Translating with memoQ editor

memoQ editor shows your translation divided into segments.

Usually, each segment contains one sentence. All the rows are presented in a two-column grid: the source text in the left column and the translation in the right column.

When you use structured content like tables, XML files, and databases, a single segment is usually a cell or a data record.

The full display of the new memoQ editor window.

Start translating

  1. Click a target segment (right side).

  2. Formatting options.

    • To format text, use the Bold, Italic, Underline, Toggle case, Superscript, or  Subscript options. You can also Undo or Redo your changes.

      You can find those formatting tools just above the translation grid or under the Format tab.

    • If you’re looking for options to edit and manage text, go to the Edit tab where you can find the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Add comment options.

    • Click Clear translations of selected segments  to reset the content and start fresh.

      This option clears target segment text, target comments, and inserted match info.

      When you use this option the segment status is set to Not started and QA issues refresh automatically.

    • Click Copy source to target  to copy source text to its target segment.

      For this option only editable rows are overwritten. Target comments are also kept.

    • To Show non-printing characters, click the View tab and select this option from the dropdown menu.

      Non-printing characters are symbols that don’t appear in the final text but affect its layout and formatting. For example, a non-breaking space keeps a number and a unit together so they don’t split at the end of a line. By default, non-printing characters are hidden. When you turn them on, memoQ stores your preference in local storage and applies it the next time you open the grid.

    • Under Tag format , you can switch between short, medium, and long tags. By default they are displayed in a short format. You can find these options under the View tab as well.

    • Click Copy next tag sequence  to insert the next tag, tag pair, or tag combination that isn’t yet on the target side. You can also find tag-related options under the View tab as well.

      You can also select part of the text, then press F9. If there are tag sequences available, memoQ wraps the selected text with the next tag pair.

    • Click Tracked changes  to view changes made in your review and decide which changes you want to see - all of them, made only by you, or the final ones. To activate this feature, click the Turn on track changes toggle. You can find this option under the Tools tab as well.

      This option has to be activated by the PM when they’re configuring all the settings for the project.

    • Click Check spelling and get suggestions  to ask memoQ editor to underline the suspect words or phrases and then get suggestions.

      Segment from the translation editor with the spelling suggestions window open.

      Right-click the red underline and choose an option from the menu. If you want to keep the word as it is, simply ignore the red underline or click Skip all to ignore all suggestions for the underlined word.

      If you want to use and accept a specific suggestion for all the occurrences of the word in the future, click the selected example from the list.

      Check spelling and get suggestions is turned on by default. You can find it under the Tools tab as well.

      If you can't see red underlines, either all words are spelled correctly (congrats!), or the spell checker isn’t configured for your target language.

    • Click Filter  to filter for specific text or wording. All the results are highlighted in orange.

      You can filter by source or target text.

      You can also decide how you want to filter for text:

      • Case-sensitive: uppercase and lowercase letters need to be exactly as in the search term. Example: Filtering for "table" returns segments containing "table", but not "Table".

      • Any match: any part of the text can contain the search term. Example: Filtering for "table" returns segments containing "tables", but not "tabloid".

      • Words match: this option means that your search term must match whole words in the text. Example: Filtering for "table" returns segments containing "table", but not "tables".

      • Entire segment: this means memoQ only returns segments that fully match your search term. Example: Filtering for "table" returns only segments whose full text is "table".

      To confirm, click Apply filter.

      To clear the text field and filter for another phrase, click the Clear filter button below the dropdown list.

    • Click the Find and replace  icon to find specific text and then replace it.

      Find and replace functionality, showing two fields - find and replace with. Below those fields, there are three radio buttons - Both, Source, and Target, and two checkboxes - case-sensitive and words match. Next to them are the Replace, Find previous, and Find next buttons.

      You can also press Ctrl + F to place the cursor in the Find field.

      If text is already selected in the grid, it appears in the Find field automatically. Press Enter to search and highlight all matches. If you want to move to the Replace field, press Tab.

      Here you can:

      • Enter the text you are looking for, decide if you want to search in the source, target, or both languages.

        You can then decide if you want your search to be case-sensitive or if you want words to match your search term exactly. All the results are highlighted in orange.

      • Jump between the results by clicking the Find next and Find previous buttons.

      • In the Replace with field, enter the text you want to use to replace the current text and click the Replace button.

        To undo this action, press Ctrl+Z.

    • Use the dropdown at the top of the translation grid to sort or reorder the content:

      Sorting panel displaying No sorting message, and next to it there's a box showing number 5 - the row user is currently in.

      Next to the dropdown you can see the number of the segment you’re currently into.

      The default selection is No sorting, but you can choose from:

      • Alphabetical by source (A-Z)

      • Alphabetical by source (Z-A)

      • Alphabetical by target (A-Z)

      • Alphabetical by target (Z-A)

      • Source text length (shorter first)

      • Source text length (longer first)

      • Target text length (shorter first)

      • Target text length (longer first)

      • Match rate (lower first)

      • Match rate (higher first)

      • Frequency (lower first)

      • Frequency (higher first)

      • Last changed (older first)

      • Last changed (newer first)

      • Row status

  3. Use Concordance to search across your project’s translation memories and LiveDocs corpora, and get relevant matches for words, expressions, or similar translations. This way you can stay consistent.

  4. To check the suggestions, click the Translation results  icon on the right-side panel.

    Translation results are all the results from local and online translation resources attached to the project, including translation memories, LiveDocs, term bases, fragment searching, auto-translation rules, etc. Whenever you work on a document, the translation results list is always active.

    When looking up suggestions in TMs, term bases, or LiveDocs corpora, memoQ editor respects sublanguage settings. For example: en-US and en-GB can be treated as separate languages. This affects suggestions in the Translation results pane, Pre-translate, and more. The setting can be changed by a project manager in the general settings.

    Understand hits in the Translation results list

    In the Translation results list, memoQ editor can display:

    • Translation memory hits - marked with a red number.

    • Regular terms - marked with a blue number and highlighted in light blue in the translation editor.

    • Forbidden terms - marked with a black number and crossed out in the list. You can't use or insert them like regular terms.

    • Non-translatables - marked with a gray number and highlighted in light gray in the translation editor.

    Depending on the type of result you select, the Translation results list can look different.

    Display formatting and tags

    In addition to hit types, memoQ shows the true formatting and tags in hits, which helps you better understand match rates:

    • Hits display the same formatting as stored in the TM or LiveDocs.

    • Tags appear in the empty format under Translation results.

    • Both short and expanded result views use the same display for formatting and tags.

    This helps you see how formatting and tags affect match rates, even when compare boxes aren’t available in the Focus on row panel.

    View details and insert terms

    If you need more details about the selected suggestion, click Expand result. To check the important metadata, click Show metadata (this works only for TM hits).

    Translation results part of the memoQ showing translation memory hit with Expand result and Show metadata buttons and Translation memory name at the bottom.

    To insert a term into the segment, you can:

    • Press Ctrl and the number of the term you want to use (from 1 to 9), for example, Ctrl+8. You don’t have to select a specific word or phrase.

    • Double-click the term's row.

    Add a new term pair quickly

    You can quickly add a new term pair to your working term base with the Add terms now option. This adds the term immediately, without opening any additional dialog. You can update the term later if needed.

    To do this:

    1. Select text in both the source and target segments of the same row.

    2. On the menu, click Tools and select Add terms now, or press Ctrl + Q.

      This option works only when you select text in both source and target, the document’s languages match the term base languages, and a working term base is assigned.

    What happens after you add terms?

    memoQ:

    • Creates a new entry in the term base for new terms, using the source and target text you selected.

    • Fills in the project metadata and applies the term base’s defaults for new terms.

    • Reloads the term base hits for that row (so you can immediately see the new entry), if the Translation results or Focus on row panels are visible.

    • Highlights terms in light blue in the translation grid.

    • The Compare selected result option is visible by default, but you can minimize it if needed. To do so, click the arrow  next to the box name.

      Compare selected result window showing Active source segment, TM source text, TM target text.

      This section may look different depending on the translation result you choose to check.

  5. To get all the relevant information for the row being translated, click the Focus on row  icon on the right-side panel.

    Here you can check:

    • Translation results - all the suggestions for this specific row.

      These come from translation memories, term bases, and non-translatable lists in the project.

      Understand hits in the Translation results list

      In the Translation results list, memoQ editor can display:

      • Translation memory hits - marked with a red number.

      • Regular terms - marked with a blue number and highlighted in light blue in the translation editor.

      • Forbidden terms - marked with a black number and crossed out in the list. You can't use or insert them like regular terms.

      • Non-translatables - marked with a gray number and highlighted in light gray in the translation editor.

      Depending on the type of result you select, the Translation results list can look different.

      Display formatting and tags

      In addition to hit types, memoQ shows the true formatting and tags in hits, which helps you better understand match rates:

      • Hits display the same formatting as stored in the TM or LiveDocs.

      • Tags appear in the empty format under Translation results.

      • Both short and expanded result views use the same display for formatting and tags.

      This helps you see how formatting and tags affect match rates, even when compare boxes aren’t available in the Focus on row panel.

      View details and insert terms

      If you need more details about the selected suggestion, click Expand result. To check the important metadata, click Show metadata (this works only for TM hits).

      Translation results part of the memoQ showing translation memory hit with Expand result and Show metadata buttons and Translation memory name at the bottom.

      To insert a term into the segment, you can:

      • Press Ctrl and the number of the term you want to use (from 1 to 9), for example, Ctrl+8. You don’t have to select a specific word or phrase.

      • Double-click the term's row.

      • Add a new term pair quickly

      You can quickly add a new term pair to your working term base with the Add terms now option. This adds the term immediately, without opening any additional dialog. You can update the term later if needed.

      To do this:

      1. Select text in both the source and target segments of the same row.

      2. On the menu, click Tools and select Add terms now, or press Ctrl + Q.

        This option works only when you select text in both source and target, the document’s languages match the term base languages, and a working term base is assigned.

      What happens after you add terms?

      memoQ:

      • Creates a new entry in the term base for new terms, using the source and target text you selected.

      • Fills in the project metadata and applies the term base’s defaults for new terms.

      • Reloads the term base hits for that row (so you can immediately see the new entry), if the Translation results or Focus on row panels are visible.

      • Highlights terms in light blue in the translation grid.

    • Comments - the list shows all the comments added to this row. In the translation editor, the commented text is highlighted in green.

      There are three types of comment icons you can see in the memoQ editor:

      - no comments added yet

      - comments added by other users

      - your comments

      Here, you can:

      • Add a comment about a whole row - click its Add/view comment  icon.

      • Add comments to rows that already have comments. The comments list shows how many comments you and others added to each row.

        You can also click the Add/view comment  icon.

        The memoQ editor opens the comments for the row you're reviewing, and the number next to the icon shows the total count of comments for that row.

      • To edit or delete a comment, click the falafel menu  icon in the top-right corner of the comment. You can only edit or delete your own comments.

        To check all the comments, you can also click the Comments  icon on the right-side panel.

  6. To check reference files uploaded by your project manager:

    1. In the sidebar click the Reference files  icon.

    2. You'll see a list of downloadable files. You can sort them by file name, file type, or language.

    Reference files panel displaying a list of documents sorted by file name, including Instructions.txt, index-EN-final.html, REPORT-2022-2024-CONFIDENTIAL.docx, and Screenshot 2024-07-23 at 13.27.47.jpg. Each file entry includes sample text, language tags like German (ger-DE) and English (eng-US, eng-CA), multiple keyword tags, and download icons on the right.

    memoQ editor displays them in alphabetical order and includes:

    • Full name with extension

    • Description (if any)

    • Keywords (if any)

    • Source language

  7. To confirm a segment, press Ctrl + Enter. To reject a segment, press Shift + Enter.

    Those options are also available under the Segment tab, or simply by using the and buttons just above the target column.

    Depending on the action you take, memoQ editor displays an icon on the grid:

    • For confirmed rows - depending on who confirmed the row,  for translator,   for Reviewer 1, and  for Reviewer 2.

      When you confirm your translation, memoQ editor saves the translation in the document and in the working translation memory of the project.

    • For rejected rows – .

    • To select multiple segments: Click the first row to start, then hold Shift and click the last row to select everything in between or use the Up or Down arrow keys.

    • Ctrl+Shift+A selects all visible rows (filters applied).

    • Selecting is cleared when you click outside of the selection or start doing a different action in the editor.

    • Available actions for multiple rows include copy source, confirm, reject, clear, join, lock, and unlock.

  8. QA issues help you catch errors or inconsistencies in your translations. memoQ editor gives you flexible tools to filter, review, and manage warnings so you can focus only on what matters. Any segment with potential issues (e.g., missing punctuation, terminology mismatches) is marked with a warning .

    To start your review, click QA issues  in the right sidebar.

    Here you can:

    • See Active filters, which show your current view settings, at the top of the QA issues sidebar.

      To make your review easier, click  Change  under the current settings list and decide how you want to filter and group your QA issues.

      The interface showing options after you click the View options button. You can choose from (top row) All issues, Errors, Warnings, (middle row) Group by row, Group by issue type, (bottom row) Show ignored warnings toggle.

      Use the toggles to adjust what memoQ should show you:

      • Issues to show - All issues, only Errors, or only Warnings.

      • Warnings to show → All, Active, or Ignored (only available if you’re showing All issues or Warnings).

      • Group them by:

        • Row - display all issues identified for a specific row in one card. This option is set as default.

        • Category - display dropdowns with identified issues like consistency, numbers, or punctuation and whitespace.

        To save your new settings, click anywhere outside the panel.

    • Work with selected issues

      When you select one or more issues, a new row appears under Active filters showing 3 new options: Ignore selected, Restore selected, and Remove selection.

      QA issues panel in a translation tool showing active filters and issue actions. Row #2 is selected with icons indicating one error (red circle), one warning (orange triangle), and one information issue (gray triangle). Options include Ignore selected, Restore selected, and Remove selection.

      Depending on what issues you selected, the Ignore selected, Restore selected, or both options can be active.

    It is possible that during your work you'll see:

    • If you decide to group your warnings by Row, in the top-left corner of the card, memoQ editor shows you the row number, then the issue type and its description.

      If you decide to group your warnings by Category, in the top-left corner of the card, memoQ editor shows you the identified issue type, then the row number, and its description.

      To ignore a single warning, click the Ignore  icon on its card.

      To ignore all warnings of the same type, click Ignore this warning type . A dialog opens where you choose how you want to ignore them (options depend on the warning type).

      Dialog box titled 'Ignore warnings with the same'. Two radio button options: one for ignoring based on description, mentioning an alphanumeric code 'xxtt2023', and the other based on code and warning type '3304: Alphanumeric code added'. Apply and Cancel buttons at the bottom.

      Click Apply to confirm.

    • If you decide to group your warnings by Row, in the top-left corner of the card, memoQ editor shows you the row number, then the issue type and its description.

      If you decide to group your warnings by Category, in the top-left corner of the card, memoQ editor shows you the identified issue type, then the row number, and its description.

      To make your warning active again and take it into consideration, click Restore . The icon will change color back to yellow, and the field will be marked as an active warning.

    • Errors can't be ignored.

      If you decide to group your errors  by Row, in the top-left corner of the card, memoQ editor shows you the row number, then the issue type and its description.

      If you decide to group your errors by Category, in the top-left corner of the card, memoQ editor shows you the identified issue type, then the row number, and its description.

    Click the card of the error or warning you want to check and memoQ editor redirects you straight to the place in the translation grid.

  9. You can use the Preview pane at any time to see a real-time view of your translated document.

    You can move it to the top of the page (or back to the bottom), change its height, or just hide it if you don’t need it at the moment. Don’t worry, you can bring your hidden preview back at any time.

    To work with your Preview options, click the View tab and then choose Preview.

What's more

In memoQ editor, the status cells have background colors so you can see what happened to a selected row.

Status cell color Action What it looks like
White Not started
Orange Edited
Light green TR confirmed
Green R1 confirmed

Dark green

 R2 confirmed
Blue Pre-translated
Yellow Machine-translated
Red Rejected

You can edit the source text directly in the editor to fix errors before saving to TM.

To do that:

  1. Select the segment you want to edit.

  2. In the top menu, click Edit , and choose Edit source from the dropdown list. You can also press F2.

    This functionality won't work if you can’t edit the target segments (e.g., locked rows, rows outside your permission).

What happens next?

  • Editing activates the source segment with a blinking cursor.

  • You can edit text and inline tags (but not structural tags).

  • Status changes to Edited when source text is modified.

  • Editing ends and changes are saved when you click outside the source segment.

If you are a project manager or an admin, you can lock rows to prevent editing by linguists.

To do that, in the top menu click the Segment tab, and then from the dropdown list choose Lock/unlock segment.

You can also press Ctrl+Shift+L.

Locked rows show a lock icon and are excluded from editing. Unlocking removes the lock icon and allows editing. It's possible to lock or unlock multiple segments at once.

Tab Action Shortcut
Segment
  Confirm Ctrl + Enter
  Reject Shift + Enter
  Lock or unlock segment Ctrl + Shift+L
  Move up one row Alt+ Up arrow
  Move to the row on the left Alt+ Left arrow
  Move to the row on the ight Alt+ Right arrow
  Move down one row Alt+ Down arrow
  Move up by a single line of text Up arrow
  Move down by a single line of text Down arrow
Edit
  Undo Ctrl + Z
  Redo Ctrl + Y
  Cut Ctrl + X
  Copy Ctrl + C
  Paste Ctrl + V
  Select all segments Ctrl+ Shift + A
  Select a few segments Shift + Up or Down arrows
  Copy source to target Ctrl+ Shift + S
  Edit source F2
  Clear translations of selected segments Alt+C (Windows), ⌃⌥C (Mac)
  Add comment Ctrl + M
  Copy next tag sequence F9
  Find and replace Ctrl + F
Preview
  Hide preview Ctrl + P
  Show preview Ctrl + P
Format
  Bold Ctrl + B
  Italic Ctrl + I
  Underline Ctrl + U
  Toggle case Shift + F3
Tools
  Concordance Ctrl+ K
  Add terms now Ctrl + Q

When you finish

If your project settings allow you to, you can export the translated version of the document.

  1. First, check if you can do that:

    1. Under Help, click the My Task details panel.

    2. Under the Project rules section, you can see You can export the translated document: Yes / No.

      If you can see Yes, you're good to go.

  2. Then, export the document.

    1. Click Document in the menu, and select Export translated document.

      memoQ editor interface with the Document menu expanded. The dropdown shows two options: Export translated document and Pre-translate. Various editing and formatting icons are visible in the toolbar below.

      If the translation is complete and no errors are found, memoQ editor downloads the file based on your browser's settings.

      While exporting, the document becomes temporarily read-only.

    2. What if the translation isn't finished?

      Even if some segments are empty or contain errors, you can still export the file.

      Export unfinished document dialog showing a warning about exporting a document that isn't fully translated. Two checkbox options are available: one for saving the source in empty segments (checked), and another for using the source instead of autocorrection for tag errors (unchecked). At the bottom are two buttons: Cancel and Yes, export.

      At this point, you can choose how to handle not translated segments:

      • For empty segments, save the source in the exported document - to use source in the exported document.

      • For segments with tag errors, use source instead of autocorrection - to use source instead of trying to fix tags.

At this point you can deliver your translation.

To do this:

  1. In the top-right corner of the screen, click the Deliver button.

    The confirmation window opens:

    Confirmation window showing the "Done with your task? Click deliver to complete the process." text and below the Cancel and Deliver buttons.

    Sometimes you won't be able to deliver your translation due to errors or issues that need your attention, for example:

    Confirmation window showing the "You can't deliver this document yet. Check all the rows in the document. Some of them aren't Reviewer 2 confirmed. There are still 12 QA errors in this document." text and below the Cancel and Return document buttons.

    In such cases, memoQ editor displays the necessary info in the confirmation window, letting you know what to do next. Above, you can see the button says Return document as this is the recommended action.

  2. If you’re sure you want to deliver your translation and there are no issues or errors, click the Deliver button.

    To go back to the document, click Cancel.

  3. After delivering your task, the memoQ editor displays the confirmation banner at the top of the screen.