How duplicate project items are handled during import

 


When you import another project, NVivo for Mac must determine whether the imported project items already exist in your own project.

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How NVivo determines that two project items are duplicates

Project Items Are duplicates when both items...
Documents sources, externals and memos Have the same name, folder location and text content.
PDF sources Have the same name, folder location and both contain the same PDF content.
Dataset sources Have the same name and folder location, and have the same fields (columns), number of rows and the same text content in codable fields. Differences in column order are ignored.
Picture sources Have the same name, folder location and the same picture. Differences in picture logs, image rotation, brightness and contrast are ignored.
Audio and video sources Have the same name, folder location and both contain either a matching media item, or no media item at all. Differences in transcripts are ignored.
Memo links Link the same memo to the same source item.
Nodes Have the same name and hierarchical location.
Cases Have the same name and hierarchical location.
Queries Have the same name, folder location and modification date.
Source classifications Have the same name.
Source attributes and values Have the same name and are under the same source classification.
Node classifications Have the same name.
Node attributes and values Have the same attribute name, same data type and the same attribute value name.
User-defined folders Have the same name and location.
Sets Have the same name.

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How NVivo handles duplicate items during import

When you import project content you must decide how you want NVivo to handle duplicates—you can choose to merge the duplicates or create new items.

If you choose to create new items, duplicate items are imported and renamed, so that both items exist in the open project— for example, Water quality would be renamed Water quality (2).

If you choose to merge duplicates, the following rules apply:

Duplicate Item Difference Rules applied
Folders Folder items Any unique folder items from the imported project are added to the folder in your open project.
Sets Set members Any unique set members from the imported project are added to the set in your open project.
Sources Linked memos The memos from the imported item are appended to the linked memos in the open project.
Sources Color or description If sources in your project have a color and description, these properties are retained, otherwise the color and description from the imported project are assigned to the sources.
Sources Classification and attribute values If the source in your project has been classified, the classification is retained, otherwise the classification (and attribute values) from the imported project are assigned to the source.
If the source has the same classification, then attribute values from the imported project will replace any 'Unassigned' values in your project.
Audio or video sources Transcript entries
 

Transcript entries are considered duplicates when both the timespan and text in the Content field is matched. Any unique transcript entries in the imported project are added to the matching source in your project.

If a duplicate transcript entry has different text within a custom transcript field (and the field exists in both projects), any unique custom field content is appended to the content of the matching field. For example, if the custom field Speaker has the value 'Anne' in the imported project , but has the value 'Kate' in your project, then after import, your project will have the value 'Anne, Kate'.

If an imported project contains uniquely-named custom transcript fields, these custom fields are added to your project (until you reach the limit of 10 custom transcript fields). The values of the custom fields are added to matching transcript entries.

Picture sources Log entries Any unique log entries in the imported project are added to the matching source in the open project.
Nodes Coding references The node's coding references from the imported node are combined with the Node's coding references in your project.
Nodes Color or description If node in your project has a color and description, these properties are retained, otherwise the color and description from the imported project are assigned to the node.
Nodes Aggregation The aggregation setting in your project is retained.
Nodes Classification and attribute values If nodes in your project have been classified, the classification is retained, otherwise the classification (and attribute values) from the imported project are assigned to the node.
If the node has the same classification, then attribute values from the imported project will replace any 'Unassigned' values in your project.
Classifications Attributes Any unique attributes and attribute values are added to the classification in your project.
If an attribute value in your project has a color and description, these properties are retained, otherwise the color and description from the attribute value in the imported project are assigned to the attribute value.

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