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NVivo

NVivo

NVivo is intended to help qualitative researchers organize and analyze non-numerical or unstructured data. It allows users to classify, sort and arrange information; examine relationships in the data; and combine analysis with linking, shaping, searching and modelling.

NVivo is available at no cost, upon request to faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students at the University of Waterloo for learning, teaching or research purposes at no cost. Information on how to request the software is outlined below.

As of December 12, 2025, NVivo 15 is the only version of NVivo available under the University of Waterloo license. Lumivero is no longer provisioning licenses for older versions.

If you are using an older version of NVivo, you will need to download NVivo 15. Once NVivo 15 is download, you can open an older project file in NVvio 15 and an automatic conversion process will convert the project file into an NVivo 15 project.

For more information please see:

NVivo license notes:

  • Your NVivo license can only be activated on 2 computers.

  • The Faculties of Arts and Health offer NVivo on a virtual computer - see Using NVivo on a virtual machine (below). Contact your Faculty IT group for more information

  • NVivo is no longer sold on the IST Webstore.

 

Included in this article:

Request an NVivo License

To obtain an NVivo license, all Faculty, Staff, Graduate Students and Undergraduate students, please submit the NVivo Request form; please select ‘NVivo License Request’ for the topic you require assistance with and complete the form.

Minimum System Requirements

To install NVivo your computer must meet the minimum installation requirements below.
Note: if your machine does not meet the minimum system requirements, please see Using NVivo on a virtual machine (below)

You need administrative privileges on the computer to be able to install the software. If you don’t have administrative privileges, contact your IST account representative or Faculty account representative for help. For the Faculty of Arts, contact the Arts Computing Office.

Windows

See System Requirements - NVivo 15 Windows

Mac

See System Requirements - NVivo 15 Mac

Compatibility

Windows and Mac Compatibility

  • NVivo on Windows and Mac are separate software applications with different project file formats. It is possible to convert projects between the platforms; however, it is recommended that you do not convert between the formats regularly.

  • For more information, best practices, and how to convert projects, please see NVivo formats on Windows & Mac.

  • If you run into issues converting projects between Windows and Mac, please visit the Lumivero Community to contact customer support.

Version Compatibility

NVivo 15 is the newest version of NVivo. As of December 12, 2025, previous versions of NVivo, NVivo 13 (NVivo 20/NVivo Release 1) and NVivo 14 will no longer be available to University of Waterloo users.

If you created projects in an older version of NVivo, you will be prompted to convert any older project files that you open because the new version project files have a different format than the previous version. You will need to convert your current files to the new format. It is recommended that you rename the converted files to a new name. Be sure to save the converted file to the correct location using the “Browse…” option. If the project file is shared with others, have one person do the conversion, and then be sure that everyone switches to using that converted file.

For more information see:

Creating myNVivo account

Once you have been assigned a license, you will receive a welcome email from Lumivero (noreply@lumivero.com) directing you to retrieve your license. If you do not see the welcome email in your inbox, please check your spam/junk folder. A sample welcome email is below.

To use the software you must have a myLumivero profile in order to use the software.

If you have an existing myLumivero profile, you can sign in into the myLumviero portal using your 8-character UWaterloo email.

If you do not already have a myLumivero account please follow the steps below to create your account.

  • Click on the Retrieve my License link provided in the welcome email

  • Follow the on-screen steps to create your myLumivero account

    • Ensure that you use your 8-character UWaterloo email.

  • After following the on-screen instructions, you will then be brought to the myLumivero portal homepage.

How to install and activate NVivo

Note: you will need your computer’s administrative privileges to be able to install the software. If you don’t have administrative privileges, contact your IST account representative or Faculty account representative for help.

  1. You can download NVivo from the myLumivero homepage. It should automatically detect your operating system. Click “Download NVivo for Windows” or “Download NVivo for Mac”.

  2. Locate and double-click the NVivo file that you downloaded—the installation process starts automatically.

  3. Follow the prompts to

    1. Select a language for the NVivo user interface (if prompted).

    2. Install any prerequisite components. You may be asked to restart your computer—on restart the installation will continue automatically.

    3. Accept the license agreement.

    4. Confirm the location of NVivo program files and choose to include an NVivo icon on your desktop.

    5. Choose the supplementary add-ons that you want to install.

  4. Click Install and the installation confirmation is displayed.

  5. Click Finish.

After installing NVivo, you will need to activate your license.

  1. Make sure that you are connected to the internet.

  2. Start NVivo.

  3. In the Activate NVivo dialog box, click Log into myNVivo and enter your myLumivero profile login details (8-character UWaterloo email and password).

    1. Click Activate.

    2. Activation is automatic.

  4. When you open NVivo after activation, set up your default NVivo user profile in the User Profile dialog box.

    1. NOTE: This user profile is a local profile from the installation of NVivo (on your computer) and is used to identify the work you do in the application. It is not your myLumivero profile.

For more information see the links below:

Windows

Mac

Using NVivo on a virtual machine (AVD)

Currently, NVivo on a virual machine is only offered for the Faculties of Arts and the Faculty of Health. In order to access the virtual instance of NVivo, you need to be given proper permissions from your Faculty IT group.
To request permissions contact:

Once you have been granted access, you can access NVivo as follows:

  1. Ensure you are on campus or connected to the VPN.

  2. Visit the link provided to you by your faculty

  3. Log in using nexus\username and password (e.g. nexus\username)
    Note: your username is your 8-character UWaterloo username

  4. Click the NVivo 15 folder

  5. Click NVivo

  6. In your downloads folder, open the file called ‘cpub-NVivo-NVivo-122-CmsRdsh.rdp’

  7. If prompted click Connect

  8. In the Windows Security window, enter your password and click OK.

  9. In the NVivo Setup window, enter your name and initials; then click OK.

  10. When you see the icon below, it indicates that you are running NVivo.

  11. From the icon, you can use the Software as needed.
    Note: you do not need to log in when accessing NVivo via AVD.

NVivo Add-Ons

Lumivero offers Collaboration Cloud and Transcription which are NVivo add-ons.

Add-ons are not included with the University of Waterloo NVivo licenses.

If you would like to purchase an add-on, you/your department will need to pay for the license/subscription.

To purchase an add-on:

  1. Sign into your myLumivero account.

  2. From the menu on the left, under Your Product, select NVivo, then select Add-ons.

  3. Depending on which add-on you are interested in, select Learn More.

  4. You will be directed to another page where you can select Purchase this Add-on.

  5. You will be brought to Your Cart, where you can edit the quantity if needed.

  6. When ready, select Procced to Checkout and complete the billing details.

Collaboration Cloud

  • NVivo Collaboration Cloud enhances the team experience by allowing multiple users to connect to the same project to update, code, and analyze research in real-time. For more information see NVivo Collaboration Cloud.

  • NVivo Collaboration Cloud costs $99 USD/user/year

Transcription

  • NVivo Transcription is an automated transcription service that produces transcripts of video and audio files by using natural language processing to provide verbatim transcription with 90% accuracy from quality audio and video recordings. For more information, see NVivo Transcription.

  • NVivo Transcription costs $499 USD for 50 hours of transcription.

Resources & Support

A Lumivero Community account is needed to access the Lumivero Community. This is different than your myLumivero account. To create a Lumivero Community account, visit Lumivero Community Registration.

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