Translation memory management made simple (and more efficient)

As Transit NXT's translation memory is file-based, you have absolute flexibility when it comes to managing your translation memory (also referred to as "reference material" in Transit). For example, after completing a translation project in Transit NXT, you can simply leave the bilingual or multilingual file pairs in the working folder of the project. When you start a new assignment, you can then include the working folder of the previous project as a reference folder or the previous project as a reference project. As easy and simple as this is, after a while you might lose track of all the projects that you have translated, so this approach may no longer be sufficient. However, there are other more sophisticated methods for managing your translation memory and Transit provides you with the right features to hugely simplify this task. 

Create a copy of your translation memory

We recommend that you always create a copy of your translation memory for the following reasons, among others: 

• You may wish to change translations in your translation memory but you may not want to change the file pairs you delivered to the client.
• Your translation memory may get very big over time and you may need to reduce its size.
• You may wish to store different language pairs separately.
• You may wish to categorize your language pairs semantically (different product ranges, models, machine types). 
• You may wish to convert the whole translation memory of a client to TMX to use it in another tool or to deliver it to the client.

To create a copy of your project files, you need to copy the files of your working folder to another folder, your "reference folder". In order to relate the copied files in the reference folder to their original projects, you may choose to identify the files in some way. In short, you wish to copy and rename the files at the same time. To do so via Windows Explorer or another file management tool can be tedious and time-consuming, which is where Transit's Destination folder for reference material feature comes into play.

Destination folder for reference material

The Destination folder for reference material dialogue box simplifies the previously-mentioned file management tasks enormously.

To open the dialogue, select Reference Material from the Resource bar and then Copy current project to reference folder in the menu.

The Destination folder for reference material dialogue box opens. Here, you can choose from a variety of options to control the copying process. 

The Destination folder for reference material dialogue box allows you to carry out the following tasks:

• Select a Destination folder to copy the project language pairs into. By default, Transit uses the reference material folder for the project as the destination folder for the copying process, but you can also choose any other folder by clicking on the Browse button.
• Copy project language pairs:
  • Copy unchanged: Transit copies the files without changing the names of the language pairs, i.e., it copies the files "as is", without prefixing them and without creating a subfolder with the project name.
  • Add file-name prefix: Transit copies the files and adds a prefix to the language pair names. By default, it uses the project name as the prefix, but you can also modify the prefix as you wish.
• Copy to <project name> subfolder: Transit creates a subfolder in the reference folder and copies the files to that subfolder. By default, it uses the project name as the name for the subfolder.

In all cases, Transit recreates complex folder structures in the reference folder that may exist in the working folder.

• Use as default for customer: the options that you choose for a project for a given customer are always used by default for all subsequent projects of that customer.

Once you have chosen the options you need, all you have to do is click OK and all the file management tasks are carried out automatically. As Transit remembers your choices, this task becomes even easier with subsequent projects. 

The advantages of using this dialogue box for your translation memory management tasks are manifold:

• Simplification and standardization of complex file management tasks.
• Systematic, less error-prone file management procedure.
• Enhanced project management productivity.

Thank you for reading, we hope you find this tooltip useful in your day-to-day work with Transit NXT. Please let us know what you think and stay tuned for further tips & tricks that will help you to better manage your translation memory.