This guide is meant to help Linguists learn about functions of memoQ they will encounter in everyday work for Codex. For guidelines on how to install memoQ and other basic setup instructions, please consult our Knowledge Base articles. For detailed explanations of other functions, please consult the extensive memoQ help website.
Personalise your memoQ options
The memoQ Options allow you to control the behaviour of memoQ and change some default settings. 
Appearance
Under Appearance, you can make the translation editor and the translation results list more readable. You can change the font face, the font size of both the program and the segments, and the colours that memoQ uses in those places.
We recommend you leave the user interface language set to English so that others can easily recognize sections of memoQ should you ever require help.
Spelling and Grammar
To use spell checking in memoQ, you need to set up the spell checker for each target language you work with. You can do this on the Spelling and grammar pane of the Options window.
If Microsoft Word is installed on your computer, memoQ can use Word‘s spell checkers. If Word is not on the computer, or it does not have a spell checker for the language you need, you can set up Hunspell for that language.
We currently prefer Word’s spell checker. Please make sure the correct Language Pack is installed on your computer.
1. Under Language-dependent settings, choose a language from the dropdown.
2. If you choose a language that has sublanguages (for example, English can be English (US), English (UK), etc.), the list of available dictionaries shows up in the bottom half. Check the one you need.
There are two ways to check spelling in memoQ: continuous spell checking will underline unrecognized words as you type; in addition, the Spell checking window allows you to go through any unrecognized words one by one.
Click the Microsoft Word radio button both under Curly underlines and under Spell checking dialog.
Click Apply/OK. You are ready: memoQ can check spelling in the selected language.
Miscellaneous
The Miscellaneous pane offers several options to control many things about memoQ, for example:
- Translation: Options about confirming segments and showing progress
- Import/Export: Choose how memoQ imports and exports documents
- Lookup results: Controls how memoQ displays suggestions for segments, and what those suggestions are.
- Languages: Controls which languages memoQ shows at the top of lists.
Usually, the default settings are fine. Feel free to change settings as you become more familiar with the tool, though.
Essential shortcuts
Default shortcuts
| The Essentials | |
| Confirm | Ctrl+Enter |
| Confirm Without Update | Ctrl+Shift+Enter |
| Move to Next | Ctrl+Down |
| Move to Previous | Ctrl+Up |
| Find | Ctrl+F |
| Replace | Ctrl+H |
| Redo | Ctrl+Y |
| Undo | Ctrl+Z |
| Frequent symbols | |
| Special character — (EM DASH) | Ctrl+Alt+OemMinus |
| Special character – (EN DASH) | Ctrl+OemMinus |
| Special character (NO-BREAK SPACE) | Ctrl+Shift+Space |
| Resolve errors and warnings in QA | |
| Apply Auto Correction | Ctrl+Alt+Space |
| Ignore And Move To Next | Ctrl+Space |
| Next | Ctrl+Down |
| Previous | Ctrl+Up |
| Segment Editor | |
| Add Term… | Ctrl+E |
| Bold | Ctrl+B |
| Concordance… | Ctrl+K |
| Copy | Ctrl+C |
| Copy Next Tag Sequence | F9 |
| Copy Selection To Target | Ctrl+Shift+T |
| Copy Source To Target | Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Cut | Ctrl+X |
| Insert All Tags | Alt+F8 |
| Italic | Ctrl+I |
| Join Segments | Ctrl+J |
| Look Up Term… | Ctrl+P |
| MT Concordance… | Ctrl+Shift+K |
| Paste | Ctrl+V |
| Remove All Tags | Ctrl+F8 |
| Select All Text | Ctrl+A |
| Split Segment | Ctrl+T |
| Subscript | Ctrl+Shift+Add |
| Superscript | Ctrl+Add |
| Track Changes | Ctrl+Shift+X |
| Underline | Ctrl+U |
| Translation document | |
| Spelling/Grammar… | F7 |
| Switch View Pane Content | F10 |
| Toggle Tag Insertion Mode | F6 |
| Toggle Text Marking Mode | Ctrl+Shift+M |
Individual shortcuts
In memoQ, you can change most keyboard shortcuts. The keyboard shortcuts are grouped in categories. You can edit them directly in the Customize memoQ shortcuts window.
On the Quick access toolbar, click Options.
In the Options window, choose Keyboard shortcuts.
If the list has the Default shortcut set only: Select it and click Clone. Clone it or create a new one before editing. The Clone keyboard shortcut set into a new resource window appears. Type a name for the new shortcut set. Click OK. In the Keyboard shortcuts list, select the new shortcut set.
What can you do?
1. To find a command: First, you need to find the category it’s in. To expand a category, click its name. To collapse a category, click its name again.
2. To find a command by name: At the top, type part of the name in the Search commands box. As you type, categories with matching commands open.
3. To change a keyboard shortcut: Select the command. Click the Edit icon.
4. Press the keyboard shortcut. If the shortcut you press is already assigned to another command, it appears below the box:
5. To save the new shortcut: Click the plus sign next to the box.
We’d strongly recommend changing the Default shortcut of either Select All Segments (Ctrl+Shift+A) or Copy Source to Target (Ctrl+Shift+S) as using both commands in quick succession can accidentally cause your translations to be overwritten if your fingers slip:
- To remove a keyboard shortcut: Select the command. Click the red X next to it.
- To save the changes in the shortcuts and return to Options: Click OK.
- To return to Options, and not save the changes: Click Cancel.
Don’t forget to activate the new shortcuts: After you save the shortcuts, the Options window returns. In the Keyboard shortcuts pane, check the check box of the shortcut set you just customized ☑. The new shortcuts will work all over memoQ, in every project.
Workflow statuses
Documents in memoQ can go through three stages: Translation, Review 1, and Review 2.
In each stage, the document task has one of three status values: Not started, In progress, or Finished.
When you open a job you previously checked out from the server, memoQ will indicate whether changes have been made to the previously synchronized version by showing you this pop-up:
You can tell the workflow status by looking at the different symbols, and/or hovering over them to read the pop-up, and/or the progress percentage. For example:
The second translation is finished but has not been delivered.
Please note, Review 1 and/or Review 2 may be used by Project Managers or Quality Assurance Managers for the LQA step. This does not mean your translation was proofread.
Tags
Source segments often contain tags and it’s important you understand what to do with them. As a rule of thumb, tags used in a source segment should be replicated in the translated segments, but there are some exceptions.
Pressing F9 will insert the next tag in the correct order. Other ways of inserting tags are explained here and below.
You should start off with your inline tags set to be displayed as long with type, name, and all attributes. With experience, you may want to switch to short (or toggle between the two as you work through the project). memoQ versions 9.12. and newer versions number short tags, which makes it much easier to compare TT and ST tags.
View comparison:
XML and HTML tags
XML and HTML tags represent non-translatables, formatting, inline images, line breaks, etc. They can appear as opening tags, closing tags, or empty tags.
XML tags are customizable and often client-specific, so you won’t always know what they mean. The easiest way to avoid QA warnings and wrong tag insertions is to use the copy source to target shortcut and replace the source text with the target translation, ensuring that semantic elements are placed between tags as similarly to the source as possible.
HTML tags are instructions that tell a web browser how to format text. Its language is always the same. It’s helpful to familiarise yourself with the most important entity codes, so you know whether or not you should insert them in your translation.
| <img> = images | & = the ampersand symbol & |
| <alt> = alternative text | = non-breaking space |
| <b> = bold text | " = quotation marks “ ” |
| <i> = italicised text | <div> = a division or section in a document |
| <br> = line break | ' or ' = apostrophe |
If in doubt, please check the meaning of HTML tags online on websites such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XML_and_HTML_character_entity_references and https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_br
When to omit tags
Sometimes you should not copy the tag sequence of the target segment, either because the tags are unnecessary, unusual, or unapplicable.
In this example, the linguist decided that the ampersand was unsuitable and replaced it with the German translation of “and”. They maintained the correct spacing and resolved the resulting QA warning accordingly.
Sometimes, spaces used in PPT files are imported as SPC tags:
Linguists are free to use regular spaces instead.
Other target tags to look out for include language-specific letters (e.g. ü, ñ, Ø, ą) and punctuation (e.g. the English apostrophe S). It’s important to omit those if they aren’t used in the target word (e.g. The minister’s recommendation = La recomendación del ministro, ≠ La recomendación’ del ministro or La recomendación del ministro’).
Pre-delivery checks
Before you deliver a job on memoQ, you need to run a few checks to ensure optimal quality.
Consistency
- Make use of the Translation Memory during the translation/proofreading process to ensure terminology/taglines etc. are used consistently across projects the account. TM matches on the right can be helpful, but it is very important to also look up terms and phrases using the Concordance Search!
- Using Auto-propagation ensures that the translation of repeated segments is consistent. Repetitions are confirmed automatically. When using auto-propagation, you must make sure that repeated segments don’t actually require different translations in different contexts!
Set the direction of auto-propagation – normally, memoQ updates the repeated segments in the rest of the document: in the segments after the current one.
If you need to update segments before and after the current segment, click the Propagate backward and forward radio button.
Propagating backward and forward can be useful in particularly long jobs but applicability will vary depending on language and contents of the segment, in case they are context-dependent.
If memoQ is set to propagate backward and forward, and you want to return to the forward-only way: Click the Propagate only forward radio button.
3. MemoQ can check the consistency of entire segments in the Quality Assurance run. Please assess the validity of the inconsistencies indicated and resolve them accordingly.
If you use auto-propagation during the translation or review phase, segments will only be confirmed automatically in the respective document, the TM entry will not be overwritten. Inconsistent TM entries will consequently be flagged. To avoid this, and to ensure the TM is up-to-date, please use your Select All Segments shortcut and confirm all segments using Ctrl + Enter before running the QA check.
4. It is also extremely helpful to make note of frequently used terms while working on a job. This can be done on a piece of paper or a digital notepad:
Once you have completed a job, please make extensive use of the Source and Target search boxes and the Find and/or Find/Replace functions to ensure consistency of relevant terms and phrases.
However, there are instances when inconsistencies are acceptable. A linguist’s best judgement should be applied in such cases.
Quality Assurance
memoQ automatically runs quality checks as you confirm segments. If it finds something it will indicate it with a highlighted bolt. You can resolve quality errors immediately by double-clicking the bolt. You can also deal with such warnings after completing your job during the Quality Assurance check.
Before delivering a job, it is paramount that you run a Quality Assurance check as there are some things memoQ doesn’t check automatically. All projects coming from Codex will have pre-set QA settings, either called CODEX_DEFAULT or a specific account name:
To run a QA, go to the Review ribbon and click Quality Assurance.
It will open the following pop-up window:
Always make sure that ‘Active Document’ and ‘Proceed to resolve warning after QA’ are both ticked (they should be ticked automatically). Once OK is pressed, memoQ will process a check:
You may need patience: Depending on the size of your project, it may take several minutes to collect the affected segments.
The Resolve errors and warnings tab will open.
- Review the list of warnings. You can organize them by category by clicking the Description tab.
- The last column shows whether this is an error:
or a warning:
- Document: This column shows the name of the document that contains the issue.
- Row: This column shows the number of the segment in which the error/warning was encountered.
- Code: This column shows the internal code of the issue.
- Description: This column indicates the textual description of the issue.
- Ignore: Check the appropriate check boxes in this column to ignore the related warning. Errors cannot be ignored.
- The last column shows whether this is an error:
- Move around the list. Edit and confirm segments.
- To move down the list, use Ctrl+Down.
- When you select an issue, memoQ shows the entire segment at the top.
- At the top of the Resolve errors and warnings tab, you can edit the segment. This is similar to the translation editor.
- Corrections may appear in the target cell: If memoQ can suggest a correction (for example, adding an inline tag), it usually appears in the target cell. To accept the correction, click Apply Auto correction or press Ctrl+Alt+Space.
- To confirm a segment, and update the document: Press Ctrl+Enter. This will update the working translation memory, too.
- Ignore warnings.
- You can find a complete list of default memoQ warnings here: https://docs.memoq.com/current/en/Things/things-quality-assurance-qa-warnings.html
- Errors cannot be ignored.
- Some – in fact, many – warnings can be false alarms. You can ignore these. On the Review ribbon, there are three commands for this:
- You can click the corresponding Ignore box on the right of the segment or pressing the shortcut Ctrl+Space.
- For warnings that appear several times, you can speed up the process by clicking the Ignore label below the Ignore icon at the top:
- Ignore and move to next: Ignores the current warning, and moves to the next one. For this, you can click also the Ignore icon, or press Ctrl+Space.
- Ignore all of this kind: Ignores the current warning, and all others that have same type. Use this if an entire type of warning is a false alarm.
- Ignore all for this row: There may be several warnings for one single segment.
- When you have finished the Quality Assurance check, close the Resolve errors and warnings tab by clicking the Close button on the tab itself.
You should never deliver a document with QA warnings that have not been resolved or marked as Ignore, as this step is an intrinsic part of the work placed with you under your purchase order.
Spelling
Once you’ve set up the spell checking options correctly, memoQ will normally underline spelling errors with red, and grammar problems with blue. To correct an error while working on a job, right-click the underlined word or sentence, and choose a suggestion from the menu – or edit the text manually.
To run a final spellcheck before delivering a job, you need to open the Spell checking window.
On the Translation ribbon, click Spelling/Grammar. Or press F7.
The Spell checking window opens. It keeps you waiting until it finds the first spelling error.
Go through the spelling errors in the document and decide what to do about each.
When memoQ stops at an error, choose one of the following:
- Correct the error just this once: From the Suggestions list, choose a suggestion, or type the correction in the Replacement box. Click Correct.
- Correct the error everywhere in the document: From the Suggestions list, choose a suggestion, or type the correction in the Replacement box. Click Change all.
- Ignore the error just this once: Click Skip.
- Ignore the same error everywhere in the document: Click Skip All.
- Tell memoQ that this is not a spelling error: Click Add. memoQ will add this to an ignore list if it has been set-up by a Project Manager beforehand.
After spell checking finishes, the Grammar checking window opens.
When memoQ stops at an error, choose one of the following:
- Correct the error just this once: From the Suggestions/rules list, choose a suggestion, or type the correction in the Replacement box. Click Correct.
- To mark this finding correct and continue: Click the Ignore once button.
- To leave this finding marked as an error and continue: Click the Skip button.
Leaving comments for others
You may have to or want to leave comments on memoQ for other Linguists, Project Managers, or Quality Assurance Managers. Please refrain from making extensive use of the comment function. It should only be used for instances such as:
- Errors in the source that allow for different interpretations. Briefly explain the issue and describe how you went about resolving it.
- Possibly controversial translation choices you want to explain to the proofreader.
- Alternative translations, especially in creative translation jobs.
- Important deviations from the TM, 100% matches etc.
- Errors in locked segments.
There are different ways of adding comments on memoQ:
- For individual words:
Highlight the word/phrase in question in the source or target segment, right-click to select Comment, or use the command Ctrl+M, or go to the Quick Access/Translation/Review ribbon and select Comments.
- For an entire segment:
Right-click on either the source or target segment to select Comment, or use the command Ctrl+M, or go to the Quick Access/Translation/Review ribbon and select Comments.
Make sure to notify your project manager that you have left comments in memoQ, either via email, or as a message in the job Delivery field on the Codex Portal.
Delivery
If you’re the translator of a job, click Deliver/Return in the Documents ribbon to deliver a job. No additional window will open. memoQ will simply deliver the job.
If you’re the reviewer of a document, you can choose to deliver it, or to send it back to the previous step. You should only do this if it has previously been agreed on with the Project Manager.
Whether it’s a translation or review, all segments must be confirmed before you can deliver or return it.
For instructions on how to deliver your job on the Codex Portal after delivering in memoQ, please refer to the following article: https://help.codexglobal.net/kb/codex-portal-guide-for-suppliers/
Post-delivery changes
After you have delivered a job on memoQ as a translator or proofreader, it will be locked and is no longer available for you to edit. This will be indicated by the following pop-up message:
However, you may have to make changes to a job post-delivery.
If, for example, you notice a missed typo or wrong term, please notify the Project Manager in charge of the job as soon as possible. They will then unlock it so you can make the changes accordingly. Please note, you will have to confirm all edited segments.
This also applies if you notice mistakes in a job that you translated and someone else proofread. If you check the proofread version for feedback (see below) and spot any discrepancies, please notify the Project Manager in charge as soon as possible.
Checking changes and feedback
Some, but not all, of your work will be proofread by another Linguist. You can either ask the Project Manager in charge if that is the case or check Plunet/memoQ to see whether a proofreading step has been added.
If your work is proofread by another Linguist, it is well worth checking any changes made to learn from them.
Access your memoQ dashboard and scroll down to find the respective job or use the search bar accordingly.
When you open the job, memoQ will inform you that changes have been made to it. Click “Yes” to synchronize and view the proofreader’s changes:
Open the file as usual.
The following warning will let you know that you won’t be able to make any changes as your role in this job is no longer the active one. Click OK to close.
Some proofreaders may leave helpful comments:
In this example, the word highlighted in blue and the yellow speech bubble on the right indicate that a comment has been left. Double-click the speech bubble or hover over the highlighted word to read it.
However, since most Linguists will not leave comments, it is important for you to check what changes they made and analyse them for helpful tips and tricks you can then apply in future jobs.
If the proofreader used tracked changes, you will see their changes immediately.
If they didn’t, there are some other ways of having memoQ display applied changes.
memoQ automatically creates and stores document versions at the different stages of the workflow. The easiest way to compare versions is to create a Word document with tracked changes. To do so, go to the Documents ribbon, click Versions, followed by History/Reports.
The History and reports window opens:
The pane is separated into Major and Minor versions of the document and includes information on version number, user (last person who worked on the document), action (status of the document), and additional details.
To create a Word file with tracked changes, select the first version of the document you want to compare, click Shift on your keyboard, and select the second version of the document you want to compare the first version to.
The Export difference as change-tracked Word file button will turn blue. Click it to create the desired file.
Store the file in the project folder you created when you first started working on the project or anywhere else where you’ll find it.
The Word file will highlight any changes made to your translation as tracked changes:
Carefully check all changes made. Decide whether they are necessary or preferential changes and process the feedback accordingly.
Alternative:
memoQ also has a function that allows you to highlight tracked changes within the program. However, due to different workflow statuses and importing/exporting issues, this function is not always reliable.
When checking the proofread version of your translation, you can try this function by going to the Review ribbon and clicking Compare Versions.
From the drop-down menu, select Custom.
Then select your translation (in this example version 1.2) as the “base for comparison”:
Once you click OK, memoQ will show you the following warning:
Click OK to continue. This does not affect the finalized version of the job.
memoQ then highlights all changes made after you delivered your translation. In this example, a missing word was added:
If you go back to the Compare Versions button you can now select Export Changes to Word to create the same Word file described above to save it for future reference.
