Tansy wrote:
I can export a "Trados-compatible bilingual doc".
Yes, erm... no. The "Trados-compatible bilingual doc" that MemoQ means is an old bilingual format that was used by Trados many, many years ago (more than a decade ago, in fact). It is also known as an "uncleaned RTF" file. It is intended for people who still use Trados 6 or Trados 2007, or for people who use Wordfast Classic. You would not be doing your modern client any favours if you send him such a file.
If I do that, I'm assuming I can then somehow import this file back into Trados Studio 2017 and create an SDLXLIFF file to send to the customer from there...
I'm not sure if Trados 2019 is able to "clean" an uncleaned RTF (i.e., add its translations to an existing TM), but even if you could, you can't just convert that into an SDLXLIFF file. You have to create an SDLXLIFF file from the original source document. Then, if you have the translations available in a TM (e.g. if you were able to add the translations from your uncleaned RTF file to the TM), then you can quickly translate the SDLXLIFF file against that TM.
Odds are that even if you can add the translations from an uncleaned RTF file to a TM in Trados 2019, the formatting will be lost and you won't get exact matches for an SDLXLIFF file generated from the same source file (and neither will your client!).
If you do the translation in MemoQ, you may be able to export your translations from MemoQ as a TMX file, and then import the TMX file into a Trados TM, and then use that TM to quickly translate a project in Trados, but the same problems w.r.t. formatting apply.
I have received a Word file from a customer and the customer would like me to deliver an SDLXLIFF file in addition to the Word file.
It sounds to me like you do have Trados. So, create a new project in Trados, and then add the source file to it so that it creates an SDLXLIFF file. Then translate that SDLXLIFF file in MemoQ directly (i.e., don't translate the Word file in MemoQ).