ATLAS.ti 9

 

 

What’s new in ATLAS.ti 9

The all-new ATLAS.ti Version 9 is out, the ATLAS.ti Cloud is launched and the ATLAS.ti User Management System is at your disposal.

 

While adhering to the philosophy and guiding principles of all the ATLAS.ti editions that have come before it and which have characterized the application since its inception some thirty years ago, ATLAS.ti 9 nonetheless represents a huge step toward the future. Implementation of new technologies (e.g. machine learning), a sleek and unified design between platforms, and laser-focused concentration on user experience and usability sets new standards.

We have listened carefully to our users and have streamlined and redesigned many areas of the program to even better accommodate user's needs and workflows. Numerous innovative new functions show the way where ATLAS.ti is further headed--and where it continues to lead the pack of similar products.

The sum total of these new features makes for an exciting and powerful new ATLAS.ti experience.

We sincerely hope you'll enjoy it!

New Features At a Glance

The following features are new in ATLAS.ti 9 (Windows and Mac):

IMPORTANT: ATLAS.ti 9 is now exclusively available as a 64-bit application. This means more processing power and speed. But it also means that 32-bit computers (typically older Windows machines) can no longer run and install ATLAS.ti 9. Please check on this aspect prior to installing.

Headline Features

o Powerful new Search & Code functionality:

o New auto coding with synonyms, AND/OR queries, and

o inflected terms

o Expert mode with GREP and overall improved workflow

o Named Entity Recognition (NER)

o New Coding Dialog

o A.I.-Based Sentiment Analysis

o Quotation Reader everywhere in the software with “code on” option

o Sankey Diagram in Code Co-occurrence Table and Code Document Table

o Welcome Screen with important information and helpful resources at your fingertips

User Favorites / Most Requested Features

You may know the following concepts under different names; they have been completely re-thought, expanded, and augmented with powerful new options:

• Document Editing (make changes to imported documents)
• Partial bundles for easier project portability
• Audit trail for code merging
• Paragraph numbering in the Document Editor and for references
• Print with Margin, i.e. export documents with segments/codes in place
• Full Support for macOS Dark Mode
• Colorblind-friendly Color Maps for Code Document and Code Co-occurrence Table
• Ribbons (Windows) and Menus (Mac) have been re-organized for an optimized workflow.
• Word Clouds now also in ATLAS.ti Mac
• Flexible License Management (shift available seats easily between users)
• A new, modern look and all-around optimized user experience

 

Other new major features

Some aspects of our desktop applications have been complete reworked/redesigned and expanded

• Consistently optimized user interface with many new usability features, e.g., empty states, redesigned tools
• Create new relation option when creating a link
• New comprehensive header for quotations in the Quotation Reader
• Stop lists in over 30 languages, from Arabic to Ukrainian
• Scope in Query Tool added in ATLAS.ti Mac
• Searchable Help
• ATLAS.ti 9 Windows is now a 64-bit application for extra power/speed

 

The Welcome Screen

The newly enhanced Welcome Screen lets you perform all important project management tasks, such as creating, importing, deleting and renaming your projects.

On the right-hand pane, it also gives you quick access to essential resources like the manual, the Quick Tour, and sample projects. Further, you no longer miss important information about updates, free webinars, new video tutorials blog articles or other publications about ATLAS.ti.

 

The Coding Dialog

Considering that coding is perhaps the single-most fundamental activity in ATLAS.ti, we have re-invented it to make your work faster and more efficient!

The coding dialog opens automatically when you double-click on a quotation in the margin area. You can then add an existing code to the quotation by clicking on the “plus” sign. Remove a code by clicking on “minus.”

You can view your code definition by selecting a code in the list.

 

The Quotation Reader

Another area where our focus on usability and efficiency comes to bear is the new Quotation Reader. It allows you to conveniently read quotations coded by a selected code or as a result of a query. You can modify existing codes, i.e. adding or removing codes. This allows you to review already coded data and continue coding on sub sections of your data.

You will now encounter the Quotation Reader across the entire program–basically every time you retrieve quotations that are either based on a single code or on a query. Under the View tab, you can switch the preview mode between single line, small, and large preview modes.

 

Search & Code

With the recent advances in Deep Learning technology, the ability of algorithms to analyze text has improved considerably. Creative use of advanced artificial intelligence techniques can be an effective tool for doing in-depth research. ATLAS.ti 9 now includes such technology to enhance the research experience and to increase your productivity.

Under the Search & Code tab, ATLAS.ti offers four ways of searching for relevant information in your data that can then be
automatically coded.

• Text Search
• Expert Search
• Named Entity Recognition (NER)
• Sentiment Analysis

 

Sankey Diagrams

Data Visualization is a great way to simplify the complexity of understanding relationships among data. The Sankey Diagram is one such powerful technique to visualize the association of data elements.

Sankey Diagrams provide rich interactive visualization, resulting in attractive graphics for information materials, and effective visual data exploration practices! We are putting this tool into your hands so that you do not need a graphic artist for creating beautiful visualizations of your results.

Sankey diagrams allow you to show complex processes visually, with a focus on a single aspect or resource that you want to highlight. They…

• …offer the added benefit of supporting multiple viewing levels: Viewers can get a high level view, see specific details, or generate interactive views.
• …make dominant factors stand out, and help you to see the relative magnitudes and/or areas with the largest contributions.
• …complement the Code Document Table: As soon as you create a table, a Sankey diagram visualizing the data will be shown below the table.

 

Color Maps

… for Code-Document and Code-Co-Occurrence Tables:

Color maps provide an intuitive visual feeback in code-document and in code-co-occurence table. A darker color indicates a higher value.

 

Text Editing and more

Several features have been long-time favorites of our users, meaning they have topped our list of most-requested user suggestions. As they are actually technically related, we are happy to give you full text editing, paragraph numbering, and full-text output with codes in place, also known as “Print with Margin.”

Text Editing

Found a typo in a document while coding or otherwise engaged with it in ATLAS.ti? Or need to retroactively redact passages, obfuscate dates, or anonymize names because of privacy concerns? Don’t worry, you can now simply switch to Edit Mode and make all such edits in any (non-PDF) text documents.

Paragraph Numbering

Especially when working in a team, it is often helpful to be able to refer to specific text passages on semi-granular level. Enter paragraph numbers. Switch them on, and they show up next to text as a reference that is easily communicated and thus makes for swifter, more efficisant work.

Print with Margin

Print wih margin does what it says: It lets you create an output of a primary document with all its codes in place in the margin, just the way they appear in the program. You can actually print this out on paper, or save the output as a PDF files. This way, you can easily show some central parts of your work to others and/or discuss them in a team.

 

Partial bundles

Save precious storage space and bunding time by creating partial bundles to exclude audio/video data:

 

Code merge audit trail

ATLAS.ti automatically lists all the codes that you merge and adds the date and time when they were merged. If a code that is merged already has a comment, this comment is merged as well.

 

Quotation References

Quotations references now include the document name, the start and end position of the text quotations, page numbers for PDF documents, start position for audio and video quotations, and width x length for image quotations.

If you have added a name to a quotation, it will be shown before the document name in bold.

 

New in v.9 Mac: Scope in Query Tool

In the Mac query tool, code query results can now also be restricted to documents or document groups.

 

New in v.9 Mac: Word Clouds

In the Mac version, the word cloud is an alternative view of the word list. You can change between list and cloud view in the same window.

 

New in v.9 Mac: Dark Mode

ATLAS.ti Mac now also supports Dark Mode .

 

Miscellaneous

• Relations – Create new relation option when creating a link
• Menus (Mac) – Menus have been reorganized to optimize usability and work flow. There is no longer a Tools menu; its functions have been integrated elsewhere.
• Searchable Help – You can access the manual from within ATLAS.ti by clicking in F1 (Windows) or the question marks. This will directly take you to the online help. PDF versions of the manual and the Quick Tour are also available and can be used for easier printing and offline reading.
• Flexible, Web-based license management system – Users of nulti-user and campus licenses in particular benefit from our powerful new license management system. A detailed overview of the various functions can be found here.