A hyperlink is a named linked between two quotations. If, for instance, you notice that one statement in a report or interview is explaining a previous statement in a bit more detail, you can link the two using the relation "explains." Or you may find a contradictory or supporting statement. These are just a few of the default relations that come with the software. If they do not fit what you want to express, you can create user-defined relations in the Relation Manager. See Creating New Relations.
ATLAS.ti offers a variety of options for creating and traversing hypertext links. Similar to the linking of codes, you may create hyperlinks in the network editor. See Linking Nodes.
In addition, hypertext links can be created while you work with your documents. How this works is described below.
The start of a hyperlink is called source
The end of a hyperlink is called target.
When creating a hyperlink you first create the link source, next you select the link target and then you select the relation that defines how these two quotations are linked.
Display of Hyperlinks
In the Margin Area
In the margin area, hyperlink labels show the quotation icon, the name of the relation, the quotation ID and the first letters of the quotation name. The label is visualized as an arrow. Source links point to the right, target links to the left.
In the Quotation Manager
All hyper-linked quotations can easily be recognized in the Quotation Manager. All source quotations are marked with an opening angle bracket <, all target quotations with a closing bracket >. If a quotation is both, source and target (as the case when creating chains), then both brackets are used as prefix <>.
|<||Quotation is source of a hyperlink|
|>||Quotation is target of a hyperlink|
|<>||Quotation is both start and target, thus at least two other quotations are linked|
Creating Hyperlinks in a Document
Open a document.
Select a data segment as source for the hyperlink. It can be an existing quotation, or a highlighted section of your data. Right-click the highlighted document area and select the option Create Link Source from the context menu.
If you select a data segment as source that was not yet a quotation, ATLAS.ti automatically creates a quotation from it.
Select an existing quotation as target, or highlight a segment in your data, right click and select the option Create Link Target.
The list of available relations opens up. Select a relation with a left-click. Now the hyperlink is created.
If you select a data segment as target that was not yet a quotation, ATLAS.ti automatically creates a quotation from it.
If none of the existing relations fit, create a new relation in the Relation Manager. See Defining New Hyperlink Relations.
After creating a hyperlink, you see the following in the margin area: the hyperlink label show the quotation icon, the name of the relation, the quotation ID and the first letters of the quotation name. The label is visualized as an arrow. Source links point to the right, target links to the left.
If you double-click on a hyperlink, the hyperlinked quotation is shown. You have the option to directly jump to the linked quotation by clicking on the option Go to Quotation.
Creating Hyperlinks in the Quotation Manager
This method can be applied to connect one or more existing quotations to one target quotation.
Select one or more source quotations in the Quotation Manager (multiple selections can be done in the standard way).
Hold down the left mouse button and drag the quotation(s) to a target quotation in the Quotation Manager.
Release the left mouse button. The relation menu opens, and you can specify the relation to be used for the hyperlinks.
Creating Hyperlinks in the Margin Area
Creating hyperlinks in the margin area is suitable for connecting two quotations that are close to each other:
Select a quotation bar in the margin area.
Hold down the left mouse button and drag the bar onto another quotation bar.
Release the left mouse button. The relation menu opens. Select a relation.
Creating Hyperlinks across Documents
This is a good method if you want to create hyperlinks between two documents.
Load two documents side-by-side. This means you load two documents into different tab groups. See Working With Tabs And Tab Groups .
Left-click a quotation bar in the margin area of one document and drag it to a quotation bar in the margin area of the other document. Release the left mouse button, and select a relation.