Questions, answered

No. Themescape displays and refines the coding you have already done. It does not create codes, suggest themes or connections, analyse your data or use AI. Every theme, code, definition and link on the map is yours.

Themescape turns coded qualitative data into an interactive map of your themes, codes and the quotes behind them. You can read it as a node network, a hierarchy or a file tree, refine definitions and favourite quotes in Work mode, and show it in Present mode. It runs in your browser and reads your files on your own computer.

No. Themescape runs in your web browser, so there is nothing to install. Open it, load your files and the map appears. Your files are read in the browser on your own computer.

Yes, if you use one. Themescape works alongside coding software such as NVivo, MAXQDA and ATLAS.ti and replaces none of it. Keep coding where you code, then bring the result in through the spreadsheet template or Import from your coding software, which changes nothing in your project.

Researchers doing reflexive thematic analysis whose coding lives in a spreadsheet or in NVivo: masters and doctoral students, academics, research groups and whole departments. One person starts with a 7 day free trial on the Student or Researcher plan. Supervisors and research groups of 2 to 19 people buy named seats on a team plan, and organisations of 20 or more buy seats priced by band, by card or by quote and invoice.

Once coding is under way. Themescape is used from phase 3 of reflexive thematic analysis, generating initial themes, through to writing up, and most of all in phases 3 to 5. Familiarisation and the coding itself stay in your spreadsheet or your coding software.

No. When you load CSV files or import a project from your coding software, your browser reads them on your own computer and nothing is sent to Themescape. Transcripts and quotes are read locally and never leave the machine. No file submission or permanent storage is required. The one exception is a choice you make yourself, connecting a Google Sheet: The Google Sheets mode is opt in, for non-sensitive data only.

No. Verbatim quotes are never altered, with a separate refined column for presentation wording. The quote column holds each extract exactly as transcribed, and Themescape never edits it, in the viewer or in any export. Tidied wording goes in the refined_quote column, which the viewer shows where you have it.

No, load interview data as CSV files. The Google Sheets mode is opt in, for non-sensitive data only. For the viewer to read a sheet, its sharing is set to Anyone with the link, and anyone who has the link can open every tab while it is shared. The mode suits a teaching dataset, a pilot or public material; transcripts and anything confidential belong in CSV files, which never leave your machine.

Yes, by loading CSV files. The viewer reads them in your browser on your own computer, and nothing is sent to Themescape or kept by it. Do not connect a Google Sheet for confidential data: The Google Sheets mode is opt in, for non-sensitive data only. Figures, slides and screenshots should also carry no names or quotes that could identify a participant.

That Themescape reads your files in your browser on your own computer and Themescape never receives them. The data handling statement on the Privacy and data page is written to attach to an application, and the form templates give wording for the application, the participant information sheet and the consent form. If you plan to connect a Google Sheet, say so, since the sheet is shared by link while you connect; if your approval covers only local storage, use CSV files.

Your research data is never sent to Themescape, so there is none for us to delete. Your project is not kept in the browser either, and progress files are ordinary files on your computer that you can delete yourself. Your account details can be downloaded or deleted from Your data on the Account page; your login is switched off straight away and the account is deleted 7 days later.

Send them the one page summary and the data handling statement from the Privacy and data page. The privacy statement names every service Themescape uses for accounts and billing, what each holds and where it is kept, and confirms that research data is read in the browser and never reaches Themescape. If they need anything more, email support@themescape.co.nz.

Only a few settings, never your research data. The app keeps your viewer preferences, how you have set out the side panels, which tips you have seen, and a random code that identifies the browser for sign in alerts. Your project is not kept in the browser, so save your progress before you close the tab.

Anyone who has the link, while the sheet's General access is set to Anyone with the link. They can open every tab, including notes and columns Themescape never reads. Once your map is open, set General access back to Restricted to close the sheet again.

Charlotte Price, our privacy officer, at privacy@themescape.co.nz. We respond as soon as we reasonably can, and within 20 working days.

From the Account page: Your data downloads your details, and Delete my account removes them after 7 days. Email us for a complete copy.

No, because we never receive it. Your browser reads your files on your own computer and we do not store your projects.

The date at the top shows the current version, and we email members about significant changes. We also record which version each member was shown when they created their account.

The New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, and the GDPR or UK GDPR as well if you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

Yes. Adapt it to your institution's form and your study, and replace every placeholder in square brackets. Keep the data handling sentences and the data pledge lines exactly as written, so they stay accurate and match what Themescape Limited publishes.

We cannot promise that, because each committee decides for itself. The templates are a starting point, written to describe accurately how Themescape handles data, and your ethics office or funder has the final say. Check the wording against your institution's own template before you submit.

Most studies that use Themescape need the ethics application wording, with the participant information sheet wording and the consent form clause, so that what participants are told matches what the committee is told. The grant application wording is for funding applications that ask about analysis software, data security or software costs.

Each template shows who reviewed it and when, once it has been reviewed. Templates about working with Māori data are written and reviewed by someone with appropriate Māori expertise before they are published.

Yes. They name Themescape and Themescape Limited, because a committee needs to know which software is used, and they quote Themescape Limited's data pledge exactly. Replace the placeholders, but keep those sentences as they are.

CSV files saved from the spreadsheet template, one for each tab you have used, and the layout file Themescape saves when you arrange or build anything. A project exported in the REFI-QDA format from NVivo, MAXQDA or ATLAS.ti comes in through Import from your coding software. A Google Sheet can also be opened from its link: The Google Sheets mode is opt in, for non-sensitive data only.

Partly. The viewer reads the template's column names, matched without regard to case, so each row needs at least a quote and a theme under those names, and usually a code. Columns it does not use are ignored and blank rows are skipped, so your own working columns can sit beside the template's.

Seven tabs. Instructions explains the workbook, and Data holds one row per coded quote and is the only tab the viewer needs. Framework holds working definitions, theme order and colours, Connections records links between themes, codes, sub-codes and strands, and Settings holds your project title, name, subtitle and version. Model elements and Model relationships describe a published model, for Model mode only.

Add a row for each code it belongs to, with the same quote and participant and the other code. Give each row its own quote_id, since the ID is used to find and star quotes. The quote then appears under each code it is coded to.

Yes. The viewer ignores columns it does not use and skips blank rows, so working columns of your own are safe beside the template's. When you save your progress, the Data file comes back with your own columns, rows and notes, with only the preferred column updated to your current stars.

Top level codes become themes, and the codes beneath them become codes and sub-codes; deeper levels are folded into the sub-code. Coded text from text documents comes across as quotes, participants come from NVivo cases, and code descriptions become working definitions. Coding on PDFs, images, audio and video is counted in the import report and left out, and connections between codes do not come across, so add them in Work mode.

No. Import from your coding software reads the project file NVivo exports in the REFI-QDA format and writes the Themescape template files from it, with a short import report. Your NVivo project is not changed, and the import happens in your browser.

Yes. Projects exported in the REFI-QDA format from NVivo, MAXQDA and ATLAS.ti come in through Import from your coding software. If you use other software that can export coded segments to a spreadsheet, you can arrange them in the template's columns instead: one row per coded quote, with its theme and usually a code.

Not on its own. The viewer reads the sheet once, when you press Connect, and does not follow it afterwards. To bring in new rows, share the sheet by link again, connect, then set its sharing back to Restricted.

Changes since your last save are gone, because Themescape never keeps your project in the browser. Save your progress at natural breaks, with Export, then Your progress, or Exit with my progress in the Log out box. Loading those files next time carries on where you left off.

Wherever your browser saves downloads, which is usually your Downloads folder. Each file is named after your project, with "themescape session end" and the date and time added, so the latest save is easy to find. Move them into your project folder beside your transcripts.

Node network, Hierarchy and File tree, chosen from Figure style. The node network draws themes, codes and quotes as connected circles, the hierarchy lays them out top to bottom like a findings chapter, and the file tree lists them as an outline with a quote count on each row. All three show the same coding, and each keeps its own arrangement.

Yes, in your spreadsheet. Themes come from the theme column of the Data tab, so renaming a theme, moving codes into another theme or splitting a theme in two is done by changing the names on those rows, then loading the files again. Update the matching rows in Framework and Connections too, since names are matched as plain text.

Yes. Your coding lives in your spreadsheet or your coding software, so edit it there, load the files again, and the map is drawn from the new coding. To keep the definitions, favourites and connections you refined in Work mode, save your progress first and edit those files, since they carry your changes.

Yes. Search, on the reader bar, looks across theme names, code names and quote text, using the wording shown on screen, which is the refined wording where there is one. Results show as you type, up to 60 of them, and selecting one reveals it on the map and in the reader. Definitions, participant names and sub-code names are not searched.

From the definition column of the Framework tab, one row per theme, code or sub-code, with names that match the Data tab exactly. If there is no Framework tab, your themes and codes still appear, only without definitions. Code descriptions from NVivo become working definitions when you import.

Yes, in Work mode. Select a theme or code, read its definition against its quotes in the reader, and rewrite it. Save your progress to keep the new wording, which goes into your Framework file.

Star them as favourites. Favourite quotes, starred in Work mode or marked in the preferred column, come first, then the rest by their illustrativeness score from 5 down to 1. Present mode features up to three favourites for each code.

Yes, with Custom placement, a Work mode tool. Drag themes and codes on the node network into an arrangement of your own, or reorder them in the hierarchy and the file tree. Save your progress to keep the arrangement, which goes into the layout file.

Yes. The order column in the Framework tab sets the order themes appear in, and themes without a number follow the order they first appear in Data. In Work mode, Custom placement reorders a view for the display; each view keeps its own order, saved in the layout file.

Three beneath your project: themes, codes and sub-codes. Each level is drawn in a lighter fill of the theme's colour. When you import from NVivo, levels deeper than a sub-code are folded into the sub-code.

A quote with only a candidate theme sits under that working theme until you decide. A quote with neither a theme nor a candidate theme is grouped under Uncategorised, which makes it easy to find. A quote with a theme but no code belongs to the theme itself and shows when the theme is selected.

Rows start sorted by quote count, the fullest first, so the codes with the most support are at the top. An order you set with Custom placement in Work mode is kept in the layout file, and each view keeps its own order.

There is no set limit. The first eight themes take the palette's eight colours, and further themes take lighter, then darker, shades of them. With many themes, selecting one fades the rest so it can be read on its own, and the file tree is the quickest view for a long list.

No. You decide every link. Themescape draws the connections you record, in Work mode or in the Connections tab, and suggests nothing.

A solid line is an Empirical connection, a link seen in the data, such as a code or experience two themes share. A dashed line is a Theoretical connection, an association you propose with no code between them yet. Either can carry an arrow pointing to the effect, where one leads to another.

Yes. A connection can join any two themes, codes or sub-codes, in the same theme or in different ones. In the Connections tab a sub-code is written as Code > Sub-code: the code name, a space, the > sign, a space, then the sub-code name.

Use Present mode. In Work mode, star up to three favourite quotes for each code you will discuss, choose Node network or Hierarchy from Figure style, then choose Present from the Interaction control. The tools disappear, and clicking a code brings its quotes forward as speech bubbles, favourites first.

Yes. Choose Export, then Figure for publication, or Export figure in Build mode's tools. Pick what to show, a referencing style (APA 7th, MLA 9th or Chicago 18th), a width and a file type: PNG or JPG at 300 or 600 dpi, or a vector PDF that stays sharp at any size. Quotes are never included in figures, and a figure should carry no names that could identify a participant.

Send them your progress files, the same CSV files and layout file you load yourself, and they open them in their own Themescape account. There is no shared link, because Themescape never holds your data. Check that your ethics approval allows the files to be shared, and share them the way it describes.

Yes. Present mode hides the tools and opens on your themes alone, and it suits a screen shared in a video call as well as a projector, since nothing on screen is small. You present from the same project you have been refining, so there is no separate slide deck to keep in step.

Up to three favourite quotes for each code, or the most illustrative one if none is starred. Refined wording is used where you have it, and the verbatim stays in your file.

Press Exit Present mode, at the top left of the screen. It returns you to View.

Figures export as PNG or JPG at 300 or 600 dpi, or as a vector PDF, from Figure export. The Export panel also saves your project as the template's CSV files, writes your definitions as CSV or as a table for Word, and your connections as CSV.

Yes, by exporting again. Figure export draws the figure from your map or your built figure as it stands, so change it and export a new file. For a figure built in Build mode, use Save layout so you can open it again later with Open layout.

Yes. Choose one of five palettes from the Colours control, bring your own palette as a JSON or CSV file, set a theme's colour by hand, or add a hex code such as #0070A6 in the Framework tab's colour column. Codes and sub-codes take lighter fills of their theme's colour automatically.

Yes. Themescape harbour is designed to be colour blind safe, for figures that need to read for every viewer. It is one of the five palettes in the Colours control.

Build mode works, and it is still being tested, so its controls may change. Feedback on it is welcome through the contact page.

In a reference list: Price, C. (2026). Themescape (Version 3.5) [Computer software]. Themescape. https://themescape.co.nz. In text: (Price, 2026). The version number is the one shown in the viewer, so check it when you export.

Yes. The Student and Researcher plans start with a 7 day free trial, and you pay by card after it. Team and organisation plans are bought by the semester or the year.

The Researcher plan is NZ$189 a month, NZ$169 a month on a semester plan, or NZ$149 a month billed yearly. The Student plan is NZ$129 a month, NZ$119 a month by semester, or NZ$99 a month billed yearly. These and team prices include GST for customers in New Zealand. Team and organisation seats cost less per person, and organisation prices are shown excluding GST.

When your login email is a university address, that address is enough. Otherwise we send a 6 digit code to a university email address you give us, and the Student plan is confirmed once you enter it.

Yes. Monthly plans can be cancelled at any time, and semester and annual plans renew for the next term unless you cancel. A cancelled plan runs to the end of the period you have paid for. You manage your plan from Manage billing on your Account page.

The same price. Individual and team prices are in New Zealand dollars and include GST for customers in New Zealand, and customers outside New Zealand pay the same amount with no New Zealand GST inside it. Organisation prices exclude GST, and no New Zealand GST is added for organisations outside New Zealand.

It depends on the plan. Individual, Student and team prices are in New Zealand dollars and include GST for customers in New Zealand, and the GST in each payment is shown beneath the price. Organisation prices are shown excluding GST, because an organisation claims the GST back. GST at 15 percent is added on the invoice for organisations in New Zealand, and the calculator shows the total with GST.

Yes. Team plans can be paid by card or by invoice on request. Organisations of 20 to 49 people can pay by card or ask for a quote, and organisations of 50 or more are quoted and invoiced by Themescape Limited, with your purchase order number on the tax invoice.

A plan paid for six months at a time, which renews for the next semester unless you cancel. It costs less a month than paying monthly and more than paying yearly: the Researcher plan is NZ$169 a month by semester, charged as NZ$1,014 for six months.

Yes. Every plan has all three views and all three modes, search, colour palettes, exports and the spreadsheet template. There is no cut-down tier.

A plan for 2 to 19 people, such as a supervisor and the students they supervise, or a project team on one grant. One person buys staff and student seats on a semester or annual plan, manages who holds them, and pays by card or by invoice on request. A team plan shares the bill, not the data: each person works on their own files in their own browser.

No. Each seat is a separate login with its own projects, and each person's files are read in their own browser and never reach Themescape. Students on a team plan do not see each other. The person who manages the seats sees names, email addresses, seat type and last sign-in, never anyone's research data.

Yes, at any time, for example when a student graduates: remove one person and invite the next by email. Seats added part way through a term are charged pro rata, and seat numbers are reviewed at each renewal.

Only when a student sends you their files. Themescape never holds anyone's data, so managing a seat gives no access to the work done on it. A student can send their progress files for you to open in your own account, or share their screen in Present mode during a supervision.

The price. Staff seats are for supervisors, academics and other staff, student seats are for the students on the plan, and both have every feature. Supervisor is a role, not a rate: a supervisor holds a staff seat and can manage their students' seats.

At 20 people or more, counting staff and students together. Organisation seats are priced in bands of 20 to 49 and 50 to 149 people, excluding GST, with a campus licence by quote for 150 or more. An organisation of 20 to 49 can pay by card or ask for a quote; larger ones are quoted and invoiced by Themescape Limited. An administrator assigns the seats.