"New Beginnings with memoQ" tutorial guide released

The initial version of my new tutorial guide for memoQ has finally been made available through the distribution site I use for convenient promotional distribution. Those interested in this 101-page PDF e-book can see more details or purchase it by clicking on the cover graphic above. A table of contents for this edition can be downloaded here. Many of the discount codes distributed by myself or Kilgray in the past year or two can be applied to anything on that site, including this volume.

The book is organized in three sections. The front part gives a quick guide to navigation in the old and new memoQ interfaces (because even those who have purchased memoQ recently may have to come to grips with older versions to do some server projects for customers using older releases). Then a series of four "job" chapters introduce common, fundamental concepts for basic work and safe data management in the memoQ translation environment. The last section, an appendix called "This & that" covers about a third of the total page count with a great variety of supplemental information to help new and experienced users come to grips with many challenges for working efficiently with this translation environment.

The appendix includes a glossary of terms to "de-nerdify" things a bit as well as an overview of some of the most important or useful features introduced for individual translators in recent versions. I added the latter because I often advise people about which versions to upgrade to for particular features, and with the rapid development of memoQ this is not easy to keep track of!

Until very recently I never considered doing instructional materials specifically focused on new users and their needs because of the large number of people offering beginners' instruction. However, as my conceptual collaborator in this guide and I observed, the feature-focused approach used by many instructors often confuses and intimidates users and sometimes fails to address basic matters needed for their routine, productive work.

The approach here focuses on workflows and possibilities for application rather than features. And because of the challenges many experienced users of memoQ face adapting to the recent changes in the interface and the many new possibilities for the memoQ translation environment, I called the book "New Beginnings" because it offers everyone a chance for a fresh start for better productivity.