styles to default settings for font, size, color, bold, italic and underline.

• Audio/Video

  Preference	Description
  Playback skip interval	The number of seconds the media player skips when you skip backwards or forwards while playing the media file. This option applies to any project you open. The default skip interval is 5 seconds. You can select any value between 1 and 99.
  Skip back on play in transcribe mode	Select this option if you want the media player to skip back when you play after pausing when you are in transcribe mode—the player skips back by the Player skip interval. This option applies to any project you open.
  Embed media in project file if less than	Your media storage preferences for new standalone and Teamsprojects. Select this option if you want to automatically embed media files in your projects. By default, media files less than 20MB are embedded. The maximum size for embedded media files is: 40MB - standalone projects 100MB - NVivo for Teams projects
  Custom Transcript Fields	Specify your custom transcript field (column) preferences for any new projects you create. By default, new projects contain only the Timespan and Content fields. Click the Audio or Video tab then click the New button to add a custom transcript field. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to reorder the custom transcript fields—the order from top to bottom represents the order the fields are displayed from left to right.

• Datasets

  Preference	Description
  Cell Text	Change the settings for Font, Size, Color, Bold, Italic, and Underline. The Preview area shows what the cell text will look like.
  Reset Style	Click this button to reset the dataset cell text style to its default settings.

• Text

  Preference	Description
  Text content language for new projects	Choose the text content language for any new projects you create. If you want to change this setting in an existing project, you need to access the project properties—click File > Project Properties. The text content language is used when you run Text Search queries. It is also used for spell checking and pattern-based auto coding. Select the text content language that matches the language of your files. If the language used in your files is not available as a text content language, then you should select Other. Text content language and stop words
  Ignore words that contain numbers	Select this option if you want spell check to ignore words that contain numeric characters (for example, A3).
  Ignore words in UPPERCASE	Select this option if you want spell check to ignore words that are in uppercase letters (for example, USA).

• Project Recovery

  Preference	Description
  Create a project recovery file on save	Set how frequently you want project recovery files to be created (or choose Never to turn them off completely). When you save your work, NVivo checks to see when the last project recovery file was created and (based on this setting) creates a new one.
  Number of project recovery files to keep for each project	You can store up to three recovery files for each project. As newer recovery files are created, older versions are deleted.
  Project Recovery file locations	Choose where you want to store the recovery files for your NVivo projects. Click the Browse button and choose a location.

Click Reset to change the application options back to the default settings.