I’d like to raise a question that I believe many translators/reviewers might share regarding how translation memory behaves in Crowdin.
When reviewing segments, if I modify a translation and store it in the TM, the editor often continues to display the previous version. In practice, this means I need to manually reinsert the updated TM suggestion into the segment before confirming it.
This differs from the workflow in other CAT tools (such as Trados or memoQ), where confirming a segment typically overwrites the existing TM entry and ensures consistency without additional steps.
As far as I understand, Crowdin does not support automatic TM overwriting and instead allows multiple translation variants for the same source segment. However, this can make the review process less efficient and more prone to inconsistencies.
So my questions are:
Is this the expected behavior in Crowdin?
Is there any way (setting or workflow) to make the updated translation automatically take precedence in the editor?
Are there any plans to introduce an option for automatic TM overwrite, or similar functionality?
What best practices would you recommend to avoid having to manually reapply TM suggestions after editing?
I’m trying to streamline the review process and reduce repetitive steps, so any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for detailing your workflow. Coming from traditional CAT tools, Crowdin’s TM behavior can feel like a major shift, but I’ll be glad to help you with it!
To answer your first question, yes, this is the expected behavior. The system assumes a single source string might require different translations depending on context. When you save a new translation, Crowdin adds it as a new record alongside the old one, retaining both.
Regarding future plans, we don’t plan to change TM’s core logic. Crowdin leans toward preserving TM data to prevent accidental context loss.
To streamline your review process, I highly recommend using the Editor’s Search and Replace function to update old translations across the entire file simultaneously. You can also coordinate with your Project Manager to clean the TM:
I’d also suggest activating the duplicates Share Translation option, since they should save you a lot of time:
Thank you for your explanation. I understand and respect Crowdin’s approach of preserving multiple TM entries to account for contextual variations.
However, I believe there is a separate issue here that directly affects usability and efficiency in the editor.
When I modify a segment and confirm it, I expect that exact confirmed version to remain in the segment. Instead, the editor reverts to the previous translation, even though I have just updated and stored a new version in the TM.
This behavior is difficult to justify from a workflow perspective. It forces the reviewer to manually reinsert the very same translation they have just confirmed, which adds unnecessary steps and interrupts the review flow. In practical terms, it means switching from keyboard to mouse, searching for the correct TM entry, and applying it again. This is something that should not be required.
To clarify: the concern is not about keeping multiple TM entries, but about the editor not prioritizing the most recently confirmed translation in the active segment.
Could you please explain the rationale behind this behavior? From a user perspective, it seems counterintuitive and significantly impacts productivity.
Additionally, is there any way — via settings or workflow adjustments — to ensure that the confirmed translation remains in the segment without needing to be manually reapplied?
From the information you provided, I suppose that you are adding a new translation to the already approved string, and it isn’t displayed as the latest added. Just wanted to let you know that approved translation has a higher priority, and it doesn’t matter how many new suggestions were added after that, the approved one will be on the top.
In this case, we can advise you while adding a new translation to unapprove the previous one, and then the last added suggestion will be displayed on the top. Or you may also enable the auto-approve option in the Editor settings, and the newly added translation will be automatically approved and will be at the top.
Please feel free to contact us if any additional questions arise!