Term base CSV import settings

memoQ can import tabular text files – tab-separated or CSV files - into term bases. These files contain rows and columns, but the columns are not always the same as the fields in a memoQ term base.

Most of the time, the file you import does not have all the columns that memoQ would expect.

Sometimes the columns have names, and sometimes they do not. In the Term base CSV import settings window, you can convert the columns to term base fields, no matter whether they have names or not.

If you import a text file, even character encoding can be a question. The Term base CSV import settings window offers a preview where you can check if every character appears as it should.

Do not import Excel files here, memoQ can import Excel directly: To import an Excel sheet into a memoQ term base, you do not need to save the Excel file into a plain-text one. You can import them directly. To learn more: See Help about the Term base Excel import settings window.

How to get here

  1. Open a project. In Project home, choose Term bases.

    From the Resource console: Open the Resource console. Choose Term bases.

    From an online project: As a project manager, you can open an online project for management. In the memoQ online project window, choose Term bases.

  2. If you need the terms in a new term base, create a term base first.
  3. Right-click the name of the term base you need to import the terms into. From the menu, choose Import Terminology.
  4. An Open window appears. Find the file you need to import. Click Open.

    If the file is a plain-text file (alone, or zipped together with images), the Term base CSV import settings window opens.

What can you do?

Nowadays, characters are almost always encoded in Unicode - which can encode practically any character or symbol.

Plain-text files may use simpler, older encodings. If the file you import is not Unicode, memoQ will warn you before the Term base CSV import settings window opens.

At the bottom, check the Preview box if every character appears as it should. If not, choose a different encoding from the File encoding drop-down box (at the top). You may need to experiment until the characters appear correctly.

memoQ will choose a delimiter character from the file. In a tabular text file, the delimiter character separates the columns (cells) from each other.

Under Preview, check if the columns appear correctly.

If they do not, you may need to choose another delimiter.

Click Tab, or Comma, or Semicolon, or Other. If you click Other, type exactly one character in the box next to it: the delimiter character that you expect in the file.

After you choose the other delimiter character, check the preview again.

memoQ imports each row from the table in a new entry in the term base.

Each column is imported in a field in the term base.

If the file has column headers, memoQ will try to find the right field for every column.

To make this work, check the First row contains field names check box.

Two or more terms in one cell? If a column contains not one term but several alternatives, memoQ can still import them if it knows how they are separated. This must be a different delimiter character (not the one that separates the columns). If you have alternatives like this: Check the Split alternatives in field by check box, and type this character in the box next to it.

To match the columns and the fields to each other, use the settings under Fields.

For each field, you can select how it should be imported. A field is a column in the table. Under Fields, you can match (or not match) fields in a CSV file to fields of a term base entry. (You can omit fields from the CSV file.)

  • Fields list: Go through every field name listed, and select how they should be imported. All changes in the controls to the right apply to the field that is currently selected in this list.
  • Import as term: Choose this option to import the contents of the selected field as terms, then choose a language from the dropdown.
  • Import as definition: Choose this option to import the contents of the selected field as definitions, then choose a language from the dropdown.
  • Import as other field: Choose this option to import the contents of the selected field as Subject, Domain, Note, Creation Date, Creator, Last Modification Date, or Last Modified By.
  • Do not import: Click this if you do not want to import the contents of the selected field.

In the columns and the fields, a term is not called 'Term': It is called by the language it is in. When memoQ imports terms, it looks for the English name of the language at the column header, not for the word 'Term'.

Want to put together a table that memoQ can use immediately? To learn what field names memoQ uses: Export a term base into a CSV file from memoQ. Open the file in Excel, and examine the column header.

memoQ can automatically detect fields if the first row of the table contains these column headers:

  • Entry_ID: Identifier of the entry, normally a number. If you are putting together the table manually, you do not need to use this.
  • Entry_Subject: Subject field of the entry.
  • Entry_Domain: Domain of the entry.
  • Entry_ClientID: Name or identifier of the client involved with the entry.
  • Entry_ProjectID: Name or identifier of a larger project that the entry belongs to. Do not mix this with a memoQ project.
  • Entry_Created: Date and time when the entry was created. Example: 12/2/2015 11:12:36 AM. If you are putting together the table manually, you do not need to use this. memoQ can fill it in from the system.
  • Entry_Creator: Name of the user who created the entry. If you are putting together the table manually, you do not need to use this. memoQ can fill it in from the system.
  • Entry_LastModified: Date and time when the entry was last modified. If you are putting together the table manually, you do not need to use this.
  • Entry_Modifier: Name of the user who modified the entry for the last time. If you are putting together the table manually, you do not need to use this.
  • Entry_Note: A comment that belongs to the entire entry.
  • Entry_Image: Folder and file name of the image that belongs to the entire entry.
  • <language>: A term in the specified language. The name of the language must be in English, and it must be one of the languages that memoQ supports. For a list of supported languages, see this Help topic. In the same row, there can be several terms - and related fields - for the same language.
  • <language>_Def: Definition of the concept in the specified language. The name of the language must be in English, and it must be one of the languages that memoQ supports. For a list of supported languages, see this Help topic.
  • Term_Info: This column should always follow a term in one of the languages. It contains the matching settings of the term - case sensitivity followed by prefix matching. Example: "CasePermissive;Custom"

    The possible values are the following:

    • Case sensitivity: CasePermissive; CaseSensitive; CaseInsense
    • Prefix matching: HalfPrefix;Exact;Fuzzy;Custom
    • Term_Example: This column should always follow a term in one of the languages. It contains a usage example for the term.

If some entries need to be updated, not added: You can do this if the text file comes from memoQ originally, and it still has the identifiers of the entries. If the same entry is still there, but it was edited, memoQ can update it. To do this, check the Update existing entries based on ID check box.

If these metadata are missing from the text file, you can still add them to the new entries.

Type the details in the User name where not specified, Subject where not specified, and Domain name where not specified boxes.

If these details are there in the text file: memoQ will use those, not the ones you type here.

When you finish

To import the text file in the term base, and return to Project home or to the Resource console: Click OK.

To return to Project home or to the Resource console, without importing entries: Click Cancel.

Term base may have duplicate entries after the import: To get rid of duplicate entries, open the term base for editing. In the term base editor, filter the term base for duplicates. To learn more: See Help about the term base editor.