How to create a project without a translation memory

This is useful when you want to start fresh without leveraging previous translations, or when working on content that shouldn't be influenced by existing TM matches.

Overview

This article explains how to create a project without any translation memories attached. This is useful when you want to start fresh without leveraging previous translations, or when working on content that shouldn't be influenced by existing TM matches.

When to use it

  • Starting a new project where previous translations aren't relevant

  • Working with content that requires completely fresh translations

  • Testing or training scenarios where TM matches would interfere

  • Projects where you want full control over translation consistency from scratch

How it works

Creating a project without translation memories requires two steps: first create an AI Translation Profile with no TMs, then use that profile when creating your project.

Step 1 — Create an AI Translation Profile with no translation memories

  1. Navigate to Settings in the left navigation sidebar

  1. From the Settings page, go to the dropdown in the top left corner and select AI translation profiles

  1. Click + Create Profile

  1. Name the profile No TM Profile (or any descriptive name)

  1. Under Linguistic Resources > Translation Memories > Configuration, disable Auto-link new translation memories

  1. Click the top Unlink button to disconnect all translation memories from the profile

  1. Click Save as new profile to create the new profile

Step 2 — Create a project using that translation profile

  1. Navigate to Projects in the left navigation sidebar

  1. Click + New Project

  1. When you configure the project, click AI translation profile and select the No TM Profile

Finish configuring the project (name, languages, deadline, etc.)

  1. Click Create Project

Your project will now be created without any attached translation memories.

Adding a translation memory later

If you decide to add a translation memory after creating the project:

  1. Go to your project's Overview page

  1. Click on Linguistic Assets in the left side bar

  1. Click Add and select how you want to add a translation memory:

  • Create new : Create a fresh TM for this project

  • Select existing : Choose from available TMs matching your language pair

  • Upload : Import a TM from a TMX, SDLTM, or XLSX file

  1. Configure TM permissions (read-only or writable)

⚠️ Adding a TM after translation work has begun won't automatically save previous translations to that TM. Only new translations will be stored.