Translation Memory Management

This article is for Account Owners and Project Managers. Project Managers also have access to all translation memories for all projects, and not just the projects to which they are assigned.

Smartling facilitates the creation of new TMs and the management of existing ones. Smartling's Translation Memory Management (TMM) provides powerful search capabilities within a TM, the ability to move content between TMs, delete content, export content, as well as insight into the history of a string within a TM.

To access all of Smartling's Translation Memory Management features, log in to Smartling and go to Assets > Translation Memory. There are several actions you'll be able to take, such as:

Create a Translation Memory

Within Smartling, you can create a completely new translation memory or import a TMX file into an existing translation memory. (To apply a TM to a leverage configuration, see Configure Translation Memory Leverage.)

Import a TMX File

A TMX (Translation Memory Exchange) file is a file format used for exchanging translation memory data created by a CAT tool. This is useful if you're migrating from another tool or process, to Smartling.

To import a TMX into a translation memory, click the more icon and select Import TMX File. For more information on TMX files, see Upload a Translation Memory.

To see a list of all imported TMX files, click the View TMX Import History link.

For subsequent imports of the same TMX file, with the same naming convention, the previous TMX import will be overwritten.

View TM Details

To view the details of your translation, click the more icon and select Details. You'll be able to view details about the following:

Created By
Created On
Last Modified By
Last Modified On
Active Package (linguistic package with a direct to it)
Leverage Configuration (with a direct link to it)
Target Language (and the number of strings/words associated with it)

Rename a TM

To rename a translation memory, click the more icon and select Rename. Enter a new name and click Confirm.

Search

Search Within a TM

Search is based on keyword search and not fuzzy matching, as Smartling uses a different algorithm for that. You can only search within a given TM and not across all TMs.

Click on the name of a TM. There are several ways you can search or filter for a string:

Keywords: Source or target keyword
Languages: Target language
Linguist Action: Name of the user who last saved or authorized the string
Dates: Date last authorized or date that the translation was saved
Project: Project name
String Metadata: Variant, Key
Content Sources: File, URL

Search Multiple TMs At Once

You can search multiple translation memories at once. When you select a TM, you'll see on the left hand side of the page that there's a Translation Memories drop down menu where you can select all TMs or just certain ones from which to search.

If there are TMs containing different source languages that are being searched, the Move and Export actions will not work. For example, if you're attempting to move or export strings from an English (USA) TM to an English (UK) TM. Of course, if all TMs have the same source language, then Move and Export are possible.

Move, Export, Delete Content

You can move content to another TM, export content from a TM, and delete content within a TM. If the same string is stored in multiple TMs, you will need to move, delete, or edit in multiple TMs.

To move, export, or delete content, go to your list of translation memories (Assets > Translation Memory), and click the name of the relevant TM. You'll then see the Move, Export, and Delete buttons.

Move Content to Another TM

Search or filter for strings that you wish to move to another TM with the same source language, then select the strings and click Move. You'll then be prompted to select the appropriate translation memory.

Export Content From a TM

Search for strings that you wish to export from the TM, then select the strings and click Export. You can essentially export an entire translation memory or only export a portion of a TM based on specific search criteria. For example, you might search for only content that was translated in the last 6-months, and wish to export that as a TMX file.

To export an entire translation memory, without having to click on each individual string, go to your full list of TMs. Click the more icon and select Export TM. All strings within that TM will be exported. An email will be sent to your email address with a link to download the generated TMX file.

Delete Content Within a TM

Occasionally, you may want to pare down your translation memory to ensure that only the most appropriate content is in it. Search or filter for strings that you wish to delete from the TM, and click Delete. You'll be prompted to confirm the action.

Deleting individual strings is permanent, and will affect all projects leveraging the TM. (If you think you may want to recover this content in the future, as a workaround, you could create a TM, name it something like "Deleted Content", and then move the unwanted content to this TM.) In the future, if the same translation appears again, and is saved, it will be added back to the TM.

Editing

When hovering over a TM string, you’ll see a link to “Edit Translation”. Clicking this link allows you to edit one string at at time.

This feature allows you to edit one string at a time.

There are no quality checks that are performed here like there are when editing in the CAT tool.

You can:

Save: This updates the translation of the string within the Translation Memory only. Fuzzy matches and SmartMatches in the future will use this new translation.
Save & Update Projects: This updates the translation of your string within the Translation Memory and will propagate to strings within your project that have used the same translation.
Cancel: To cancel any changes that may have been made, and exit editing.

The propagate function can cause updates to your published or pre-published translations. This can trigger downstream behaviors like notifications, Translation Cache refresh, or file download, depending on your integration setup.

Update Project Strings

Update project strings is an important feature that's available in both single string edit, and Find and Replace. Choosing this option will update the translation of your string within the Translation Memory, and will update strings within projects that have used the same translation. The project strings will be updated in whatever step they're currently in, whether that's a translation step or a published step.

To illustrate how this works, imagine a string in a project called "Business Docs" is translated and saved to the TM. Later, the exact same source string appears in a different project, "Email Marketing". This repetition gets Smartmatched from the translation that was already in the TM. If the TM translation is updated and Update Project Strings is selected, the strings in both "Business Docs" and "Email Marketing" projects will be automatically updated.

Find and Replace

Find and Replace is a powerful feature allowing you to change large numbers of translation memory strings at once.

To use Find and Replace:

Search for the word you’d like to replace by first doing a Target Keyword search.
Select the strings you’d like to replace.
Click on the Actions button and choose Find and Replace.
In the resulting modal that pops up, fill in the replacement wording in the “Replacement Text” field.
You may optionally choose to update project strings.
Click “Replace”.

Note that if many strings are selected it may take some time to calculate the number of strings that will be replaced. This is because Find and Replace is more precise in choosing text than the standard Target Keyword search, and does its own search through all selected strings to ensure only the exact characters are replaced.

Bulk Replace

To do a bulk replace, select all strings on the page, then click “Select all strings matching current filter”.

Delete a TM

Deleting an entire TM is permanent and will affect all projects leveraging the TM. (If you think you may want to recover this content in the future, as a workaround, you could create a TM, name it something like "Deleted Content", and then move the unwanted content to this TM.)

Find the TM that you wish to delete. Click the more icon and select Delete Translation Memory.

The Delete Translation Memory dialog will appear. In this example, the TM is still being used by a linguistic package.

If the TM is not being used by a linguistic package, you'll be prompted to confirm the deletion.

View History of a String

To view the history of a string (such as the Translator's name, completion date, project name, and the person who authorized the content), click the clock icon within the History column.

For project specific string history, use the History feature by going to Content > Translations (also referred to as the "List View").