https://docs.memoq.com/helpcenter/Guides/Getting-Started/index.

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First Translation - Preparations

Drop documents on the Dashboard

memoQ starts with the Dashboard. If you have documents to translate, you can drop
them on the Dashboard: drag them to the box that says Drop files here…, and release
the mouse button.

To drop a document, open the folder where the document is. Click the icon of the
document, and hold the mouse button while you drag the button to the Drop files box of
memoQ.
Start translating or drop more documents
After you drop the first document, you can drop more – or you can start translating:

For now, let’s say we have this one document. Click Start translating.
memoQ will set up a project for you
memoQ will take a few moments to read through your documents, and find out their
language. That will be the source language of your job. Then the Create new project
from template window opens.
In this window, you must fill in two things before you can move on: the target language,
and the name for your project.
memoQ will combine the current date and the project name into a name for your job.
If you work for more than one client, and if you work in several subject fields, you might
want to fill in the Client and Subject boxes, too.
When this is done, click Finish. memoQ will prepare for your job, and display
a Progress window that shows what it’s doing.
Some more names – and a look under the hood
Your source documents will be imported: memoQ will read through them, and separate
the text from the form, or more precisely, the formatting. When you translate the
document, you will get the text, while the form – all those complex formatting
instructions that come with the format of the document – are safely stored in a
database.
When you finish translating the document, you can tell memoQ to export your
translation. memoQ then takes the formatting instructions, and combines them with the
new text of your translation, and saves it in a new document. The result is a document
that looks exactly the same as your source document, but its text comes from the
translation.
memoQ will set up one translation memory and one term base for you. If you leave
everything in the Create new project… window as they are, memoQ will use one
translation memory and one term base for each language pair. Next time, if you start
another translation job, and it’s in the same language pair, memoQ will use the same
translation memory and term base.
If you have several clients, and you want to use a separate translation memory for each
of them, you can tell memoQ to use a different template: in the Create new project
from template window, choose [local] One TM per client template from the Project
template box.

First Translation - Typing the translations

Open your document for translation

memoQ displays your job in a place called Project home. In Project home, there is a
page called Translations, which has a list of the documents you need to translate. This
page opens immediately after memoQ prepares the project:

To start translating a document, double-click its name. Or, click the name, and then, on
the ribbon, click the Translate icon.
The document opens in a tabbed window
memoQ opens a new tabbed window for the document. The text will appear in two
columns. The left column has the source-language text. You can type – or insert – your
translation on the right. There are cells in both columns. memoQ divides the text
into segments, and displays each segment in a new cell:
This layout with the columns and the cells is called the translation grid.
Translate the first segment
Type the translation of the first segment in the cell next to the source text. When you
finish, press Ctrl+Enter. This will save your translation to the translation memory; mark
the segment as confirmed (note the green tick mark); and jump to the next segment.
When you press Ctrl+Enter, you confirm the segment.

Note that 'Charing Cross' is set in bold, both in the source cell and in the translation. It
wasn’t automatic. Before you confirm the segment, you need to select that part, and
press Ctrl+B, just like in Microsoft Word.
You can go back to previous segments whenever you need to, and change them, even
after they were confirmed. When you make changes, don’t forget to confirm the
segment again.
No need to save: memoQ stores your job in a database. Every change you make is
automatically saved in a few seconds. When you close the document, the project, or
memoQ itself, your changes are automatically saved, too.
Look down: at the bottom of the memoQ window, you get a preview of what your
translation will look like. When you confirm a segment, the source text is replaced with
its translation. Note the screenshot: in the preview – it’s called the View pane –, the first
sentence is in German, but the rest remains in English.
Translate the next segment – and mind the tags
In the next segment, ‘Line 26’ is between two strange-looking labels. These are
called inline tags, and they stand for formatting that memoQ cannot display in the grid
itself. If you look down, you will see that ‘Line 26’ is red in the original text:

Type the translation of the segment:

Don’t confirm the segment yet. Find the translation of the “tagged” part. In our case, it
will be ’Bus Nummer 26’. Place the cursor right before ‘Bus’, and press F9. Then place
the cursor next to ‘26’, and press F9 again. Note the tags that appear in the translated
text. Now confirm the segment. Here is the result in the grid and in the preview:

The tags are properly in place: whatever is red in the source, it becomes red in the
translation, too.
Good to know: If the tags appear in pairs like in the example, you can select the
text (‘Bus Nummer 26’), and press F9 just once. memoQ will place the two tags around
the expression you selected.

Don't Type - Use the Translation Memory

If something was translated before, you’ll get the translation automatically

If the next segment – or something similar – was translated before, memoQ will spot
that and insert the translation immediately after you confirm the previous segment:

memoQ does this by looking in the translation memory that you use for the project. In
the example, the translation of ‘The next stop is Charing Cross’ was saved when you
confirmed the first segment. Segment 3 (‘The next stop is Tower Bridge’) is similar
enough to be recognized.
But be careful: memoQ inserted the translation with ‘Charing Cross’, which you need to
edit into ‘Tower Bridge’ before you confirm the new segment.
Look right: memoQ helps you find out the difference. In the right pane
(called Translation results), you will see a list of suggestions that memoQ has for the
current segment. (Right now, there is only one.) When you select a suggestion, the
three boxes below will show the difference.
The first box shows the text that you need to translate. The second one shows the
source text that was found in the translation memory. In the second box, the differences
are marked with deletions and insertions (“tracked changes”). The differences appear
as if the text in the translation memory were edited into the current text that you need to
translate. Parts that come from the translation memory appear as deleted; parts in the
current segment appear as inserted.
The third box shows the translation that was found in the translation memory.
This suggestion is called a translation memory match. memoQ gives a score to each
match, judging the similarity between the text in the document and the text in the
translation memory. The score, called the match rate, is a percent value (in this case,
70%). The match rate is an attempt to show how much you need to work on the stored
translation before it is right for the current source text.
When the source text is exactly the same as the one in the translation memory, it’s
called an exact match, and the score will be 100%. When the source text and the
previous and the following segment is the same as in the translation memory, it’s called
a context match, and the score is 101%. When the text is the same, but numbers, tags,
formatting, or punctuation are different, the score will be between 95% and 99%. When
the score is below 100%, it’s called a fuzzy match.
memoQ knows about numbers
The next segment will also have a match from the translation memory. It contains
numbers again. Let’s see what happens to those:
In the translation memory, memoQ found a match that had the number 26. In the text,
there were the numbers 29 and 34. When memoQ inserted the match with 26, it
replaced 26 with 34 – so the numbers were, in a fashion, updated.
The segment had two numbers, though. Before you confirm the segment, you still need
to insert the other number, and adjust the German translation to the plural:

Note that the tags were also inserted automatically – because you inserted them when
you translated the second segment, and memoQ also saved that information to the
translation memory.
Notice the lightning sign next to the translation. The lightning sign indicates problems
that memoQ spots automatically: extra or missing spaces, extra or missing tags, or in
our case, missing numbers. The lightning sign is called a quality-assurance
warning or QA warning.
Because you inserted the second number, the lightning sign will disappear when you
confirm the segment.
Filling and Using the Term Base

Adding a word or expression is easy

When you start a job with memoQ, your project will have a glossary, or term base, too.
Like the translation memory, the term base is empty at first. But you can easily add new
entries while you are translating.
Let’s say, you want memoQ to know that the word ‘Highgate’ translates into ‘Highgate’.
Select the word in the source cell:

Then press Ctrl+E:

Type ‘Highgate’ in the box on the right, and then click the plus sign icon next to it. Then
click OK at the bottom of the Create term base entry window.
It’s even easier to add a term if the segment is already translated
In the example, let’s jump back to segment 3, and add the name ‘Tower Bridge’ to the
term base in a similar fashion: it will also translate into ‘Tower Bridge’.

Luckily, this segment is already translated: you can select the term on the left and its
translation on the right, and press Ctrl+Q. No extra window will appear this time, and
the term will be saved in the term base right away.
memoQ recognizes the term in the text
When memoQ finds a term in the text, it will appear on the list of suggestions. But in the
example below, a translation memory match and a term base hit both come from
the resources (that is, the translation memory and the term base), and memoQ will
combine them:
Note that memoQ inserted a translation that is absolutely perfect. How can this be if the
translation memory match was ‘The next stop is Tower Bridge’?
The difference between the source text and the translation memory match was the
name of the station: ‘Highgate’ in the source text, and ‘Tower Bridge’ in the translation.
Both names were there in the term base, too. memoQ could find the translation of
‘Tower Bridge’ in the stored translation, and because it already knew how to translate
‘Highgate’, the old name could be easily replaced with the new one.
When this happens, we say that memoQ patches the translation. memoQ also gives a
higher score to the patched translation, but marks it with an exclamation mark (! – see
the pale orange match rate box next to the segment).
Insert term base hits while you translate
When memoQ doesn’t patch a segment, you can still insert the translations of terms
with a few keystrokes. The terms found in the term base are highlighted in the source
text. Let’s say the term base has translations for ‘stop’ and ‘Highgate’:

Both are highlighted on the left. Type the translation; and when you get to a place where
you need one of the terms, press Ctrl briefly:
In the menu, memoQ will offer the translations of all terms that were found in the source
text. You can move the selection with the arrow keys, and press Enter to insert the
selected translation. Or, you can click the one you need to insert.
Next time, memoQ will remember that you used one of the terms, and it won’t offer that
translation again:

Joining and Splitting Segments

Segmentation can sometimes go wrong

When memoQ divides the source text into segments, it is called segmentation. Because
memoQ does not understand the text, all it can do is guess where a sentence ends and
another starts. The basic rule is that a sentence ends where there is a period, followed
by a space and a capital letter. There are exceptions, but this is how simple we must
make it for the computer.
Sometimes it goes wrong:

In memoQ, you can use two commands to fix this: join and split.
Segmentation is not this bad in memoQ – after a long search, we had to make up this
error to demonstrate joining and splitting.
Join two segments: press Ctrl+J

To join two segments, place the cursor in the first one, and press Ctrl+J. The two
segments will become one, and if there are translations in the right-hand cells, they will
be appended together, too:

Split one segment in two: press Ctrl+T

To split one segment in two, place the cursor at the place where you want to split the
text, and then press Ctrl+T. (In the example, it’s best to place the cursor right after the
third inline tag.) memoQ will replace the segment with two segments. If there was a
translation in the target cell, it remains with the first segment:
Finishing up and exporting translation

The translation is finished when all segments are confirmed

Once you fill in and confirm every segment in the document, the translation is finished.
At the bottom of the memoQ window, you can see how far you got:

The letter P means the whole project. If you need to translate several documents, your
project isn’t over when one document is complete.
The letter D means the current document. When the percent value next to D becomes
100%, the document is finished, and you can export it – after some final checks.
When the percent value next to P becomes 100%, all documents in the project are
translated. But there may still be a few things to do.
Mind the warnings, especially about tags
It’s not enough to have all segments confirmed. The document should be as free of
warnings as possible. You see a warning whenever memoQ puts an orange lightning
sign next to a segment.

A warning can be about missing numbers and tags, but it can also indicate missing or
mismatched punctuation, or a missing translation for a term. To learn more about a
warning, double-click the lightning sign. A little window appears with the information you
need:

There is one type of warning you should always solve: the one about tags, like in the
example above. As a general rule, you need to make sure that every single tag in the
source text has its copy in the translation.
To delete a tag, simply place the cursor next to it, and press Backspace or Delete. To
copy a tag, place the cursor (in the translation) where the tag belongs, and press F9.
Note that memoQ will always copy the first tag that is still missing from the translation.
Check the spelling of your translation
If the spell checker is set up for the target language of your project, memoQ will
underline the problematic words – the same way as Microsoft Word does. When you
see a word with a red curly underline, right-click it:

memoQ will list the possible corrections, and a few options. If the right word is on the
list, just click it: memoQ will replace the word in the text, and the curly underline will go
away.
If you are sure the word is correct, and you just want to clear the underline, click Skip
all. If you want memoQ to accept this word in the future, click Add.
You can also make memoQ ignore this word in the future, but you will need to use
ignore lists for that. Normally, a memoQ project doesn’t come with an ignore list.

To learn more about ignore lists, see the memoQ documentation about spell
checking and ignore lists.

Say Export
When all is done, export the document. If the document is still open, click
the Documents ribbon tab, and then click the Export icon:

memoQ will save the translation in a file. It will be the same file type and it will look the
same as the source document – give or take a few places where the translated text is
too much or too little to fit or fill the space in the original format.
The exported document is saved in the folder where the source document comes from.
The name of the document will be different because memoQ adds the code of the target
language:
The source document is called ‘nextstop_EN’ and the exported translation
‘nextstop_EN_ger’.
You know when the document is exported because memoQ will open it in Windows. If
it’s a Microsoft Word document, it will open in Microsoft Word.
You can close the document, and return to Translations
You can export a document from the Translations list, too:

Click the name of the document, and on the Documents ribbon, click the Export icon. If
you click the little arrow at the bottom of the icon, memoQ offers more options to export
the document.

From these choices, click Export (Stored Path): that will save the exported translation
in the folder where the source comes from.
You can back up a project from the Dashboard
For safety, you can back up your projects. When you back up a project, memoQ saves
a single file with the .mqbkf extension. You can restore projects from these files on
another computer (or, for example, on the same computer, if you had to wipe and
reinstall it).
To back up a project, select it on the Dashboard, and, on the Project ribbon, click Back
Up.

Returning to a Project

Finished for the day? Just close memoQ

When you need to finish working for the day, just close memoQ. Your translations will
be saved in the project automatically.
Next morning, your project will be there
When you open memoQ the next day, your project will be there on the Dashboard. You
don’t need to start over. Look at the table in the lower half of the memoQ window. It
shows a list of projects you are currently working on:

Pick up where you left off: double-click the name of the project
Double-click the name of the project that you need to continue with. memoQ will open
the project, and briefly display the Project home screen.
But if you had documents open when you last closed memoQ, memoQ will open those
documents, too. What’s more, memoQ will return to the last document tab you worked
with, to the very segment that you last touched.

Livedocs - Recycling Document Pairs

Translate a new document from the translation of its previous version

Let’s say you need to translate the setup guide for memoQ 8.7. It’s a bit too much for
one day – but not if we can work from the guide that was written for memoQ 2015. They
are similar enough; the memoQ 8.x guides were made from the memoQ 2015 guides,
modifying them just enough to follow up with changes.
Start as usual: drop the new document on memoQ
You need the Dashboard of memoQ for this. If you have a project open, close it by
clicking the X on the Project home tab. Or, if memoQ isn’t running, open it.
Drop the new document on memoQ, and then click Start translating:

Set up your project in the same way as described in the Preparations chapter.
Go to Project home, and then to LiveDocs
The place where memoQ helps you collect earlier documents is called LiveDocs. When
your project is ready, and memoQ opens the Translations page, don’t open the new
document.
Instead, in Project home, click the LiveDocs icon.

Create a LiveDocs corpus

On the LiveDocs ribbon, click Create/Use New. We don’t have the old documents yet:
the thing you create here is the container for the documents, called a LiveDocs corpus.
It’s just like folding a cardboard sheet into an empty box.

In the New corpus window, it’s enough to fill in the name of the corpus, although we
recommend that you complete the rest of the fields, too, so that you will know what
client and subject field this corpus belongs to.
Type at least a name for the corpus, and click OK.
Import the two documents
memoQ returns to the LiveDocs page, which has two lists: one at the top and another
at the bottom. In the upper list, memoQ shows the corpora. When you select a corpus,
memoQ will list the documents it contains in the lower part of the window.
After you create the new corpus, it will be selected, and it will be ready for use in your
project, too. All you need to do now is add the pair of documents.
On the LiveDocs ribbon, click Import document. An Open window appears. Find and
select the “old” source-language document, then click Open.
The Document import options window opens, where you can control how memoQ will
import this document. For now, you need to set the language only. In
the Language dropdown box at the bottom of this window, choose the language of the
document, then click OK. (memoQ won’t recognize the language of the document this
time.)

memoQ will import the document, and add it to the list at the bottom of
the LiveDocs page.
Then click Import again, and find the target-language document – the translation of the
“old” document that you want to recycle. When you open it, memoQ will display
the Document import options window again. You need to select the language of the
target-language document, then click OK.
Link the documents: make memoQ align them
After both documents are imported, the list in the LiveDocs page looks like this:

Click the first document. Then press and hold down Ctrl, and click the other document,
too.
On the LiveDocs ribbon, click Link Documents. The Link Documents window
appears. In the upper part of this window, click the source language of the project. In
addition, check the Remove source document check box. Then click OK (no need to
worry about the other options for now):

memoQ will align the two documents. This means that the documents will be divided
into segments, and each segment in the source document will be paired with one or
more segments from the target document. On top of that, memoQ will build a database
from these segments, so that you will immediately receive matches from the LiveDocs
corpus – much the same way as from a translation memory.
After a successful alignment, the LiveDocs pane looks like this:
At this point, memoQ can give you translations from the old document: you are ready to
translate.
Translate the new document: open, pre-translate, and review it
In Project home, click the Translations icon on the left. The Translations list returns:

Double-click the name of the new document to start translating it. The familiar
translation grid opens.
Don’t begin to type translations. Instead, click the Preparation ribbon tab.

On the Preparation ribbon, click Pre-translate. The Pre-translate and

statistics window appears.
Click the Good TM or corpus match radio button, and click OK. You need this setting
because from LiveDocs corpora, memoQ will, by default, not return matches that have a
higher score than 85%.
memoQ fills in a lot of segments in the translation:
Note that the alignment will not always be perfect: this is inevitable when computers try
to work with human language. But most of it will be correct, and – as you can see – you
will be saved from doing most of the translation.
Important: You can pre-translate your documents from translation memories, too – not
just LiveDocs corpora –, but with translation memories, you would normally
choose Exact match or Exact match with context in the Pre-translate and
statistics window. This means that you don’t want memoQ to fill in segments where the
best match from the translation memory scores lower than 100%. Of course, this
depends on the nature of your work.