Transcripts for NVivo

Transcribe an interview or a focus group in SonaFact, name the speakers, then export a file that NVivo imports as transcript rows linked to the recording, with the time, the speaker and the text of every utterance.

There is no live connection between the two programs: you export a file from SonaFact and import it into NVivo. These exports are included in every plan.

Written from the programs' documentation

These steps follow the import help that each program publishes, as we read it on 1 October 2026. We have not yet tried every import in every version of these programs. If something looks different in yours, or an import does not work, write to support@sonafact.com so we can correct the file or this page.

Menu and button names are given as they appear in the English version of each program. In a version in another language they may be translated.

Which file to choose

Open the transcript in SonaFact and click Export. The files for research software are listed separately from the other formats:

NVivo (Windows)

A text file (.nvivo.txt) for NVivo on Windows: one line per utterance with the time span, the speaker and the text, separated by tabs.

NVivo (Mac)

A text file (.qda.txt) for NVivo on Mac, with the same paragraphs as the Word file.

You will also need the recording: the programs link the transcript to the audio. Use your original file, or download the recording as MP3 with the Audio button next to Export.

Import into NVivo, step by step

NVivo (Windows)

In SonaFact, export the file named “NVivo (Windows)”.
Import the recording into your NVivo project first and open it: the transcript is added to audio that is already in the project.
On the Edit tab, click Import Rows and select the file.
Set Create one transcript row for each to Line (Tab Delimited Line), and untick File includes header row: the file has no header.
Map the fields: Field 1 to Timespan, Field 2 to a new field you name Speaker, and Field 3 to Content. Then import.

If the recording already has a transcript, NVivo adds the imported rows to it rather than replacing it.

NVivo (Mac)

In SonaFact, export the file named “NVivo (Mac)”. NVivo for Mac imports transcripts from .txt files only.
Import the recording into your project first. Then, on the Import tab, choose Files > Transcript Rows and select the file.
NVivo puts the text before “: ” into the Speaker column and reads the timestamp at the end of each paragraph as the moment that passage ends.

This works only while the recording has no transcript yet. NVivo's help also advises against colons in the transcript text: if a passage lands in the wrong column, look for a colon followed by a space in it.

The full guide for NVivo, MAXQDA and ATLAS.ti, with tips on speaker names and clean verbatim →

Sources

The help pages these steps are based on, read on 1 October 2026:

For researchers →
For students →

Other integrations

NVivo, MAXQDA and ATLAS.ti are trademarks of their respective owners. SonaFact is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.