04.09.2018, 08:57
Dear Jason,
Thank you for contacting us! I'm sorry to hear you experience such a strange phenomenon. I think I never saw a category vanish like that from creative coding before, but I'm optimistic that we will get to the bottom of that.
Let me first ask my favorite question: Are you opening your project file from a local hard drive, or from a USB-stick, external hard drive, network folder, or from a folder that's being kept synchronized with a cloud service?
One common cause for all kinds of issues results from not opening the project file from a local hard drive, but from a network ressource, USB-stick, external hard drive, or from a folder that's being kept synchronized with a cloud service. Since MAXQDA is a database program, all changes get saved automatically. If however the connection gets interrupted, this can lead to errors in the database structure. This is why we strongly recommend to always open the project file from a local hard drive. (You can save it anywhere you want of course, this is just about opening.)
Please also make sure that you have the most recent MAXQDA version installed. To find out whether this is the case, please navigate to the little question mark in the top right corner (MAXQDA 2018), and select "Search for updates".
The most direct way for us to investigate this matter, would be to have a look at your project file, and try to reproduce this error. Would it be possible for you to send it to us? Of course, we treat the data of our customers strictly confidentially.
For the case that it is possible, I'll send you an upload link via mail shortly. If it isn't, let's start with the all time favorite advice of any technical support: Have you tried turning it off and turning it on again (restarting the program)? If so, we could try to reset user settings, and see if that helps:
1) Press the windows-key + R and enter the following path: %APPDATA%\MAXQDA2018
2) Delete the files "MAXQDA2018.ini" and (if existing) "MAXQDA2018.ini.LOCK"
This will not delete any of your data – only the list of recently opened projects will be cleared, window arrangements reset, and entered search terms in the lexical search will be deleted.
After that, we could set up a new database structure for your project, to see if that helps:
1) Create a new project file and save it on your local hard drive (e.g. your desktop)
2) Go to the "Home"-tab, and select "Merge projects" (all the way to the right)
3) Select your existing project file and merge them
This will reinitialize the database structure of your project file.
After that, I would need to head over to the programmers and ask for advice, so I'll wait for your response first.
Kind regards on behalf of the MAXQDA support team,
Andreas