They ain't heavy, they're my resources!
Getting along with three types of resources in memoQ
Resource can be a confusing term in memoQ World. Some are, in fact, “heavy” despite the disclaimer in the title of this article, but most are light, and there are others.
If you don't know what a "light resource" or a "heavy resource" is, see the definition in the memoQ glossary. The glossary also provides explanations of many other terms you may encounter in our translation space.
For most light resource configurations — for example auto-translation rules, segmentation rules, import filter configurations and QA profiles — there are three places where you can import, delete and otherwise manage them. These are:
the memoQ Resource Console,
Options and the
Settings page of a project.
There are some exceptions. For example, keyboard shortcuts and web search configurations are managed only in the Resource Console and the Options as of memoQ version 11, and AutoCorrect resources are managed in the Resource Console, Options, and the Translation ribbon in an open project, under Translation Settings.
The memoQ quick access toolbar at the top left of the software window provides ready access to the Resource Console (fourth icon from the left, address book) and the Options (third icon from the left, gear wheels).
The Resource Console
In the screenshot of the the memoQ Resource Console above, the red outlined box encompasses light resource configurations. The four resource caregories above that — translation memories, term bases, LiveDocs corpora and Muses — are heavy resources. That's simply some jargon dreamed up years ago by the original developer who considered them more important. You’re allowed to have another opinion about such things, but the jargon is what it is.
The Options dialog
The Default resources in the memoQ Options are all light resources. Resources selected here are assigned by default to new projects unless the project is created using a template and a different resource is specified. memoQ web search configurations for all projects must be selected or changed here.
In an open project
The project Settings are another important place for managing light resources. Selections made here have only project scope, i.e. they affect only the project which is currently open. Resources such as QA profiles, auto-translation rules and others in this dialog can be changed as often as desired. I myself often switch QA profiles in order to do focused checks on different things.
When exported, all light resources have the file extension *.mqres.
Heavy resources can be created, imported, deleted, edited, exported, cloned and renamed (in the Properties) in the Resource Console and on the corresponding pages of Project home. Term bases, for instance:
Last, but definitely not least….
The memoQ Regex Assistant is a library tool which comprises its own resource category. It contains a collection of annotated regular expressions which can be applied in quite a number of contexts in memoQ. Its exported collections have the file extension *.xml.
All management operations (adding resources, editing and exporting) take place in the Regex Assistant dialog, which is accessed by clicking the Rx button in various contexts of memoQ.
Which resources in memoQ are most important for your work, and what others do you feel the need to master? Tell me in the comments.
re the jargon: the etymology of light vs heavy resources is based on the distinction that light resources are small files, basically just settings (with a few exceptions such as stop word lists), while heavy resources have a substantial amount of text content, in one or more languages (I think muses don't, but I never checked one).