Configure Granular TM Workflow Settings by Org Unit and Project
By default, a Translation Memory (TM) reads and writes segments the same way for every workflow step it's bound to. This guide covers the Advanced Settings panel that lets you override that behavior per workflow instead — for example, letting a TM contribute matches during Translation but staying read-only during Proofreading — and how those overrides work differently depending on whether you set them at the Organizational Unit level or on an individual Project.
💡 Who is this for? This guide is for Project Managers and Account Admins who need to fine-tune how a Translation Memory behaves on specific workflow steps within the wxrks platform.
Where these settings live
Workflow-level TM settings are configured in the same place at both levels: the Context tab.
At the Organizational Unit level: open the Org Unit, go to Context, and find the TM in the Translation Memory table.
At the Project level: open the project, go to Context, and find the TM in the TM table.
Each row has its own Read and Write toggles — these are the TM's defaults, applied to every workflow unless you override it. Click the gear icon in the Advanced Settings column (tooltip: Configure workflow settings) to open the per-workflow overrides.
The same table, scoped to one project's own TM bindings, looks like this:
A TM's Org Unit binding and its Project binding are two separate records — see How Project and Org Unit settings interact below for what that means in practice.
Key Concepts
Concept | Description |
Default Settings | The Read/Write toggles on the TM's row in the table. A workflow uses these unless it has its own override. |
Workflow-Specific Settings | A Read/Write override that only applies to one workflow (e.g. Read on for Translation, Read off for Proofreading), set inside the Advanced Settings modal. |
In Bulk Actions | A panel inside the modal for applying the same Read or Write override to several selected workflows in one action, instead of one row at a time. |
The same modal also has a general Settings card above the workflow table — a CODE/UoM matching toggle and a Penalty slider that affect this TM as a whole, not per workflow. They're outside this guide's scope; see All about Translation Memories for what they do.
Open and read the modal
Clicking the gear icon opens a modal titled Settings | {TM name}. Below the general Settings card sits the Settings by Workflow section, which is what this guide covers:
1. CODE/UoM and Penalty - the TM-wide settings mentioned above; not part of the per-workflow configuration.
2. Workflow table - one row per workflow, each with its own Status badge (Default or Custom), Read and Write toggles, and an action to reset that row.
Override Read/Write for one workflow
In the workflow table, find the row for the workflow you want to change.
Toggle its Read or Write switch. The Status badge changes from Default to Custom as soon as the row's values differ from the TM's own defaults.
To undo just that row, click the refresh icon in the Actions column (tooltip: Restore to Default) — this reverts the row's Read/Write back to the TM's defaults and clears the Custom badge.
Click Save to apply your changes, or Cancel to discard them.
Apply changes to several workflows at once
Use the In Bulk Actions panel (top-right of the workflow table) when the same change applies to more than one workflow:
Check the boxes next to the workflows you want to change. The panel shows a count of how many are selected.
Under Read or Write, click the check icon to turn that permission on for every selected workflow, or the ban icon to turn it off.
Click Restore Default in the same panel to reset every selected workflow back to the TM's defaults in one step.
Workflows that don't open the wxrks Editor (a workflow step where translators never actually work in-editor) are grayed out in the table and can't be selected — Read/Write has no effect on them, so there's nothing to override.
How Project and Org Unit settings interact
A TM's binding at the Org Unit level and its binding on a Project are separate records, not a single setting shared between the two:
New projects start from the Org Unit's settings. When a TM is added to a project, its initial Read/Write defaults and any workflow overrides are copied from that TM's Org Unit-level configuration at that moment.
After that, the two are independent. Changing the Project-level settings does not touch the Org Unit's own configuration for that TM, and later changes at the Org Unit level don't retroactively update projects that already have the TM bound — only projects that bind it after the change pick up the new defaults.
The Project view only lists that project's own workflows. The Org Unit's workflow table shows every workflow used anywhere in the account; a Project's table only shows the workflow steps that project actually uses. In the example below, the same TM that listed six workflows at the Org Unit level shows only the two the project uses:
Important behavior and edge cases
Deleted workflows: if a workflow you'd configured here is later deleted from the account's workflow settings, its row stays in the table with a warning icon and a "Deleted Workflow" tooltip. Click the trash icon in the Actions column to remove that leftover configuration.
Who can edit what: editing Org Unit-level settings (including the general Settings card) requires the Edit Translation Memory Settings permission. At the Project level, adding or removing a TM binding requires the project's Add/Remove TM Settings permission, but adjusting an already-bound TM's per-workflow Read/Write — the gear icon covered in this guide — is available to anyone with access to that project's Context tab. Permissions are managed under How to manage Permission Groups.
Troubleshooting
I don't see the gear icon next to a TM. Confirm you're on the Context tab and, at the Org Unit level, that your role has the Edit Translation Memory Settings permission.
My workflow override doesn't seem to apply. Check the row's Status badge. If it still reads Default, your toggle matches the TM's own defaults, so there's no override in effect — toggling to a value that matches the default doesn't count as a change.
A workflow's Read/Write toggles are grayed out and I can't change them. That workflow doesn't open the wxrks Editor, so TM read/write doesn't apply to it — this isn't specific to your TM or permissions.
I see a yellow warning triangle next to a workflow. That workflow was removed from the account's workflow settings but still has a leftover configuration on this TM. Use the trash icon in the Actions column to clean it up.
Related articles
Understanding Steps in wxrks Workflows - what a workflow step is and the different types available.
Project Overview - the Context tab in context of the rest of a project's settings.
All about Translation Memories - creating, importing, and the TM-wide CODE/UoM and Penalty settings mentioned above.
All about Organizational Units - how Org Unit-level configuration fits into the account hierarchy.
How to manage Permission Groups - granting the Edit Translation Memory Settings and Add/Remove TM Settings permissions.