MQXLIFF export settings

When there's a change in a project, memoQ can automatically export documents to bilingual MQXLIFF files. This works in projects that you create from project templates.

For example, you can set up a project template to export a new document into MQXLIFF automatically after the document is imported, pre-translated, and has its pre-translated segments locked. Then memoQ will do this in all projects that you create from that project template.

To learn more: See the topic about exporting bilingual documents manually.

How to get here

  1. Open Resource console. Choose Project templates.

    To set up the template for online projects: Use an online template for this. Choose your memoQ server at the top of Resource console. Click Select.

  2. Select the project template that you want to set up with automated actions that use custom scripts. Right-click the selection, and click Edit.
  3. In the Edit project template window, choose Automated actions. Click the Project automation tab if you don't see it at first.
  4. Under Available triggers, click an event when you want memoQ to export the MQXLIFF files. For example, if you want to run this after a document is imported, click After document import.
  5. Next to Actions added to the selected trigger, click the + sign. The Select actions you want to add to the trigger window appears.
  6. Click Export to MQXLIFF. The MQXLIFF export settings window appears. This action saves the MQXLIFF file on the local computer.

    To set up the template for online projects: Choose Export MQXLIFF on server instead. This saves the MQXLIFF file on the server, in the project file store.

If you can't add this action because it's already there: Under Actions added to the selected trigger, click Export to MQXLIFF or Export MQXLIFF on server. Next to the list, click the Settings  button. The MQXLIFF export settings window appears.

The window looks like this if you're setting up the template for a local projects (you chose the Export to MQXLIFF action):

The window looks like this if you're setting up the template for online projects (you chose the Export MQXLIFF on server action):

What can you do?

XLIFF is a standard bilingual document format. Almost every other translation tool can open and save XLIFF files. XLIFF stands for XML Localization Interchange File Format.

To save an XLIFF file, so that another translation tool can work with it:

  1. Click the memoQ XLIFF radio button.
  2. Click Plain XLIFF for other tools, next to the radio button.

    This clears all check boxes below the memoQ XLIFF radio button. memoQ will save an XLIFF file that doesn't contain the parts that only memoQ can use. The exported file won't be zipped. The extension of the file will be MQXLIFF.

You can check any of the check boxes in that section. For example, you can save a zipped file that still doesn't contain anything memoQ-specific.

memoQ's native bilingual document format is XLIFF, too. But memoQ's XLIFF contains parts that make sense for another copy of memoQ only. The XLIFF standard doesn't say how a tool must include extra information that helps the export and the preview of the translated document.

To save an XLIFF for another copy of memoQ:

1. Click the memoQ XLIFF radio button.

2. Make sure that all check boxes are checked:

  • Include skeleton and preview check box makes memoQ save data that it needs for exporting and previewing the translated document.
  • Include major version history makes memoQ save previous versions of the document, not just the current one.
  • Save a compressed file makes memoQ save a zipped file with the MQXLZ extension. If you include the skeleton or the version history, memoQ will always save a zipped file.
  1. First, set a destination folder. Normally, the document is saved in a folder called MQXLIFF files, inside your personal Documents folder. If you want to save the document elsewhere, click Custom folder. Click the ellipsis button, and find or create your folder.
  2. Next, type a file name. You can use placeholders, so that memoQ can take the name from the name of the project, the date or time when the document was exported, the project languages, and so on. memoQ fills in the placeholders with actual details in ongoing projects that are created from this project template.
  3. If you imported a folder structure in the project rather than single documents, and you want to have the same subfolders when the documents are exported: Check the Recreate folder structure in export folder check box.
  4. To insert a placeholder, click Insert placeholder, and choose from the menu.
  • Project: Contents of the Project field of the project. This is not the project name.
  • Client: Contents of the Client field of the project. Normally, the name of the end-user of the translation.
  • Domain: Contents of the Domain field of the project. Normally, the narrower subject or the genre of the source documents.
  • Subject: Contents of the Subject field of the project. Normally, the subject field of the source documents.
  • Template: The name of the template that was used to create the project.
  • SrcLangIso2: Two-letter code of the source language of the project.
  • SrcLangIso3: Three-letter code of the source language of the project.
  • TrgLangIso2: Two-letter code of the target language of the document. For a document, there can be only one. For the entire project, there can be several.
  • TrgLangIso3: Three-letter code of the target language of the document.
  • TrgLangListIso2: List of two-letter codes of the target languages of the project.
  • TrgLangListIso3: List of three-letter codes of the target languages of the project.
  • YYYY: The year when the document is exported, in four digits.
  • MM: The month when the document is exported, in two digits.
  • DD: The day when the document is exported, in two digits.
  • HH-NN: The hour and minute when the document is exported, in two digits.

Under Export path rules, set up the folder and name of the MQXLIFF files. You can use placeholders, so that memoQ server takes the name from the name of the project, the date or time when the document was exported, the project languages, and so on. memoQ fills in the placeholders with actual details in ongoing projects that are created from this project template.

There is a fixed main folder: memoQ server exports the document in the project's file store. This is a folder on the server. Only a system administrator can change the location of that folder.

Normally, memoQ server exports the documents in a folder called MQXLIFF. In that folder, memoQ server creates another folder by the name of the target language. If a folder structure was imported, memoQ server recreates the same subfolders under MQXLIFF and the target language. Then it saves the file with the same name as the original document.

You can change this: You can add folders to the path, or you can use different placeholders in the name. You can also use these placeholders in the names of the folders. Don't change MQXLIFF, though.

  • RelativePath: Use this if a folder structure was imported in the project. This contains the subfolder within the original folder where the document is. For example, if you import a folder called D:\Documents\ToTranslate, and the ToTranslate folder contains an ENG subfolder, then the RelativePath for the documents in the ENG folder will be ENG.
  • OriginalFileNameExt: The name and extension of the original document. Example: if the original document is called ToTranslate.docx, OriginalFileNameExt is ToTranslate.docx.
  • OrigFileName: The name of the original document without the extension. (It's also called a file type in Windows.) Example: if the original document is called ToTranslate.docx, OrigFileName is ToTranslate.
  • OrigFileExt: The extension of the name of the original document (DOCX, HTML, XML, PDF etc.). (It's also called a file type in Windows.) Example: if the original document is called ToTranslate.docx, OrigFileExt is docx.
  • Project: Contents of the Project field of the project. This is not the project name.
  • Client: Contents of the Client field of the project. Normally, the name of the end-user of the translation.
  • Domain: Contents of the Domain field of the project. Normally, the narrower subject or the genre of the source documents.
  • Subject: Contents of the Subject field of the project. Normally, the subject field of the source documents.
  • ProjectName: The full name of the project. memoQ and memoQ server use this name to identify the project.
  • MajorVersion: The first version number of the document. This is the version of the source text. If the source document doesn't change during a project, it stays 1.
  • MinorVersion: The second version number of the document. This is the version of the translation. This changes a lot of times during a project: When a translator or a reviewer delivers the document; when it's updated from a bilingual document; before or after the document is pre-translated or X-translated; or when someone manually creates a snapshot.
  • SrcLangIso2: Two-letter code of the source language of the project.
  • SrcLangIso3: Three-letter code of the source language of the project.
  • DocTrgLangIso2: Two-letter code of the target language of the document. For a document, there can be only one. For the entire project, there can be several.
  • DocTrgLangIso3: Three-letter code of the target language of the document.
  • YYYY: The year when the document is exported, in four digits.
  • MM: The month when the document is exported, in two digits.
  • DD: The day when the document is exported, in two digits.
  • HH: The hour when the document is exported, in two digits.
  • NN: The minutes when the document is exported, in two digits.
  • Translator: Name of the user who got the document in the Translator role.
  • Reviewer1: Name of the user who got the document in the Reviewer 1 role. If there was no Reviewer 1, this is empty.
  • Reviewer2: Name of the user who got the document in the Reviewer 2 role. If there was no Reviewer 2, this is empty.

When you finish

To add the action to the project template: Click OK.

Nothing will be exported when you click OK: To export bilingual documents automatically in an ongoing project: Create a project from this project template, and start working on it. Check the output folder for exported files.

To return to the Edit project template window, and not add an action to the project template: Click Cancel.