Organize codes and cases

It is useful to review your codes (including sentiments) and cases from time to time to remove duplications and organize them into structures that will help advance your project goals—e.g. you can create code hierarchies or organize the codes in folders.

To help organize codes and cases, you can change the information displayed and how they are displayed on the screen Viewing options for codes and cases.

To see all your codes together (or to share with colleagues) you can export them in a codebook Export the codebook. Or export just the code list currently in the List View Export codes.

See below for options to organize codes in the List View.

What do you want to do? Descriptions

Change a code or case name

  1. Select the code or case in the List View, then on the Home tab select Item > Code/Case Properties.

  2. Change the code name. Optionally add or edit other code properties.

TIP  Alternatively, click the code name, then click again to make it editable. Click away or press Enter to save your changes.

Order codes or cases
  1. Select a folder in the Navigation View to display the codes or cases in the List View. Click in an empty area in the List View.
  2. From the context menu select Sort by, then the column you want to order the items on. If you re-select the currently selected column the order is reversed.
    Items are organized alphanumerically.

TIP  Alternatively, click in a column header to order the codes or cases on that column. Click in the header again to reverse the order.

Move selected codes up or down the list (does not apply to cases)

  1. Go to Home tab, select Workspace > Sort by > Custom.

  2. In the List View, select the code you want to move (or move 2 or more codes at once, if they are beside one another).

  3. In the context menu, select Move Up or Move Down.

    NOTE   After moving the codes, if you sort the list using the column header, the items will be sorted in alphanumerical order and Move Up or Move Down options will be disabled.

    Alternatively, if you want to sort the list that is not alphanumerical, you can rename the codes so they appear in the order you want.

Organize codes or cases into folders

You can organize codes and cases in folders. Besides making them easier to navigate (depending on how many codes or cases you have, and how you work) this is useful because you can select folders as the scope for queries.

To move a code or case between folders:

  1. Select the item in the List View and drag and drop it into the new folder in the Navigation View.

You can also use the Home tab, Clipboard > Cut and Paste commands.

Create code or case hierarchies

You can nest codes and cases under one another in parent-child relationships Code hierarchies—e.g. in a study of schools you could have 1 parent case for primary schools generally and child cases for each primary school in the study.

To create a code or case hierarchy:

  1. In the List View, select the code/s or case/s you want to be children and drag them onto the parent code.

You can also use the Home tab, Clipboard > Cut and Paste commands.

 

Merge one or more codes/cases into an existing code/case
  1. In the List View, select the code/s or case/s that you want to merge into an existing code or case.
  2. From the context menu, select Cut (or Home tab, Clipboard > Cut)
  3. Select the code or case you want to merge with.
  4. On the Home tab, select Clipboard > Merge Into Selected Code/Case.
  5. Select from the options:
    • Merge child codes: If the codes being merged have child codes, move the children to the target code.
    • Copy see-also links: Include any see-also links in the merged code.
    • Append linked memos: Save any linked memos. If both merging and target codes have linked memos, the content is concatenated in the target's memo.
    • Copy relationships: If the codes being merged are parts of relationships, update the relationship to point to the target code.

Merge two or more codes or cases into a new code or case

You can merge existing codes or cases into a new code or case in the same or a different folder, at the top level of the folder or as a child to another code or case.

  1. Select the codes or cases you want to merge (use CTRL or Shift keys for multiple selections).
  2. On the Home tab, select Clipboard > Cut.
  3. If necessary, open the folder where you want to create the new code/case.
  4. Select the level to create the new code:
    • Top-level: Click in an empty part of the List View
    • Child: Select a code or case to create the new code/case as its child
  5. On the Home tab, select:
    • Clipboard > Merge Into New Code/Case for a new top-level code or case
    • Clipboard > Merge Into New Child Code/Case for a child code or case
  6. Select merge options (see instructions Merge into an existing code above).
  7. Provide a name for the new, merged code. Optionally set other code properties.