❓ FAQs

Yes, the app should upload any kind of character set just fine, and you should be able to code (create factor labels) in any language you want.

Please see our T&Cs at https://causalmap.app/terms-and-conditions-for-the-causal-map-app/

If you have created any files which you want to delete, you can delete them using the red delete button near the top left of the app. If you have a recurring subscription, you can cancel it from the Account tab in the app.

You can download your map from Causal Map as an Excel file, tweak it and then upload it Causal Map.

The Versions dropdown (

🔄 Restoring a version of a file) shows you the filesize, so you can see where the file got larger or smaller.

No. The only thing that matters is what file you are uploading into at Causal Map: the currently active file.

make sure question_id and source_id, if you are using either or both, appear at the start of the line, all lower case, like this: | question_id:q5 (Optionally some more text here which is not part of the ID)

Immediately after you get the error, open the Chrome console by pressing ctrl shift J in Chrome, then at the blinking cursor, paste this:

localStorage.clear();

and refresh.

If that doesn’t work, please contact support at support@causalmap.app

If you highlight a very short piece of text which happens to appear (exactly the same) more than once in the statement, it is always the first occurrence of this piece of text which is actually highlighted.

Don’t worry, you are probably viewing the map with the transforms filter on, and specific filters may sometimes mean that everything gets filtered out. While you are coding, you may want to switch this off, unless you are coding very many long statements at once. (The explanation for this behaviour is a bit complicated, but because by default the filter is set to filter for the top ten factors, the app can’t decide about ties.)

Causal Map may get slower as the number of links and factors increases. The app will work, but yes it will get gradually slower. We have hosted maps of 10,000 links which have worked fine, but

Use factor hashtags, to add extra information about the causal factors, especially information which cuts across any existing factor hierarchy you are using, for example themes like environment. Use link hashtags specifically if it relates to the claim rather than the factors e.g. respondent is suspicious / uncertain / answering a different question / respondent doesn’t like this connection, etc.

Yes, that is called chaining links! You can chain links by clicking the chain icon, after you have saved your previous link. If you would like more guidance check out this video

If you have Windows press ctrl and 0. If you have a Mac press option, command and 0.

Yes. You can create multiple links at a time just by putting more than one factor in either or both boxes.

To link a chain a –> b –> c to a chain d –> e, highlight the part of the statement which provides the evidence and then code a link from c to d using the dropdowns as usual.

If they are just repeating the same point, don’t bother. But if they are bringing different evidence for the same link, code it twice.

The convention is this: blah; blah

blah; ~blah

etc, i.e. we put a space after the ; but no space after the ~

Yes! Just leave the target box empty.

Remember that the Tables tab responds to any filters you have applied on the left-hand side of the app, so make sure you have the desired filters set before viewing the table.

One way to do this is looking at the links by bundles

Remember that the Tables tab responds to any filters you have applied on the left-hand side of the app, so make sure you have the desired filters set before viewing the table.

Unfortunately there is no easy fix for this bug but you can stop the panel moving simply by clicking a little to the left or right of the dropdown.

Unfortunately when a map has a lot of links link labels may appear slightly removed from the link. Currently there is no way to change this with formatting, only by simplfiying your map.

Follow the instructions for hybrid files. You must create an excel file with one worksheet and four columns. The column headers must be in this order; text, source_id, question_id and question_text. Then upload this to an empty file.

They can be found and downloaded here.

One way is to click to download an SVG, but don’t then worry about where it ends up on your computer. Just drag it from your browser downloads widget thing onto your document. For some people this might work with MS Word too.

If you don’t want to do any coding or editing, your data stays with us for at least a year (probably longer) so that you can view and analyse it even with a free subscription. “Editing” means changing or adding factors or links. The analysis is free, even if you create and share new views.

Yes! You can view, analyse and download your data with a free subscription. If you want to do any coding or editing at all, you’ll need a paid subscription, which depends on the number of files you want to be able to code. You’d only need to pay one of these subscriptions for the months when you want to edit something.

We store your data for at least a year and you can access them with a free subscription. If you want to store your coded data and maps for longer than a year, you can download them in Excel format from the app.