05 - Coding

Contents

05 - CODING ........................................................................................................... 1

HOW TO CODE ....................................................................................................... 1

Selecting the segment you want to code .......................................................... 1

Code the selected text with your mouse ........................................................... 2

DISPLAY CODED SEGMENTS IN THE "CODE SYSTEM" ............................................ 3

Options for displaying the frequencies in the "Code System". .......................... 4

DISPLAY CODED SEGMENTS IN THE DOCUMENT BROWSER ................................... 6

Coding stripe column visualization options ....................................................... 7

Listing codes assigned to a segment ................................................................. 9

FURTHER WAYS OF CODING ................................................................................. 10

1. Coding with newly defined codes ............................................................... 11

2. Coding In vivo ............................................................................................ 11

3. Code with selected code in the Quick List ................................................... 12

4. Coding with Multiple Codes simultaneously ............................................... 12

5. Coding with the Code Favorites .................................................................. 12

6. Coding with keyboard shortcuts ................................................................. 14

7. Coding with MAXMaps .............................................................................. 15

OPEN CODING MODE ........................................................................................... 16

Activating the Open Coding mode ................................................................. 16

 Using the Open Coding mode ........................................................................ 16

COLOR CODING (HIGHLIGHTING) ......................................................................... 17

EMOTICODE: CODING WITH EMOTICONS AND SYMBOLS .................................... 19

Emoticons and symbols .................................................................................. 19

Opening the Emoticode window .................................................................... 19

Emoticode window options ............................................................................ 21

Coding with emoticons .................................................................................. 22

Emoticode display in the “Document Browser” .............................................. 22

Emoticodes in the “Code System” .................................................................. 23

Emoticodes in the “Retrieved Segments” and “Overview of coded

segments” ...................................................................................................... 24

Emoticodes in MAXMaps and other MAXQDA visual tools .............................. 25

CODING VIDEOS ................................................................................................... 25

The Multimedia Browser ................................................................................. 25

DELETE CODED SEGMENTS ................................................................................... 27

Delete coded segments from “Document Browser” ........................................ 27

Delete coded segments from “Retrieved Segments” window ......................... 27

Delete coded segments from “Overview of coded segments” or “Retrieved

Segments” in table view ................................................................................. 28

Delete most recent coded segments with "Undo Code" icon ......................... 28

MODIFY CODED SEGMENTS ................................................................................. 29

Coding a segment with more than one code .................................................. 29

 Replacing a coded segment ............................................................................ 30

Editing the size of a coded segment ............................................................... 30

MOVE OR COPY ALL CODED SEGMENTS OF A CODE ........................................... 31

CODE WEIGHT SCORES ......................................................................................... 34

Adjusting the code weight .............................................................................. 35

CODE COMMENTS ................................................................................................ 37

Displaying Comments in the Sidebar of the "Document Browser" .................. 38

THE OVERVIEW OF DOCUMENTS FOR A CODE ..................................................... 40

SMART CODING TOOL: WORKING WITH CODED TEXT SEGMENTS ....................... 42

CODE CLOUD ....................................................................................................... 49

Opening the code cloud ................................................................................. 50

Code cloud settings ........................................................................................ 50

05 - Coding

How to code
Assigning codes to segments of texts, images or video footage in MAXQDA is known
as “coding”.

You can code a document or document segment with as many codes as you want.
The technical limit for the number of coded segments per document is so high that it
usually has no practical significance. Moreover, coded segments can overlap, intersect,
or be completely contained within other coded segments.

Selecting the segment you want to code

The process of coding can be done in many different ways, but you always start by
selecting part of a text or an image in the "Document Browser” with your mouse. You
can see an example of a selected text passage in the “Document Browser” below:

A highlighted segment of text

Please note: The smallest part of a text that can be coded is a single character. In most
cases, you would want to code at least an entire word.

Coding texts and image segments in a PDF

You can select a text in a PDF as you would in a text document.

If you want to select an image in a PDF, e.g. because you want to analyze a scanned
PDF whose text cannot be converted into a “selectable” text using OCR (character
recognition), you can use the mouse to draw a frame. To do this, you only have to
start the welection process in an area that does not contain any selectable characters.
You can adjust the selected area later by clicking the corners and dragging them to a

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suitable size.

Highlighted text (above) and highlighted image segment (below) in a PDF

Selecting segments of images

In image files, you can drag a frame with the pressed mouse button in the same way
as in PDF documents. The edges of the frame can be adjusted later by clicking and
dragging the corners.

Selecting texts in tables

To select a text in a table, double-click the cell. As soon as the cell shows an orange
frame, you can select text in this cell with the mouse. You cannot select multiple cells
at the same time.

Selecting segments of videos

Videos are analyzed and coded in a separate window, the "Multimedia Browser". In
the Coding Videos section, you'll find detailed explanations for how to code videos.

Code the selected text with your mouse

The simplest way to code in MAXQDA is to drag and drop a selected text or image

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segment onto a code with your mouse.

Move the mouse to the area of the selected segment, press the left mouse button,
and move the mouse to the desired code in the "Code System". Here, release the
mouse button and “drop” the selected segment onto the code.

Coding via drag and drop

Tip: The same segment can also be assigned consecutively to several codes.

Alternatively, you can also do the reverse, that is, drag your desired code to the
selected segment and then release the mouse button.

Please note: MAXQDA makes sure that the same code is not assigned to the same
segment multiple times. Segments assigned with the same code will therefore never
overlap; they will turn into a single, larger coded segment.

Display Coded Segments in the "Code

System"
Information on if and how many coded segments are assigned to a specific code can
be found in the “Code System”. This information is displayed in the frequency column
to the right of the code name.

In the following figure, the number 14 appears after the code “Health”. This indicates
that up until this point, a total of 14 segments have been coded in this category.

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 Information on the number of coded segments

When you "collapse" the subcodes of a code by clicking on the triangle symbol before
the code, the code frequencies of the subcodes are added to the frequencies of the
parent code. MAXQDA shows how many segments have been encoded with a
collapsed code including all its subcodes.

Options for displaying the frequencies in the "Code System".

For the "Code System" window, you can call up the local settings by clicking on the
gear next to the magnifying glass.

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 Code System Preferences

At the top in the settings you can define the frequencies MAXQDA should output
after each code. You can choose between the following variants, each of which has a
different analytical information gain:

Selected option Analytical relevance

How often was a code assigned in all documents?
Coded segments in all
This is the default option as described above, which is
documents
always used automatically when opening a project.
How often has a code been assigned in the currently
Coded segments in all activated documents?
activated documents The numbers are automatically updated when you
activate or deactivate documents.
How often has a code been assigned in the document
Coded segments in opened currently opened in the "Document Browser"?
document Encodings in audio and video files are not taken into
account here.
In how many document groups does a code occur?
Document groups It does not matter whether a code was assigned once or
several times in a document group.
In how many document sets does a code occur?
Document sets It does not matter whether a code was assigned once or
several times in a document set.

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 In how many documents does a code occur?
Documents It does not matter whether a code was assigned once or
several times in a document.

If you deactivate the option Sum up frequencies of subcodes, MAXQDA always

outputs only the frequencies of the upper codes, regardless of whether the code is
collapsed or not.

Display Coded Segments in the Document

Browser
As soon as you have coded a document or image segment, a coding stripe appears in
the gray area next to the document in the “Document Browser”. Those visualizations
are called "coding stripes". Those "coding stripes" indicate where the document has
been coded. The standard is, that this visualization appears to the left of the
document. To place the "coding stripe" to the right of the document, you can select
"display coding stripes on the right" in the local settings. To view the local settings,
click on the gear next to the magnifying glass. The column for the coding stripes can
be made bigger or smaller by clicking on the separator between the column headers
and dragging to the right or left.

Visualization of coding stripes on the left side of the Document Browser

You can also choose whether code names should be permanently shown in the coding
stripe column or not. By right-clicking in the gray area of the column in the document
browser, you will call up a window with various setting options. One of those options
is to Display code names.

You will always be able to see the code name in the tooltip that appears if you hover
your mouse over the "coding stripe". The tooltip also shows you the assigned weight,
the author of the coded segment, the date that the segment was coded, and the last

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time it was edited.

Tooltip appearing from the coding stripe

This tooltip always displays the complete code name, with all its possibly existing
"parent codes". The permanent display next to the "coding stripe" is limited to the
lowest code level. In other words, the coding "Interests\Day-to-Day Issues" only "Day-
to-Day Issues" is displayed. The subcode can be idientified by the two preceeding dots.

If there are many coded segments, that overlap each other, it can also be difficult to
figure out exactly which codename belongs to which "coding stripe". This can be
immediately identified when you move the mouse over a "coding stripe", at which
moment the code name will appear brighter and the code assignment will be
displayed.

Coding stripe column visualization options

By right-clicking on an empty grey space in the "coding stripe" column, you can call
up a window with various settings for the visualization of coded segments in the
coding stripe column:

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 Option menu for the visualization of coding stripes

Here you can adjust the following settings:

● You can choose to only visualize activated codes.

● You can choose to visualize coded segments created by certain users.
● You can choose to only visualize coded segments of a certain color.
● You can choose whether to change the text color of the text in the document to
match the color of the code it was coded with.
● As mentioned before, you can choose whether the code name should be shown or
not.
● Finally, you can choose whether the tooltips should include the information about
the author and date of creation.
● Display or hide emoticodes.
● Permanently display coded Areas in images

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The option to switch off codes with selected colors is particularly useful when you are
working in a team with independent coders. In this case, the coders should be defined
as codes on the highest level of the code hierarchy and the different coders should use
the same code tree organized as subcodes of the coders. Now, while the training the
coders, you can hide the visualization of other coders’ work. Later on, they can
compare their coding with the coding done by the others.

The option to color the text according to code colors only makes sense if you do not
have many overlapping codes. Overlapping codes cause the color of the text to be a
mix of those overlapping codes, which can make it very difficult to interpret.

Listing codes assigned to a segment

Often it's useful to determine which codes are assigned to a specific text or image
excerpt. To do this, select a text segment or image section and select List assigned
codes in the context menu.

Display assigned Codes

This will display a menu in which all assigned codes are listed. Click on an entry in the
list to highlight the code in the “Code System.”

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 List of assigned codes for a segment

Further Ways of Coding

Beyond the classic coding technique of the drag and drop, MAXQDA offers several
other ways to code a selected segment:

● Coding with newly defined (free) codes: As in Grounded Theory, a segment can be
assigned a new (free) code.
● In vivo coding: In-Vivo coding: Select and highlight meaningful terms in the texts and
automatically add them as codes in your code system while coding the text segment
with the code.
● Coding with selected codes from the Quick List: Documents are targeted based on
the occurrence of one or more pre-selected codes, and coded where applicable.
● Simultaneous coding with multiple codes: A segment is coded with the activated
codes.
● Coding with code favorites: Selected codes are displayed in a separate window, from
which they can be easily applied to segments to be coded.
● Coding with self-defined keyboard shortcuts: Up to nine codes can be assigned their
own keyboard shortcut, which can be used to quickly code a marked-segment.
● Coding with MAXMaps: Marked segments are dragged onto selected codes, which
are arranged on a “map” or diagram.
● Coding with the "Open Coding Mode": After selecting a segment, a window for
creating and assigning a new (open) code appears automatically.
● Highlight coding: This works like highlighting a text passage in a book with a colored
text marker. In MAXQDA, five different colors can be used for color coding: red,
green, yellow, blue or magenta.
● Coding with symbols and emoticons: Selected segments are coded with emoticodes,
i.e. an emoticon or a symbol.
● Coding in the "Retrieved Segments" window and "Overview of Coded Segments":
Coded text passages can be compiled in a list. In these compiled segments you can
then select and code further text passages. For more information, see the section

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 Coding in the "Retrieved Segments" window and the "Overview of Coded
Segments".

The following section describes in detail how these techniques are used. The different
options can be chosen from the context menu that pops up when you select a
document segment and click the right mouse button.

Context menu with coding functions for a selected segment.

1. Coding with newly defined codes

An easy way to create a new code, i.e. a code that is not yet listed in the “Code
System,” is to use the shortcut Ctrl+W (Windows) or cmd+option+W (Mac).
Alternatively, click on the selected segment with the right mouse button and choose
With new code or click the Code retrieved segments with a new code icon in the
"Document Browser" toolbar.

Coding toolbar in the Document Browser

A dialog window will open, and you can type in the name of the new code. The code
will be added to the “Code System” at the highest level of the hierarchy. If necessary,
you can later move the code to another level in the “Code System” with your mouse.

Tip: You can also define several new codes and assign them to the selected segment.
To do this, click the Additional code button in the dialog box.

2. Coding In vivo

Another way of coding is with the so-called in-vivo coding. If you, for example, select
the word “global village” and then click on the Code in-vivo symbol in the toolbar on

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the “Document Browser”, the word “global village” is added to the “Code System”
as the code for this short text segment. The shortcut Alt+I (Windows) or cmd+option+I
(Mac) has the same effect.

When you want to code a whole segment of text with the in-vivo coding function, and
not only one or two words, code the one or two words with this function first. Next,
select the entire text segment (including the word) and click Code highlighted
segment symbol (not the in-vivo coding button!). MAXQDA expands the coded
segment automatically.

3. Code with selected code in the Quick List

The “Code” toolbar provides quick access to frequently used coding functions. The
“Quick List” is located on the toolbar to the right of the Edit button. Whenever you
click on a code in the Code System, or when coding is in progress, the corresponding
code appears at the top of the Quick List. Click on the Code highlighted segment
immediately to the right of the Quick List to assign the code in the window to the
selected segment. In this way, multiple areas of a document can be coded without
having to select the code each time.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+L (Windows) or cmd+option+L (Mac) –
this way you code with the last code you used.

4. Coding with Multiple Codes simultaneously

First, activate the codes in the “Code System” that you want to use to code the
selected segment in the “Document Browser.” To activate a code, you can right-click
the “Code System” and select Activate. Then right-click on the segment and choose
the option Code with activated codes.

5. Coding with the Code Favorites

If you are working with an extensive “Code System,” it can be difficult to work
efficiently, since it is hard to find each code quickly in the large list. The coding Quick
List offers on way of working around this, but there is another option that can be
helpful in certain circumstances. It allows you to also code with more than one code at
once. The function is called the code favorites.

And how does it work? Simply right-click on a code and select Add code to...> Code
Favorites. After you have added the first code, the code favorites window will appear.
You can then continue to add more codes to the list in the same fashion: right-click on
the code and select Add code to code favorites.

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Tip: You can also drag and drop codes from the “Code System” into the open “Code
favorites” window.

The list of code favorites

You can now begin to code. Simply highlight the segment as usual and click on the
code in your list of Code favorites. You can now see in the coding column on the left
side of the “Document Browser” that the segments have been coded.

Tip: You can also drag and drop a highlighted segment on a code in the code favorites
window or vice versa drag and drop a code onto a highlighted segment.

When you are finished using the code favorite window, simply close it by clicking on
the x in the top-right corner. To re-open the window, you can either add another code
(via the context menu) or select Code favorites from the Codes drop-down menu.

Rearranging the sequence of codes or deleting codes

If you want to rearrange the sequence of the codes within the code favorites, click on
the icon Edit code favorites. Now, highlight codes with the mouse and use the arrow
up and down icons to move codes up and down. To delete a highlighted code, click
on the red X labeled Remove selected codes from code favorites at the top of the
window.

Click again on the Edit code favorites icon to continue with your coding work. If you
drag a high-lighted segment onto a code in the code favorites window the Edit Mode
will be switched off automatically.

Tip: You can remove a code from the code favorites at any time by clicking the right
mouse button in the window and selecting Remove selected codes from code
favorites. You can also remove several codes by highlighting them first.

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6. Coding with keyboard shortcuts

For quick coding using your keyboard, you can assign keyboard shortcuts for up to
nine codes. To do so, select the menu option Keyboard Shortcuts for Codes in the
Codes tab:

The Keyboard shortcuts for codes window

In the left column you will see the available keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + 1 to Ctrl + 9
(Windows) or cmd + 1 to cmd + 9 (Mac). You can drag and drop a code from the list
of codes into one of the nine rows, thus assigning a keyboard shortcut to the code. If
a shortcut already been assigned, it will be overwritten by this action. For clarity, the
name of the code appears in the right column, along with the parent code if necessary
– not the entire code hierarchy.

To cancel the assignment of a shortcut to a code, click on the appropriate row and
click the Remove Shortcut button.

For coding, it may be helpful to leave the keyboard shortcuts window open until you
have memorized the shortcuts. It does not matter if the window is open or not when
coding: Simply highlight a segment in the Document Browser and hit the selected
shortcut keys. MAXQDA will then encode the selected segment with the associated
code.

Tip: When you right-click on a code and select Properties, a window will open in which
you can assign the code directly to one of the nine available keyboard shortcuts.

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 Creating shortcuts via the Properties menu

7. Coding with MAXMaps

The “Code System” is organized in a hierarchical tree structure, which does not allow
for multiple cross-relationships between subcodes. In some cases, it may be necessary
to create a non-hierarchical structure to form network relationships and organize
codes in a different structure.

This is possible with MAXMaps, the mapping tool that is part of MAXQDA. Open
MAXMaps in the Visual Tools tab to start the tool and create a new map. Use Drag &
Drop or Alt+double-click (Windows) or option+double-click (Mac) to copy codes from
your code system to the map. Codes can be freely arranged on the map, linked to
each other with arrows or lines, and free symbols or images can be added to the map.

Coding is simple: Drag a selected segment from the “Document Browser” to a code in
the map.

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 Coding with codes in a map

Open Coding Mode

Particularly in research projects that are based on Grounded Theory, many so-called
open codes are created: In a first step, a text is reviewed line by line and identified
aspects are recorded in numerous new codes. For this case of application the mode
"Open Coding" is particularly suitable, which allows to immediately create a new code
for a marked segment, to assign it and if necessary to write a code memo as well as a
comment for the created coded segment.

Activating the Open Coding mode

Click the Open Coding Mode icon in the “Document Browser” toolbar.

Activating the open coding mode

Please note: The mode automatically turns off when opening a new document. The
mode is only available for text, PDF and image documents, not for table documents.

Using the Open Coding mode

Using the open coding mode is easy - as soon as the mouse key is released after
selecting a text segment, the following dialog window appears:

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The dialog is, in principle, very similiar to the dialog for creating new codes:

● Type the name of the new code in the upper dialog field of the window (max 63
characters)
● You can select a color attribute for the new code below
● The text written in the dialog field "Code memo" is used as a memo for the newly
created code (which can be assessed by clicking on the memo icon in the "Code
System")
● The comment on the coded segment can contain up to 255 characters (about 2-3
sentences) and is directly assigned to the coded segment.

Tip: You can fold in and out the areas for the code memo and the comment on the
coded segment by clicking on the arrows. You can enlarge the input fields by clicking
on one of the window's corner and dragging the entire dialog larger while holding
down the mouse button.

Color Coding (Highlighting)

Color coding text is a technique that is especially useful at the beginning of the
analysis process. It is similar to the marking of text in a book with a highlighter. It
allows you to color code the passages you find particularly interesting when reading

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through the text for the first time. Before you decide which codes to use and before
you start analyzing your text in categories, this technique lets you keep track of what
seems important.

MAXQDA also offers this functionality- The Code toolbar in the Document Browser
contains five color coding highlighters.

The Document Browser toolbar with five color options

To color code a segment of text, follow a similar process as with standard coding:
select the text segment with your mouse and click on one of the five colors in the
toolbar. The text segment will now be highlighted in that color and color coded
accordingly. A new coding stripe will be visible in the coding column next to the
document.

A section of text coded with “BLUE”

In practice, then, color coding does much more than just change the color of the text
– it is also a coding action. This means that you can later compile of the green-coded
segments and work with those that are most important. This lets you code more
specifically once this initial general coding run is complete. Retrieving all codes with a
specific color coding can be done by activating all documents in the “Document
System” and activating the appropriate color code in the “Code System.”

If at a later point, you delete the color code in the “Code System”, you are not only
deleting the color code. All coded segments for that code will also be deleted. In other
words, all the highlights of that color will be deleted from your documents (not the
texts themselves, just the colors assigned to them).

Color codes are identified with a specific symbol in the "Code System":

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 Symbol for a color code in the “Code System“

Tip: You can change the name of a color code in the "Code System" at any time.

Emoticode: Coding with Emoticons and

Symbols
The “Emoticode” function allows you to assign symbols and emoticons to text and
image segments, as well as audio and video clips. It can generally be employed with
the same functionality as “normal coding:” All the functions of conventional coding
are supported, meaning emoticons and icons will be displayed in the overview tables
of coded segments and in visualizations such as the Document Portrait.

Emoticons and symbols

MAXQDA includes over 300 emoticons and symbols, which are organized into
different thematic groups. Emoji icons are widely known due to smartphone use. They
include different types of smileys as well as many other symbols. Each emoticon
symbol has a name, which serves as code's name.

Opening the Emoticode window

In order to code using emoticodes, you must first open the emoticode window. You
can do so by clicking the corresponding symbol in the coding toolbar in the
"Document Browser".

Activate emoticode function

After being called up, the window containing the collection of emoticons appears and
can be moved anywhere on the screen.

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 The emoticode window

Please note: Each emoticon or symbol is assigned a name. This is visible when the
mouse moves over an emoticon or symbol in the emoticode selection window. After
coding, it will be listed as a code name in the code system.

If more symbols are included in a thematic section than can be displayed in the
window, you can scroll through all symbols in the section using the blue arrows at the
bottom of the window.

When you click on the clock icon, MAXQDA displays the most recently used symbols
and emoticons. In addition, you can add frequently used symbols to favorites. To do
so, right-click the symbol and select Add to favorites. The symbol is then shown
additionally in the 2nd tab from the left, marked with a star. Symbols can be removed
from the favorites list using the same method.

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 Add and remove symbols from favorites

Emoticode window options

Window and symbol size can be customized. Click on the Properties button at the
top of the window.

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 emoticode properties window

Coding with emoticons

Coding segments with emoticons is just like color coding or coding with the toolbar.
The segment is selected in the “Document Browser” or “Multimedia Browser,” then
you can subsequently click on the desired symbol or emoticon in the emoticode
window. If the emoticon has already been used in the existing “Code System,” the
reverse is also possible – meaning the selected segment can be dragged into the code,
or the code into the segment.

Emoticode display in the “Document Browser”

In the "Document Browser" the selected emoticon appears in the middle of the
coding stripe in place of the normal code icon. By default all new emoticodes get the
color blue, the color can be changed as usual in the "Code System" and is then also
used for the coding stripe in the "Document Browser".

Coding stripe with emoticode in the “Document Browser”

In the selection window for the displayed coding stripe (which can be called up with a
right-click on the mouse in the visualization area), you can hide or show coding stripes
with emoticodes in the “Document Browser.”

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 Select “Display emoticodes” to emoticodes on the coding stripe

Emoticodes in the “Code System”

When the “Code System” is displayed in the normal tree structure, the emoticodes
appear in the place of the usual code symbols. The display of codes in the code system
can, if desired, be restricted to emoticodes. To do so click on the settings icon in the
"Code System" window and select Display emoticodes only. This setting is
automatically reset when you open another project.

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 emoticode display in the “Code System”

Emoticodes in the “Retrieved Segments” and “Overview of coded

segments”

Emoticons, in most cases, replace code symbols, and are therefore found in the source
list in the “Retrieved Segments.” In the table view, as in the “Overview of coded
segments,” emoticons are displayed instead of the circle containing the code colors,
allowing the entire table to be sorted by emoticons.

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 emoticons in the retrieved segments and coded segments overview

Emoticodes in MAXMaps and other MAXQDA visual tools

In MAXMaps, the appropriate emoticon will appear in the place of the code symbol. In
the Code Matrix Browser, Code Relations Browser, and Codeline, the emoticon will
also be displayed in the place of the code symbol.

In the Document Comparison Chart each code that is present in the paragraph is
represented by a colored section of the bar. Code colors, not emoticons, are used.

The Document Portrait is displayed with emoticodes rather than code colors if the
“Mix” feature is turned off. When the “Mix” feature is turned on, it mixes the code
colors where codes overlap. In this case, the code color of the emoticon is used.

Coding Videos
The Multimedia Browser

Using the Multimedia Browser you can easily play and code audio and video files. To
open the Multimedia Browser (formerly known as "Media Player" in older MAXQDA
versions), click the Open video file or Open audio file symbol in the "Document
Browser" toolbar.

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 Open the Multimedia Browser in the Document Browser

The Symbol is only displayed when there is a media file attached to the opened
document.

The Multimedia Browser looks like this:

The Multimedia Browser window

Detailed instructions on coding videos in the "Multimedia Browser" can be found in

the chapter "Code Videos Directly".

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Delete Coded Segments
MAXQDA offers the option of deleting single or multiple codes simultaneously, from
several locations.

Please note: If you delete a code from the Code System, the code is removed from all
coded segments in all documents.

Delete coded segments from “Document Browser”

1. Move the mouse over the coding stripe or over the code name.
2. Right-click and select Delete.

Right click on Coding Strip or Codename to delete a coding in the “Document Browser” windows

Delete coded segments from “Retrieved Segments” window

1. Right-click anywhere on a coded segment or on the coding strip.
2. Select Delete.

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 Deleting a coded segment in the “Retrieved Segments” window

Delete coded segments from “Overview of coded segments” or

“Retrieved Segments” in table view
1. Right-click on a row or select multiple rows while holding down the Ctrl key
(Windows) or cmd key (Mac) to simultaneously delete multiple coded segments.
2. Select Delete.

Delete most recent coded segments with "Undo Code" icon

Clicking on the code symbol with the right mouse button causes a context menu to
appear, with which the coding of the text segment can be removed. Choose Delete to
remove the coding.

If you need to first find the location of a coded segment in a document, deleting the
code in this way may not be very convenient. A better way is to use MAXQDA’s Undo
function. In the “Code” toolbar on top of the “Document Browser” window, there is
an Undo button. Clicking on it opens a list containing the last codes assigned. This

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can especially helpful to remove codes created with one of MAXQDAs automatic
coding functions.

Undo function in the “Code” toolbar

The most recent coded segments are shown at the top of the list. By clicking on the
third coding, only this one will be removed again, the two codings listed above will be
retained.

Please note: If only the size of a coded segment is changed, this action does not
appear as a new entry at the top of the list.

Modify Coded Segments

There are various ways to modify coded segments:

● By assigning a new code.

● By assigning another code in the place of an existing code.
● By modifying the segment boundaries, meaning enlarging or reducing the coded
segment while the code remains in place.

All three of these modifications can be easily carried out in MAXQDA.

Coding a segment with more than one code

After having coded a segment, the segment remains selected (with the exception of
highlight-coded segments). It is possible to attach more codes to the same segment,
for example using drag & drop.

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If you want to assign one or more codes later, the segment must be selected again.
This is easiest if you click on the coding stripe of this segment with the left mouse
button. The segment will be highlighted again and you can assign a code in the usual
way.

Replacing a coded segment

When reviewing your text analysis, you may decide that the wrong code was assigned
to a text segment. Or you may decide that the “Code System” is not precise enough,
so it is necessary to expand the “Code System” and distinguish between different
codes. In both cases, you will need to replace one code assigned to a text with
another.

This can be done in several ways:

● Assign the correct new code as additional code, e.g. by first clicking on the coding
strip to mark the segment and then dragging the segment onto the new code with
the mouse. Then delete the previous coding by right-clicking on the coding strip and
selecting Delete.
● A faster way is to drag the coding stripe directly onto the new code while holding
down the Ctrl key (Windows) or cmd key (Mac).
● If the coded segment is shown in the "Retrieved Segments" window, this procedure
can also be abbreviated: drag the coding stripe next to the relevant segment to
another code (without holding down a key).
● The new code will automatically be assigned to the coded segment. If the other code
is not activated, it may be that the coded segment was removed from the “Retrieved
Segments” window.
● A coded segment can be moved from the table view or the “Overview of Coded
Segments” to a different code in the same manner. Simply drag the line to another
code.

Click and drag to move the coded segment to the desired code

Editing the size of a coded segment

Sometimes a segment may be coded outside of its logical boundaries, meaning it is

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too short or too long. The coded segment will, therefore, be difficult to understand
because it is out of context. Segment boundaries can be adjusted in the following
way:

1. Select the segment by clicking on the corresponding coding stripe or code name in
the “Document Browser”. The segment is now highlighted in the original
document.
2. The segment boundaries can now be redefined as usual using the mouse. Then
encode the segment again with the same code. Alternatively, you can right-click the
coding stripe and select Recode with highlighted segment.

MAXQDA automatically adjusts to the newly defined segment boundaries.

Changing the size of the coded segment

Please note: Existing coded image segments in image or PDF documents will only be
adjusted when the newly selected area either completely includes the existing segment
or when the newly selected area is completely inside the area of the existing coded
segment.

While the "Recode" function always adjusts the segment borders to the current
highlighted area, you can also expand the segment boundaries with the new
highlights:

1. Highlight a passage that overlaps with the beginning or the end of an existing
segment.
2. Right-click on the coding stripe and choose the entry Extend with highlighted
segment.

Move or Copy all Coded Segments of a

Code
The Modify Coded Segments section has already described how you can move or copy
individual coded segments.

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Moving all the coded segments of a code

If you move a code from one position in the “Code System” to another, the code
references move automatically together with the code. This is like moving a drawer
from one place to another in a cabinet; the drawer’s contents move together.

To move a complete drawer is something other than to move only its contents. The
same is true with code references. If you only want to move the code references to
another code, you cannot use the procedure described above. There is another
procedure that leaves the drawer in its place and merely shifts its contents.

In MAXQDA, it is the Move coded segments option that does this job. This option is
available in the context menu of the particular code from which code references are to
be moved.

To move coded segments from one code to another, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on a code in the “Code System.”

2. Select Move coded segments. This transfers the code references to an internal
clipboard. (Up to this point, nothing has really changed in the “Code System”. The
number of coded segments for this code remain the same.)
3. Right-click the target code and choose Move coded segments from ‘first code.’
MAXQDA asks you to confirm the command before executing it.

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 Moving coded segments

The first code remains in the “Code System” until you delete it, but the number of its
coded segments is now zero. The contents of the clipboard have been moved to the
target code.

Possible subcodes’ references, however, will not have been moved. Be careful when
deleting Code B now, since all subcodes – if there are any – will be deleted too, along
with their code references.

Handling code conflicts

It may happen that some of the segments which you have moved to the target code
have already been coded with this code. Suppose that you move the codings from
"Code B" to "Code A", MAXQDA proceeds as follows in the case of an overlapping
code:

● The outer segment boundaries of both encodings are retained. Thus, if a segment
with "Code B" is from word 1 to 5 and the words 4 to 10 have already been coded
with the target code "A", the new segment ranges from word 1 to 10.
● If both coded segments have a comment, the comment on the target code is
retained. The comment on the moved code is deleted.
● If only one of the two coded segments has a comment, this comment is preserved.
● The coding weights of the target code "A" are retained, regardless of the coding
weight of the shifted code.
● If several existing segments of the target code "A" are combined into one large
coded segments because they all lie in the segment boundaries of a "B" coded
segment, then this large segment receives the weight of the oldest "A" coded
segment. Only the comment of the oldest coded segment of "Code A" will be
taken, all other comments of code will be deleted, even if the oldest coding has no
comment. If none of the existing coded segments has a comment, the comment is
taken from "B".

Because of overlapping coded segments, the number of coded segments of the target
code after you shifted codes can, of course, be smaller. If you move 10 coded
segments from "Code B" to "Code A" with 20 coded segments and several segments
overlap, you will not see 30 but fewer segments under "Code A".

Copying all the coded segments of a code

The function “Copy coded segments” is similar to the “Moving all coded segments of

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a code” function. The important difference is that the original code assignment will be
retained; that is to say, the coded segment will be duplicated and assigned to a new
code in addition to the original code.

This action is performed as follows:

1. Right-click on the selected code in the “Code System”.

2. Select Copy coded segments from the context menu that appears.
3. Move the cursor to the target code to which you want to copy the coding added
and click on it with the right mouse button.
4. Select Insert coded segments from xx from the context menu that appears

Tip: If you want to delete all code assignments but want to keep the code in the
“Code System,” it is best to create a code named “trash” and then copy the code
references to the “trash.”

Code Weight Scores

When coding a document segment, you are attaching a segment of a text or image to
a code in the “Document System.” MAXQDA also allows you to assign a weight score
to each of these coded segments to indicate how important that particular coded
segment is. It may be that certain coded segments represent a typical argument or
theoretical concept that you want to be sure and hold on to. In this case, these
segments are a sort of signpost.

MAXQDA allows you to indicate how important or appropriate a segment is for the
code it is coded with by giving it a weight score between 0 and 100. This weight score
could be described as a “fuzzy variable,” because it is not meant to give an exact
numerical worth for the segment. Rather, it is intended to be a guide, so you can later
sort your retrievals based on the weight assigned.

Code weight scores weights can later be used as a sorting criterion for the codings
and in numerous analysis functions as a selection criterion, that is, the analysis then
only refers to the coded segments with a specific weight.

Every newly coded segment automatically receives the default weight score, which is
somewhere between 0 and 100.

When you use MAXQDA for the first time, the default weight will be set to 0. This can
be changed in two places in the program:

● In the Preferences menu which you can access via the gear symbol in the top right

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 corner of you window
● In the status bar at the bottom of the screen, by clicking on the Default weight icon.
A dialog window will appear where you can set a new default weight value. The
current value is always visible in the status bar.

Changing the default weight in the status bar

Code weight score display

The weight of a coded segment is shown in the source information below each
retrieved segment in the “Retrieved Segments” window. It is displayed behind the
code name in brackets.

Weight score

The display of weight scores in your "Retrieved Segments" can be managed in the
window settings of the "Retrieved Segments" window, which you can accessed via
the gear symbol at the top right of the window. Uncheck the option Show Weight to
hide the weight score.

The “Overview of coded segments”, available for document groups, each individual
document, and the whole project, also includes the weight scores for each coded
segment.

Adjusting the code weight

When coding, the default weight score is always set automatically. A different weight
score can either be assigned in the window "Document Browser" in the "Retireved
Segments" window or in the "Overview of Coded Segements".

Please note: How you choose to use different scales of weights is up to you. You could
make a ranking list with a highest score of 1, or a highest score of 100 for particularly

35
important segments.

Assigning weight scores in the “Document Browser”

1. Right-click on the coding stripe for the coded segment that you would like to alter
the weight score for.
2. Select Modify weight.
3. You can then enter a number between 0 and 100.

Changing the weight score in the “Document Browser”

Assigning weight scores in the “Retrieved Segments” window

A weight score can also be assigned and modified in the “Retrieved Segments”
window. Right-clicking anywhere on the coded segment or on the coding stripe
displayed next to it to open a context menu, where you can select Modify weight and
enter a number between 0 and 100.

Changing the weight score in the “Retrieved Segments” window

Assigning weight scores in the “Overview of Coded Segments”

In the “Overview of Coded Segments” table, you will find a column for the weight
score of each coded segment. By double-clicking on a cell in the column, you will be
able to enter a new weight between 0 and 100.

36
 Change the code weight in the “Overview of Coded Segments“

Tip: You can also adjust the weight for several coded segments in the "Overview of
COded Segments". To do this, select all the coded lines whose weight you watn to
change, and by right-clicking on the segement to open the context menu, select the
change weight entry.

Code Comments
You have the option of creating a short comment for each of your coded segments.
This might be an overview of the coded segment or a comment about its significance
for your analysis. Comments are particularly useful for the category development.

The difference between memos and comments is explained in the following research
blog article:

Read article

To create a comment for a coded segment, follow these steps:

● In the “Document Browser”: Double-click on a coding stripe or on a code name - or

right click on the coding stripe and select Edit comment.
● In the “Retrieved Segments” window: Double-click or right click on the coded
segment or the coding stripe displayed next to it.

A window will appear in which you can enter the comment. The comment can contain
up to 255 characters, which corresponds to approximately 2 to 3 sentences, that is,
the length of this paragraph. Use Shift + Enter (⇧ + ↵) to create a line break.

37
 Window for entering comments

You can easily see if a comment has been written for a coded segment when you look
at the code symbol. Normally the inner part of the little circle is white in color,
independent of the color of the code symbol. When a comment is attached, the inner
circle appears in the same color as the outer line of the symbol. If you hold the mouse
on the coding strip, the comment appears in the tooltip.

A coded segment with a comment (the circle in the middle of the coding stripe is filled)

Displaying Comments in the Sidebar of the "Document Browser"

You can display comments on coded segments right next to the data it is attached to:
right-click on the document displayed in the "Document Browser" and select Sidebar
> Comments.

38
 Displaying comments in Sidebar

You can adjust the width of the sidebar by dragging the border between the Sidebar
and the document to the right or to the left. Right click into the sidebar to see further
display option and to optionally also display memos at the same time.

Note: It is not possible to display comments and paraphrases at the same time. If you
select to display paraphrases, comments are automatically switched off - and vice
versa.

Hover over a comment to see coded segment and delete option

If you move the mouse over a comment in the sidebar, the corresponding segment is
highlighted in the document as shown in the figure above. Click on the red X at the
top of the comment to delete it.

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Finding your coded segment comments

As long as you haven’t changed the standard view, you can find all of your code
comments in the “Overview of coded segments” table in the second column. You can
also insert new comments and delete/change old ones from this view. By right-clicking
on the column header, the overview is sorted according to this header. You an also
sarch for comments: right-click on the "Comment" column header and select Search.

Create, edit and search for comments in the “Overview of Coded Segments“

The Overview of Documents for a Code

To answer the question in which documents or document groups a certain code was
used, MAXQDA gives you the option to use the Overview of Documents. To show this
overview, right-click on a code and choose Overview of Documents from the context
menu. It makes no difference whether the code has collapsed subcodes or not – the
Overview of Documents takes into account only the code in question.

40
 The Overview of Documents in the context menu

A tabular list of all documents that have segments coded with the chosen code will
open. In the following example, the code “Day-to-Day Issues Emotions” was used in
ten documents and two different document groups. The column “Number of coded
segments” shows how many coded segments were found in each document.

“Overview of documents” for a code

In addition to the usual symbols above the overview, which include the functions for
filtering rows and for export, the Aggregate to document groups function is
available. This function restricts the display to include only the document in which the
selected code appears.

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Taking the example above, after clicking the button, the table will consist of two rows
with the document groups “New York” and “Indiana”. The number of coded
segments will be added up:

Aggregating to document groups

Smart Coding Tool: Working with Coded

Text Segments
The Smart Coding Tool is designed for working with coded text segments and is very
well suited to performing the following tasks:

● Getting an overview of the contents of a category,

● Reviewing and, if necessary, changing relevant categories,
● Customizing your categorization system(s), particularly differentiating (i.e. breaking
down) parent-codes or aggregating codes.

The Smart Coding Tool is always used to compile coded segments and can therefore
be opened in two places. By clicking on the Smart Coding Tool icon:

● in the “Retrieved Segments” window or

● the Overview of Coded Segments.

42
 Opening the Smart Coding Tool from the 'Overview of retrieved segments'

The Smart Coding Tool will open immediately after you click on the icon.

The Smart Coding Tool table window

The table window is divided into two display areas. A reduced code system is displayed
in the left area. When you open the Smart Coding Tool, only the codes assigned to the
compiled coded segments will be displayed in the code system. So that the hierarchical
structure can be retained, sometimes non-activated parent codes are also displayed.
The number at the end of a code row in the system indicates how often the code
appeared in the selected documents.

43
In the right area, the coded segments are listed in a table. The segments whose code is
selected in the hierarchical list on the left and highlighted in blue will always be shown
here. The code that is currently selected is displayed in the upper left corner. At the
top right, you can see how many coded segments (from how many documents) are
displayed in the table, that is, how many rows the table contains. When the Smart
Coding Tool is opened, only the documents from which the compiled coded segments
originated will be activated. Only their coded segments are displayed.

The individual columns in the table contain the following information:

Document – The source document in which the coded segment is found

Coded segments – The coded segments of text, images and PDFs

Codes – The list of codes assigned in the area of the displayed coded segment. It
doesn't matter whether the code has only been assigned to one character of the
segment, the entire segment, or even beyond the boundaries of the segment. Only the
codes that are visible on the left in the code system are listed. So that the code name
is not listed repeatedly in the column when a code is broken down into its subcodes,
the parent code of the displayed coded segment is not displayed.

Comments – A text field that can be freely edited (max. 255 characters) to add
comments to coded segments.

Like all MAXQDA table widows, the individual areas can be adjusted: the columns can
be adjusted in width and position with the mouse, or hidden with a right-click on a
column heading. A click on the heading sorts the column in ascending order, another
click in descending order.

Please note: All other MAXQDA functions are locked while the Smart Coding Tool is
open.
When starting the Smart Coding Tool from the "Retrieved segments" window, the
weight filter is ignored. Therefore, if segments were not displayed in the "Retrieved
segments" due to the weight filter, they will still appear in the Smart Coding Tool.

Symbol toolbar

Along the top edge of the window you will see a toolbar containing the following
options:

Quit – closes the Smart Coding Tool. Alternatively, you can click the X to
close the window.

44
 Only activated codes – restricts the display of the code system to the activated
codes only. This option is selected automatically when you open the Smart Coding
Tool. When turned off, all your codes and subcodes are displayed.

New code – creates a new subcode in your code system. The new codes are always
displayed at the bottom as the last subcode.

Only activated documents – restricts the display of coded segments to those in

currently activated documents. The display of frequencies in the code tree is adjusted
accordingly.

Filter – applies the filters you can define by right-clicking on the column heading
and selecting Set filter.

Reset all filters – removes all filters from all columns.

Display search toolbar – lets you to enter a search term to search for text in all or
specific columns.

Display parent code – in addition to the code, the "Codes" column also displays its
parent code.

Display comments – displays the “Comments“ column.

Undo – undoes the last action in the Smart Coding Tool.

Redo – redoes the last action in the Smart Coding Tool.

Create new code

You can always add new codes to use to code selected segments:

1. Click on the New code

2. In the dialog window that appears, enter your new code name and, if necessary,
assign a code color. You can also enter a description of the new code in the "Code
Memo" text box.
3. Click on Add code if you want to add further codes. Click on OK to finish creating
new codes.

Tip: To create a new code at the top level, right-click on the root of the code hierarchy
and select New code.

Newly created codes are automatically activated so that these are displayed in the
code system.

45
Note: All changes to the code system using the Smart Coding Tool, including the
creation of new codes, are added directly to your overall “Code System”.

Assign a code

To assign a code to a coded segment, click and drag the line of the code to one of the
displayed codes in the code system. The newly assigned code is then immediately
displayed in "Codes" column. To code only part of a coded segment, first double-click
on the whole coded segment text, then select the portion of text you want to code,
and drag it to one of the codes in the code system. Even if you assign the same code
to several sections of a coded segment's text, the code name will only be listed once in
the "Codes" column.

If you hold down the Ctrl key (Windows) or cmd key (Mac) while dragging-and-
dropping a whole line onto a code, the complete coded segment is moved to the
selected code. It will thus no longer be displayed.

Assigning a code to a coded segment text.

Tip: By right-clicking on a row and selecting New code, you can add a code and assign
it to the entire coded segment.

Remove assigned codes

To remove an assigned code, click the "X" that appears when you move the mouse
over a code in the "Codes" column. All assigned codes are then removed from the
coded segment.

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 Removing an assigned code from a coded segment.

Customize your code system

Your code system can be customized throughout the entire analysis process. You can
change the order of codes with the mouse and even insert them as sub-subcodes. By
right-clicking on a code, all the functions from the overall "Code System" are available
to customize your code system in this window:

● Delete code
● Sort subcodes (alphabetically or by category frequency)
● Change code color
● Create or edit code memo

Click a code in the code system to list all the segments coded with this code. This way
you always have an overview of the contents of your individual categories. The
selected code in the code system is highlighted blue. The name of the selected code is
also displayed at the top of the window.

Display all codes of a coded segment

Please note: The "Codes" column always shows which codes have been assigned to
the segment in addition to the currently selected code. This column will never show
the parent code of the selected code.

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Moving or copying individual coded segments

By default, if you drag a coded segment onto a code, that code will be assigned to the
segment in addition to other previous codes assigned to it. The segment will still be
coded with the code whose other segments are displayed in the right window.

If you hold down the Ctrl key (Windows) or cmd key (Mac), however, while dragging a
coded segment to a code, the code will be replaced. That is, the code whose segments
are currently listed in the right window is removed and the segment you dragged to a
different code disappears from that list.

This function is e.g. especially useful if you want to transfer a code from one subcode
to another subcode, because it suits it better in terms of content.

Moving or copying several coded segments

To move or copy all segments of a code to another code, right-click on a code and
select the function Move Coded Segments or Copy Coded Segments in the context
menu.

Then right-click on the target code and select the corresponding function: Move
Codded Segments from 'Code xy' or Copy Coded Segments from 'Code xy'. For more
information on this function, refer to the section Move or copy all coded segments of
a code.

Working with comments on coded segment

In the comments column you can write a comment regarding each coded segment.
The comments are stored as Coded Segment Comment for the code selected in the
code system and highlighted in blue.

In comments field, you can add comments about the coded segment texts, ideas for
new categories, and more. They are also suitable for keeping track of your analytical
procedure (i.e. "still unclear“ – "come back to this again later") or for other team
members ("please cross-check this!").

Double-click on a cell in the "Comments" column to enter a new comment or edit an

existing one.

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 Entering a comment on a coded segment.

Export your display

Your current display can be exported via the usual icons at the top right of the
window. All the rows (coded segments) in the right field are always exported.

Open as Word document – Creates a Word document and opens it.

Open as Excel spreadsheet – Creates an Excel spreadsheet and opens it.

Export – Creates a table (XLSX), a text document (DOCX) or a website (HTML).

Code Cloud
Code clouds are used to visualize the most frequently assigned codes as word clouds.
They are particularly suitable for exploring and illustrating the use of codes in a project.
The code cloud can represent the codes used across all the documents in a project or
only a selection of documents.

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 Code Cloud

Opening the code cloud

You can generate a word cloud for a single document, for a document group, for a
document set, or for all documents in a project. Right-click on the appropriate level in
the "Document System" and select the entry Code Cloud.

Alternatively, you can also access this function via Codes > Code Cloud in the main
ribbon menu. A dialog box will appear in which you can select the required documents
and codes.

Code cloud settings

The settings for code clouds are very similar to those of word clouds and are described
in detail there. The differences are minimal:

● The entire code name\subcode name is always displayed and can therefore consist of
several words, as in the example in "income down".
● The Minimum Frequency option in the Start tab refers to the number of codes

50
 assigned in the selected documents.
● Some functions of the word cloud, such as "word frequencies", the "stop list" and
"ignore numbers" are not available, since these do not make logical sense in the
case of a code cloud.

51