Simple word documents failing to import

[tabithah]

New to the program, and currently using trial version to see if I would like to purchase, but experiencing problems right from the word go. More specifically, I am attempting to import 60 word documents, but less than half are actually uploading. For those that fail to upload, I am prompted with a window which says 'The following documents could not be imported'. Of these files, I seem to be able to drag some over individually, or they come through in other groupings I attempt to import, so there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which are successfully copying over and which are not. It seems to be random. Sometimes they import, sometimes they don't. What could be going on here?

A second issue I am having is that I am unable to delete multiple documents at once. I discovered this when trying to delete all documents so as to try to start over. Surely there must be a way to do this so users don't have to take so much time to individual delete documents?

Thanks

Version: MAXQDA 2018
System: Windows 10

[Andreas V.]

Hello tabithah,
welcome to the MAXQDA Forum! That's difficult to say without having the files here. Can you open them outside of MAXQDA? Are they all the same format (.rtf, .doc, .docx)? Do you have Word installed? Are they not saved on your local hard drive maybe (USB-stick, external harddrive, cloud service etc.)? Do they have special objects embedded?

If you want to use .doc or docx-files, you'll need to have Word installed. A fool proof way of importing your documents is to save them as .rtf or even .txt-files. These formats are quite resilient to any kind of errors.

The "insider-trick" to process multiple documents at once (until we have a better solution, which I believe is on the way) is to use the "Data Editor for Document Variables" (in the tab "Variables"). Here you can click on a cell, press CTRL (or CMD)+A to select all documents, then right-click and select "delete".
Kind regards,

Andreas

[mmahundi]

I do face the same problem. The files simply couldn't be imported a popup comes with a message "the following files could not be imported"

[mmahundi]

Someone please help. It just doesn't import. I am on maxQDA 2018

[Andreas V.]

Dear mmahundi,

do you have Microsoft Word installed on your computer? Can you open those files with Word?

[Ndinwiddie]

Same problem. Can't import basic docx files. Have MS Word installed. Can open such files in Word.

[Aikokul]

Hello!
Welcome to the MAXQDA User Forum!
Even if it is a somewhat late response, it might be helpful to others. Should the MS Word correctly installed on your computer and you have all the rights to use it, please check if:
a) your docx file contains unusual/special characters - if yes, please replace these characters with others;
b) your docx file contains special OLE elements like embedded PowerPoint slides or Excel sheets - if yes, better to import them as separate documents and/or convert the entire docx file into PDF and import it to MAXQDA;

Should you continue experiencing problems with importing docx files, you're always welcome to address our online support at https://www.maxqda.com/help-support/onlinesupport

With best regards,

Aikokul

[kandes]

Hi Andreas,

I have 3 students in a class of 20 who are experiencing the same problem. I've checked that they have word installed, that they are simple word docs with no special characters, and that they have everything saved on their hard drives. Still no success getting them to import. It's weird - all students downloaded the data files today and these 3 are having problems.

Thanks!
Karen

[Andreas V.]

Dear Karen,

Thank you for letting us know about this issue – and sorry for the late reply, we're a bit short-staffed at the moment due to an epidemic sweeping through our staff. Did you find a solution to your problem here or via contacting support? If not, or for anyone else experiencing this issue:

In rare cases, issues while importing Word files can also be dependent on a combination of the following factors (in addition to the ones mentioned above):
*the Word version that was used to create the file (the older the Word version, the more problematic this tends to be)
*the Word version now installed on the system in use (if it diverts from the one that was used to create the file, this tends to be more problematic then if it were the same versions)
* the operating system (/version, like Sierra, Mojave etc.)

Unfortunately, in rare cases, issues can arise for some combinations that we haven't been able to isolate yet. If this happens, please either contact us via the support form:

https://www.maxqda.com/help-support/onlinesupport

Or try the import on another system with a different operating system or Word version, or open the file with Word and save it as RTF – afterward, you should be able to import it in MAXQDA. Another way would be to create a new document directly in MAXQDA and copy all of the content via CTRL/CMD+A from the Word file into MAXQDA. To my knowledge, there hasn't been a Word file yet which one can open with Word but not import into MAXQDA as well somehow.

We hope this helps! If not, or in case of any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Best regards on behalf of the MAXQDA support team,

Andreas