How to remove tags in .mqxlz files in Memoq 8.5? Big problem.
Thread poster: Małgorzata Gardocka
Małgorzata Gardocka
Małgorzata Gardocka  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 01:55
Member (2010)
German to Polish
+ ...
Aug 15, 2019

Dear colleagues,

I have a big problem, namely that I have many .mqxlz files to translate, in which there are many
tags.
The translation itself is a rather easy one, but my time is unproductively used up by inserting these
tags in the source column of Memoq 8.5.
This insertion takes more time than the translation.
Is there any way to eliminate these annoying
tags?

Best regards,

Malgorzata


 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 20:55
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Tag jungles Aug 15, 2019

What is sometimes called a "tag jungle" generally comes from the source document. Scanned and OCR'd documents are notoriously bad for this, because sometimes the OCR software can assign a slightly different style to every letter on a page, resulting in every letter being surrounded by a meaningless opening and closing tag.

The best option is to clean up the source document, but since you are talking about .mqxlz files this is probably not an option.

When this happens, a
... See more
What is sometimes called a "tag jungle" generally comes from the source document. Scanned and OCR'd documents are notoriously bad for this, because sometimes the OCR software can assign a slightly different style to every letter on a page, resulting in every letter being surrounded by a meaningless opening and closing tag.

The best option is to clean up the source document, but since you are talking about .mqxlz files this is probably not an option.

When this happens, and if the source document doesn't show any need to have formatting tags in the segment, I will sometimes leave all but the first tag at the end of the segment. If the segment begins with a tag, it needs to stay at the beginning of the segment, since it often contains elements critical to opening the segment. But if there are no format changes within the segment you can usually deposit all the rest of the tags at the end of the segment, by ending the segment with holding down the F9 key until all the remaining tags are placed there. As long as there are no format changes within the segment, and the tags are still in the same order as the source, this will not usually cause a problem and only takes a moment to do.
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Małgorzata Gardocka
 
Anthony Rudd
Anthony Rudd

Local time: 01:55
German to English
+ ...
Removing tags Aug 16, 2019

You could write a small regex to remove the tags (memoQ has the special \tag megacharacter)

 
Małgorzata Gardocka
Małgorzata Gardocka  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 01:55
Member (2010)
German to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
How to do you write a regex? Aug 16, 2019

Anthony Rudd wrote:

You could write a small regex to remove the tags (memoQ has the special \tag megacharacter)


Dear Anthony,

Could you tell me how to write a regex?


 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 03:55
English to Russian
Avoid regex Aug 16, 2019

Hi Małgorzata,

I suppose, regex is a last resort. First, try some other ways.
The simplest one:
If your source is docx (mqxlz must have been generated from somewhere else), select all (Ctrl+A) and go to font settings (Ctrl+D), move to "Advanced" tab and set '100%', 'Normal', 'Normal' for the first three lines there. Save a copy and try it with memoQ again.
If this is not any good, the other non-technical workaround would be to insert all tags at the end of each
... See more
Hi Małgorzata,

I suppose, regex is a last resort. First, try some other ways.
The simplest one:
If your source is docx (mqxlz must have been generated from somewhere else), select all (Ctrl+A) and go to font settings (Ctrl+D), move to "Advanced" tab and set '100%', 'Normal', 'Normal' for the first three lines there. Save a copy and try it with memoQ again.
If this is not any good, the other non-technical workaround would be to insert all tags at the end of each segment. If tags do net obstruct your reading/translating process, and the only problem for you is their inserting, put the cursor after your translation and press Ctrl+F8. This will insert all tags as they go in the source segment so that all tags are there but you don't need to care about their position.

If the problem persists even after you change the font setting, or if it creates formatting issues (as may be possible with the Ctrl+F8 method), then try Codezapper (https://www.proz.com/forum/cat_tools_technical_help/189271-new_codezapper_version_is_available.html). Next tool would be Transtools (http://www.translatortools.net/transtoolsplus-download.html). However these two tools require additional efforts (get to know how to download, download, get to know how to install, install, get to know how to use, use, etc.). Regex would be the most complicated way.

Try Ctrl+A / Ctrl+D first.

Edit: the Ctrl+F8 workaround was described above by John Fossey. I didn't notice it just because it was collapsed.

[Edited at 2019-08-16 12:40 GMT]
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Anthony Rudd
Anthony Rudd

Local time: 01:55
German to English
+ ...
Memoq tag finder regex Aug 17, 2019

The basic regex is very simple.
Find what: \tag
Replace with: (empty string)

I have had a similar problem with Trados Studio where some old TM entries had unwanted tags.


 
Małgorzata Gardocka
Małgorzata Gardocka  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 01:55
Member (2010)
German to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
How do you write an empty string? Aug 17, 2019

Anthony Rudd wrote:

The basic regex is very simple.
Find what: \tag
Replace with: (empty string)

I have had a similar problem with Trados Studio where some old TM entries had unwanted tags.


Hello Anthony,

how does an empty string look like? Or should write in the "replace with" field just "(empty string)"?


 
Anthony Rudd
Anthony Rudd

Local time: 01:55
German to English
+ ...
Empty string Aug 17, 2019

To create an empty string: clear the complete field (such as with the Del key)

 
Małgorzata Gardocka
Małgorzata Gardocka  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 01:55
Member (2010)
German to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
The Ctrl+F8 method does not work :-(. Aug 17, 2019

[quote]Stepan Konev wrote:


If this is not any good, the other non-technical workaround would be to insert all tags at the end of each segment. If tags do net obstruct your reading/translating process, and the only problem for you is their inserting, put the cursor after your translation and press Ctrl+F8. This will insert all tags as they go in the source segment so that all tags are there but you don't need to care about their position.

Dear Stepan,

Unfortunately, when I have pressed Ctrl+F8 at the same time, nothing changed.

The tags are still here.






[Zmieniono 2019-08-17 15:31 GMT]


 
Małgorzata Gardocka
Małgorzata Gardocka  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 01:55
Member (2010)
German to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Unfortunately, the tags are still here :-(. Aug 17, 2019

Anthony Rudd wrote:

To create an empty string: clear the complete field (such as with the Del key)


Hello Anthony,

Unfortunately the tags are still here.
Could the reason for that be that .mqxlz files are not editable, when it comes to tags?


 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 03:55
English to Russian
What behavior did you expect? Aug 18, 2019

Małgorzata Gardocka wrote:
Unfortunately, when I have pressed Ctrl+F8 at the same time, nothing changed.

The tags are still here.


The tags will not disappear. 'Ctrl+F8' just inserts them all. Example, English to Polish:

Source: {1}My{2} {3}name{4} {5}is{6} {7}Małgorzata{8} {9}Gardocka,{10} {11}I'm{12} {13}a{14} {15}translator{16}

Press Ctrl+F8 at the end*** of your translation (when in target segment) =>

=> Target: Nazywam się Małgorzata Gardocka, jestem tłumaczem ***{1}{2}{3}{4}{5}{6}{7}{8}{9}{10}{11}{12}{13}{14}{15}{16}

Disclaimer: I used Google translation, I'm sorry if it reads wrong in Polish.

[Edited at 2019-08-18 00:37 GMT]


Małgorzata Gardocka
 
Małgorzata Gardocka
Małgorzata Gardocka  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 01:55
Member (2010)
German to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Now I understand. Aug 18, 2019

Stepan Konev wrote:

Małgorzata Gardocka wrote:
Unfortunately, when I have pressed Ctrl+F8 at the same time, nothing changed.

The tags are still here.


The tags will not disappear. 'Ctrl+F8' just inserts them all. Example, English to Polish:

Source: {1}My{2} {3}name{4} {5}is{6} {7}Małgorzata{8} {9}Gardocka,{10} {11}I'm{12} {13}a{14} {15}translator{16}

Press Ctrl+F8 at the end*** of your translation (when in target segment) =>

=> Target: Nazywam się Małgorzata Gardocka, jestem tłumaczem ***{1}{2}{3}{4}{5}{6}{7}{8}{9}{10}{11}{12}{13}{14}{15}{16}

Disclaimer: I used Google translation, I'm sorry if it reads wrong in Polish.

[Edited at 2019-08-18 00:37 GMT]


Hello Stepan,

Thank you for your explanation!

I thought that when I press 'Ctrl+F8', after I have written the translation, the target will look like this right away:

=> Target: {1}Nazywam{2} {3}się{4} {5}{6} {7}Małgorzata{8} {9}Gardocka,{10} {11}jestem{12} {13}{14} {15}tłumaczem{16}

Thanks to your detailed explanation I know now, that one has to get the tags in the right order manually.

There seems no easy way out, unfortunately ...

But thank you very much for your help.

PS.: The Google translation service has done its task excellently.


 


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How to remove tags in .mqxlz files in Memoq 8.5? Big problem.






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