Creating Notes

  1. Let’s move on to another use of NVivo. You can create different types of notes to capture your thoughts on some text in a file, a file itself, or the project as a whole. For example, if you want to make a note about something that has come up in the text, you would use annotations. Open up one of the interview files (if you don’t have one open already), highlight some text, hold down the Control key and click on it, and select New Annotation.

    Some interview text selected, with an open context menu and a red box around New Annotation.

  2. A small pop up window will appear, where you can add your note. Type out a small note, such as “This is important!” When you’re done typing your note, just click on the document again. You will see that annotations are highlighted in blue. You can always hover over the blue highlighted text to see the pop-up window with the note again. Close the file by hovering over the file tab and selecting X.

    Interview text with a annotated text highlighted and below a window with the annotation outlined in red.

  3. Let’s say instead that you want to make a note about this whole interview file that you had open. Go to the Interviews folder and hold down the Control key and click on an interview file. Select Memo Link and then Link to New Memo…

    Context menu for an interview with the Memo link side pop-up menu open and Link to New Memo... outlined in red.

  4. Give your memo a name, such as “Interview Memo” and click on Done.

    Memo Properties window, with the name field and Done outlined in red.

  5. You will be given a blank page where you can write a detailed memo about that file. Perhaps, for example, this interview was held in poor conditions, such as a noisy coffee shop, that might have influenced what was talked about. You could note that here.

    Red box around the interview Memo tab.

  6. Once you close the window, the memo is saved and linked to this file. You should see a small icon next to the interview in the list.

    Red box around the linked Memo icon in the interview folder.

  7. To view the memo link, hold down the Control key and click on the file again, select Memo Link and then Open Linked Memo.
    Context menu for an interview with the Memo link side pop-up menu open and Open Linked Memo outlined in red.

  8. To see annotations you have created all in one place, from the left menu, under Notes, click on Annotations.

    Left menu with Notes outlined in red, with Annotations selected. Annotation list open

  9. To see the memo links, under Notes, click on Memos.

    Left menu with Notes outlined in red, with Memos selected. Memo list open

  10. Finally, you can also create a note that applies to the entire project, for example, maybe some ideas you have about how the research is going or new themes that are emerging. With the memos folder highlighted, go to the Create menu, and select Memo.

    In the left menu Memos folder selected. In the Create menu Memo is highlighted.

  11. Give it a name, such as “Project Memo” and click on Done.

    Memo Properties window, with the name field and Done outlined in red.

  12. Type some notes, such as “The project needs to be reviewed” and then close it to save it. You can always double click on it from the list of memos to re-open it.

    Red box around the Project Memo tab.

Technique: Qualitative Data Analysis | Tools: NVivo

First created: November 20, 2023
Last updated: May 12, 2026

Tutorial maintained by Kelly Schultz.

Tutorial created by Kelly Schultz.

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