Use any memoQ TMs anywhere

A little known, versatile tool for leveraging translation memories

Did you know that every installation of a memoQ desktop edition (Translator Pro or Project Manager) includes a search tool that allows any local memoQ TM not currently open in a project to be used for

• free text searches of source or target languages in any application and

• copy and paste of source or target texts into that application

even if your local memoQ isn’t running? That’s the magic of the memoQ TM Search tool. And it’s been around for more than a decade now.

Every installed version of memoQ includes the TM search tool!

Configure the search with any local memoQ translation memories you want, with or without language restrictions.

Once you’ve selected the TMs, these keyboard shortcuts control the fuzzy search:

Ctrl+Shift+Q    Starts the search tool and searches for any text on the Windows Clipboard.

Ctrl+C    Copies new text to the TM search window and executes a search.

Ctrl+Alt+C    Copies the target text of a selected match to the Clipboard.

Ctrl+Shift+C    Copies the source text of a selected match to the Clipboard.

Ctrl+V    Pastes the Clipboard text into another application.

Search example with EN+IT and EN+DE translation memories while editing this article

I use this search tool for:

• lookups in huge TMs that slow memoQ down too much if attached to a project (like massive DGT translation memories)

• finding information in a local memoQ TM when I’m translating in any other local or web-based CAT tool and copy the source or target text into that application

• research while I’m reading or writing articles in any application

This can be particularly helpful when working in applications that try to restrict the reference data available to you. And the ability to search translation memories in any language can help in situations where terms in a language which is not part of the project can offer useful guidance on what the right expression might be in a current project language pair.