Export & Download

Last updated 2026-07-04

When your coding is done — or just far enough along to share — Paideias packages your codebook, documents, and every approved highlight into a file you can hand to a supervisor, load into NVivo, or crunch in R. Everything happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded anywhere to generate the file.

Only approved highlights are ever exported. Every format — QDPX, CSV, DOCX — includes coded passages you've approved and excludes anything still pending or rejected. There's no toggle to include unreviewed AI suggestions in an export; if a suggestion isn't approved yet, it simply isn't in the file. Approve it in Focus Mode first.

The Export screen

One screen, three formats. Pick a format on the left, and the summary panel on the right updates live to show exactly what will be in the file before you generate it.

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The Paideias Export screen, showing the QDPX format selected, with a summary of documents, codes, references, and filename on the right

Real screenshot, real project

QDPX selected — the recommended default

The left column picks the format. The right column is a live preview: how many documents and codes are included, how many approved highlights, an estimated file size, and the exact filename the download will use — built from your actual project name and today's date.

The three export formats

All three pull from the same underlying data. The difference is which tool opens the result.

QDPX — for NVivo, MAXQDA, and Atlas.ti

QDPX is the REFI-QDA standard exchange format for qualitative analysis software. It's the recommended default in the Export screen because it's the only format that round-trips your full project structure — codebook hierarchy, exact character-level highlight positions, source documents, and coder identity — into another QDA tool without losing anything.

Codebook hierarchy preserved as NVivo-style "Nodes"
Every approved highlight mapped to its exact start/end character position in the source text
Document files are embedded directly in the package — the receiving tool doesn't need you to relink source files
Coder identity and decision timestamps are included per highlight

Under the hood it's a zip archive containing a REFI-QDA XML project file (project.qde) plus a Sources/ folder with your documents as plain text — the same structure NVivo, Atlas.ti, MAXQDA, and Quirkos all expect.

CSV — for spreadsheets and statistics

A flat table, one row per approved highlight: document, speaker, code, sub-code, the quoted text, its character start/end offsets, the AI's confidence score, and the coder's initials. No codebook hierarchy, no document text beyond the quoted excerpt — just the coded data, ready to open in Excel, Google Sheets, R, or Python.

DOCX — annotated transcripts for review

One Word document per source document, with your original text untouched and every approved highlight added as a margin comment naming the code. This is the format for someone who doesn't use QDA software at all — a supervisor, a co-author, a committee member — since Word is all they need to see exactly what was coded and why.

DOCX is an output, not a working file. You can't re-import an annotated Word document back into Paideias. Use it for review and reporting; keep coding in Paideias and re-export when you have updates.

What's in the "What gets packaged" panel

The right-hand panel is a preview, not a promise — it recalculates the moment you change the format or the in-progress toggle, so what you see is exactly what you'll get.

Field	What it means
Documents	How many source documents are included. Counts documents marked completed, plus in-progress ones if the checkbox below is ticked.
Codes	Your full codebook size — parent codes and sub-codes — regardless of how many are actually used in an approved highlight.
References	The number of approved highlights that will actually appear in the file. This is the number that matters most.
Coder identity	Your account name, recorded against the export.
Package size	An estimate based on document length and highlight count — the real file is usually close to this.
Filename	Generated automatically from your project's name and today's date, e.g. `remote_team_trust_study_2026-07-03.qdpx`.

Choose a format

QDPX to continue in another QDA tool, CSV to analyze the data yourself, or DOCX to share a readable annotated transcript.

Decide whether to include in-progress documents

The "Include in-progress documents (partially reviewed)" checkbox is the only inclusion control on this screen. Checked, documents you're still actively coding are included alongside fully completed ones. Unchecked, only completed documents make the cut — useful when you want a clean snapshot and don't want half-coded transcripts in the file.

Check the summary panel

Confirm the reference count matches what you expect. If it's lower than you thought, you likely have unapproved suggestions sitting in Focus Mode.

Generate and download

Click Generate. The file is built in your browser and downloaded directly — nothing is sent to a server to produce it.

Exports are a snapshot, not a live link. Once downloaded, a file doesn't update if you keep coding in Paideias afterward. If you approve more suggestions or edit the codebook later, export again.

Choosing the right format

Your situation	Format
Continue analysis in NVivo, MAXQDA, or Atlas.ti	QDPX
Run statistics or your own analysis in R, Python, Excel, or Sheets	CSV
Share coded transcripts with a supervisor or co-author who doesn't use QDA software	DOCX
Archive a project in a standard, tool-agnostic format	QDPX
Attach coded data as a supplementary file for a journal submission	CSV or QDPX

That's the whole export flow. Pick a format, confirm the summary panel matches your expectations, and download. If you want to keep a copy of the entire project itself — not just the coded output — see Project Export & Import.

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