When we open MAXQDA for the first time, we can create a new project file here. All our materials and all analysis steps will be saved in this project file during the course of our project.
This project file has the extension .mx24 and can be found in the folder Documents/MAXQDA24 by default. MAXQDA saves all work steps automatically, so if we finish work on our project and call it a day, we don’t have to manually save the project to maintain our progress. Instead, we can simply close the project file and the next time we open MAXQDA, we will find our project exactly as we left it. The project file is therefore always updated automatically. Nevertheless, it can sometimes be helpful to save intermediate states of our project so that we can jump back to older editing steps later, for example, or to create backups of our work. So if I want to save the MAXQDA project for my master’s thesis, I simply click on “Save project as” in the “Start” tab and create a backup of my project file. I can save this backup to any location on my computer and move it from there to another location.
To ensure that nothing can happen to my project, MAXQDA additionally creates automatic backups of the project file at regular intervals when the project file is opened. By default, these backups can be found in the Documents/MAXQDA24/Backups. In the MAXQDA settings, we can specify whether and at what interval these automatic backups should be saved, and we can also change the storage location here. In general, however, we would advise not to change the storage location too often or simply to leave it at the default.
Large files such as audio and video files or large PDF files are saved in an external folder outside the project file after import to prevent the project file from becoming too large too quickly and taking up too much storage space. By default, this is the MAXQDA Externals folder, which we can find under Documents or a different location that we can specify here. MAXQDA grabs the external files from this location, so that the files can be displayed correctly, it is important that we do not rename or move them after the import.
If you would like to pass the project file on to your colleagues, you can simply send them the complete file. If the project file also contains audio and video files, make sure to also send the externals folder. To do this, simply bundle the contents of the external folder via “Start” > “Bundle external data files” and send the zip folder created in this way together with the project file to our colleagues. Our colleagues then simply open the MAXQDA project file and import the external files via “Start” > “Unpack bundled data files”. Further information on teamwork with MAXQDA will soon be available in our tutorial on the topic. We wish you every success with your project.
