NVivo and XLSTAT have rolled out major updates over the past year (with more coming soon!)—if you haven’t checked in lately, now’s the time to catch up. These new features are designed to make data analysis faster, smarter, and more accessible—just in time for the new academic year.
Whether you're updating course content, launching a new study, or rethinking your workflow, now’s the time to revisit NVivo and XLSTAT—or get started for the first time.
As the new academic year ramps up, it’s a good time to catch up on what’s new in NVivo and XLSTAT—two essential tools for researchers, faculty, and students. Over the past several months, both tools have rolled out updates designed to streamline workflows, speed up analysis, and make data interpretation easier. Whether you’re preparing your fall syllabus, launching a research project, or just getting back into the swing of things, here’s what to know.
If you’ve explored our QDA software recently, you’ve likely encountered the new Lumivero AI Assistant. Within your project workspace, the Assistant offers Automatic Text Summarization, letting you quickly highlight any text and generate a concise summary—saving time and clarifying unfamiliar terms or local idioms.
You can also use Document Summarization to instantly summarize entire files or batches of documents, giving you a clear understanding of the content in seconds. With Flexible Coding Suggestions, NVivo helps bring structure to unstructured data by recommending detailed child codes based on your existing framework—perfect for refining your codebook or launching a new project.
In the upcoming NVivo 15.3 release, Collaboration Server is making a comeback. This will be especially useful for institutions or teams who need more control over how data is shared and accessed in multi-user environments.
Another incoming feature builds on the AI capabilities already introduced: AI-powered summarization for framework matrices. This will allow researchers using framework analysis to automatically generate summaries across cases and themes, significantly reducing the manual effort required for interim or final reporting. Plus, Mac users will now have access to framework matrices, expanding this functionality across operating systems.
The upcoming release is also adding more mixed methods functionality, including new statistical functions that can help you dig deeper into coded and numerical data. This can be particularly helpful for researchers running parallel surveys and interviews, or anyone working with demographic or categorical data alongside qualitative findings.
While NVivo focuses on qualitative data, XLSTAT is our powerful statistical analysis software—and its latest version, 2025.1, introduces AI-driven insights and no-code results interpretation, all seamlessly integrated into Excel.
The standout addition is the AI Assistant, which can do three things that save users a lot of time:
Plus, these tools are built into the Microsoft Excel interface, so users don’t have to learn a new program or export their data to another program.
This is especially helpful for people who don’t specialize in statistics. With these new features, XLSTAT empowers users to unlock insights faster, make confident decisions with AI-powered analytics, and streamline their workflow with intuitive, budget-friendly statistical software.
Another major update is the redesigned user interface. All dialog boxes in XLSTAT now offer a “Simple” view for quick setup and an “Advanced” view for users who need to fine-tune their parameters. This new structure accelerates analysis setup, reduces errors in parameter selection, and lets you configure complex analyses in half the time.
XLSTAT has also simplified its product packaging. There are now three main tiers—Essentials, Standard, and Advanced—so users can find a package that best matches their needs. The Standard package, in particular, is designed with sensory and consumer research in mind.
Both NVivo and XLSTAT are tools that help bridge the gap between data and decision-making. For students and faculty, these updates mean faster access to insights, fewer technical hurdles, and more time to focus on what matters—whether that’s writing a dissertation, preparing lecture content, or conducting applied research.
The return of NVivo’s Collaboration Server helps organizations working with sensitive data meet strict privacy requirements by keeping data on local servers—while still enabling collaborative research. The AI features, both in NVivo and XLSTAT, can help researchers grasp key findings more quickly and support more intuitive, real-time exploration of results.
These updates reflect a broader shift in how researchers work with data—whether you're using our qualitative data analysis software or statistical analysis software. At Lumivero, we’re focused on delivering powerful, AI-assisted tools that help you get deeper insights without added complexity. As data becomes central to more disciplines, the demand is clear: analysis tools need to be both accessible and robust. With these updates, NVivo and XLSTAT make it easier to turn complex data into clear, confident decisions.
So if you haven’t opened NVivo or XLSTAT in a while—or haven’t worked with them yet—now’s a great time to dive in. With new features designed to save time, sharpen your analysis, and simplify your workflow, there’s never been a better moment to get started.
