Why should I store my NVivo project on a local drive? Can I store it in a Dropbox, Cloud or on a network?

If you work with your NVivo project while it is stored on a network location, a USB stick, a cloud server, or another external location you might run into performance issues and receive error messages such as:

“Save Project Error: A problem has occurred and you will be asked to specify a new destination for your project. ….”

This error may appears if the project is being saved on a network location, and then the network connection becomes unavailable for some reason. If you are storing projects on a network or external location, it is suggested that you don't work off these locations. Instead, copy the project file to your local computer and work on the project from a local drive on the computer. This way you avoid that the network connection (or connection to USB-stick, cloud, etc.) becomes unavailable, which does not only interrupt your work process, but might potentially corrupt your project.

While working in a file pause synching of folders

While working on a project file which is located e.g. in the 'Dropbox' folder on your computer, it is recommended you temporarily pause synching. The guidelines provided below also apply to other cloud storage providers like Google Drive, SugarSync, Box.net etc. Please check the relevant provider's website for instructions on how to pause and resume synchronization.

Background: When you save a NVivo project file, Dropbox immediately attempts to synchronize these changes to the project file which is stored within the Dropbox network/cloud. However, Dropbox is unable to access the project file because NVivo has exclusive access to the file while the project is open in NVivo. This can cause problems and occasionally NVivo may crash.

Also, if you are using Dropbox to share your project or to work with others, you may have conflicted copies of your project file in the Dropbox folder. This usually happens if one person's changes to the NVivo project file were not synchronized back to Dropbox before the second person's changes were synchronized.

Projects on network drives

Since NVivo version R1/2020 you can save projects on network drives, however, by default, when you open such a project a copy is saved locally on your computer in a temporary file. All saves are written to the local copy until you close the project, when the .nvp project file on the network drive is updated (hence, always ensure a project is fully closed before shutting down NVivo, or you could lose data).

Optionally, set NVivo to save to the network drive each time you save:

1. Select Application Options from the Welcome screen or, if a project is open, File > Options.
2. On the General tab, under Performance, for Update projects on network drives, click:

• On save to save the project file on the network drive each time you save, or
• On close to save all changes to a local temporary file and update the project file on the network drive only when the project is closed.

There is less likelihood of data loss with the 'on save' option, however saving may slow down your computer.

Recover projects on network drives

If you have configured to save project files on network drives 'on close' and a project file will not open or is older than the local temporary copy, NVivo automatically offers to open the local file.

If you open the local version you are prompted for a file name and location to save the project.