Quick find (in translations)

Most of the time, when you're working on a translation, you will use the Quick find window to search for and replace text.

Regular expressions: You can use regular expressions in the Find what box, and replace rules (variables) in the Replace with box.

How to get here

  1. Open a document for editing: Open a project. In Project home, choose Translations. Double-click the name of the document.
  2. Press Ctrl+F. The Quick find window opens. Or, to replace text, press Ctrl+H. The Quick find and replace window opens.

    Or: On the Edit ribbon, click Find or click Replace.

You can start Find and replace directly from Project home:  In Translations, do not open a document. Instead, just press Ctrl+H or Ctrl+F. When you do this, memoQ assumes that you want to run Find and replace on several documents, not just one.

If you need more options, use Advanced find and replace: When the Quick find window opens, press Ctrl+F or Ctrl+H again. The Advanced find and replace window opens.

Without replacing (Ctrl+F)

Quick find and replace (Ctrl+H)

What can you do?

In the Find what drop-down box, type the text you are looking for. Or, expand the drop-down list, and choose an expression from previous searches. (When you close memoQ, this list is cleared.)

Regular expressions: You can type regular expressions in the Find what box. To do that, first click the Use regular expressions icon. If there is a problem with the regular expression, memoQ displays an exclamation mark next to the Find what box when you click one of the Find buttons. To learn more, click the exclamation mark: The Regular expressions help page opens.

To run a case-sensitive search: Click the Case sensitive icon.

You can tell memoQ what counts as a match: whether it should look for entire words only, or it should match the entire segment. To see these options, click this icon:

  • Return any matches: Find the Find what expression, even if it's just part of a word.
  • Match whole words only: The Find what expression will be found only if whole words look like the expression.
  • Entire segment/field: The Find what expression will be found only if the entire segment (or comment) is the same as the expression.

Check the Replace check box (if it isn't checked already).

In the Replace with drop-down box, type the text that will replace the Find what text. Or, expand the drop-down list, and choose an expression from previous replacements. (When you close memoQ, this list is cleared.)

Regular expressions: If you search for regular expressions, you can include the matching variables in the Replace box, too. Type $1 for the first recognized chunk; $2 for the second one; and so on. You can use these if you have previously clicked Use regular expressions icon, and there are replaceable groups (for example, (^s+)) in the Find what box. To learn more, see the Regular expressions help page.

To find the Find what expression, press Enter.

If there are two or more matches, you can jump to the others the Find next icon in the Quick find window. You can repeat this as long as the document is open.

To get a list of all matches on a separate document tab, click the Find all icon. The Find and replace results tab opens.

To replace the Find what expression with the Replace with expression, click the Replace this icon. You can repeat this as long as the document is open.

To replace the Find what expression everywhere in the document, click the Replace all icon.

Caution: If you leave the Replace with box empty, and click Replace all , memoQ will delete all occurrences of the Find what expression.

If you need more options, use Advanced find and replace: In the Quick find or the Quick find and replace window, click the Change these link below the Find what or the Replace with box. Or, click the Advanced find and replace icon. After you change the options in Advanced find and replace, memoQ will remember those settings in Quick find, too.

When you finish

To close the Quick find or the Quick find and replace window, and go back to the translation editor or to Translations: press Esc.