MAXQDA overview

MAXQDA is a software package for qualitative and mixed methods research and the only leading QDA software to offer identical features on Windows and Mac.

Use MAXQDA for any type of qualitative research - including but not limited to grounded theory, literature reviews, exploratory market research, qualitative text analyses, and mixed methods approaches.

The Interface: Sleek & easy to use

Your Data
Your Codes
Document Browser
Retrieval

All your data, one place:

With MAXQDA, you’re prepared for everything
Whether it’s a simple text document, an Excel table of survey results, a PDF file, image, website, audio or video recording, SPSS data file, bibliographic record, or focus group discussion - even YouTube comments and Twitter data - you can analyze it all!

Transcription & media analysis:

Built-in tools for professional transcriptions of audio and video recordings. Of course, you can also import transcripts you’ve created in a separate program and link your transcripts to the original media file. Or code and analyze your media file as it is - even without transcribing it before.

Visualize your data & results in MAXQDA:

Whether it’s for your analysis or publication, MAXQDA’s visual tools are tailor-made for qualitative research. Visualize the progression of an interview, compare documents, or use MAXMaps to visualize connections in your data. The outputs are always linked to the underlying material - so you’ll never lose sight of the bigger picture.

Learn more:

Annotate, Paraphrase, Summarize:

Write notes while you work and attach them anywhere - to documents, to codes, or to the data itself. Summarize the most important data points or paraphrase them to develop a coding system. With the Memo Manager, Summary Grids and Summary Tables you’ll never lose track of your progress!

What's new in version 26.3.0

🎉 New

Chat with Your Memos

Memos contain your most valuable analytical work — interpretations, summaries, and theoretical reflections. Now you can chat directly with your memos to put that knowledge to use: summarize groups of memos, search for recurring patterns, or structure insights from your research journal for publications and presentations.

Chat Preferences & Project Context

Save your research questions, methods, and project goals once in the new Chat Preferences — AI responses will automatically draw on this context for every conversation, without you having to re-enter it each time. Also define your preferred response format globally: language, list style, length, and focus.

Integrated Media Player

Audio and video files now play directly in the Document Browser window, alongside the associated transcript or analysis. No need to switch between windows for everyday playback tasks. The full media player remains available for in-depth media analysis and coding. Switching between View-Only, Edit, and Transcription modes is now clearer with a redesigned mode control.

⚡️ Improved

AI Chat

Chat Start Page: Start a chat from anywhere — no need to navigate to a specific document, segment, or memo first. Select the element you want to chat with directly from the chat window.
Automatic Chat Names: Chats now receive meaningful automatic titles for a more organized chat history.
Global Chat: Access AI Chat from anywhere via the new chat icon at the bottom of the 4-Window-Interface or with the shortcut Cmd+K / Ctrl+K.

Transcription

Manual Transcription: Transcription is now fully contained in a single window, reducing clutter and helping you focus on the content.
Automatic Video Transcription: The audio track is extracted from video files before upload, reducing file size and significantly shortening transcription wait times.

QTT Worksheet: All sections of the Questions, Themes, Theories worksheet have been visually redesigned. Empty sections now display helpful guidance to get you started.
Markdown Import: Files in Markdown format (.md) can now be imported as documents — ideal for text exported from AI tools, note-taking apps, or other Markdown-based sources.
Accessibility: Every color in MAXMaps color dialogs now includes a descriptive tooltip, improving usability for users with color vision differences.
External Files: Re-linking moved or deleted externally linked images and PDFs is now easier, for both regular and TeamCloud projects.
Variables: A redesigned variable creation dialog makes it easier to understand and choose between the available variable types.

🛠️ Fixed

Fixes an issue while bundling large media files as External Files. The tool can now handle files above 2GB smoothly.
Fixes an issue on macOS where media files with non-ASCII characters in their file names could not be played.
Fixes a crash that could occur when opening Summary Tables after a linked code had been deleted.
Fixes an issue in Preferences where options were cut off in interface languages with longer text strings and required horizontal scrolling to be visible.
Fixes an issue in the Document Browser where deleting the last entry of a list removed codings and links in the item above.
Fixes an issue where maps in Creative Coding were cut off when exported as .emf files or printed.
Fixes an issue on Windows where focus group speakers were missing when exporting a Segment Matrix from the Code Matrix Browser to Word or Excel.
Fixes an issue where code names containing emojis were not displayed correctly in the Code Matrix Browser.
Fixes an issue where the Document Portrait and its legend did not take up the full available space in the dialogue and were displayed too small.
Fixes an issue where the "Replace all" option in the search widget was hidden on small displays. The option has been replaced with an icon to ensure it is always visible.
Fixes an issue in the Code Matrix Browser where emoticons were displayed with incorrect character fragments.
Fixes an issue where paragraph numbers and vertical separators could overlap document text in the print preview and when printing.

MAXQDA for Mac