When the pre-translation of a task is not worth editing, for example a machine translation of the wrong style, you can empty the target text of the whole task at once instead of deleting it segment by segment. This article shows how to do it in the Editor and from your task list, and what is kept.
💡 Who is this for? Vendors and Project Managers who work on a task's translation. Account Admins grant the permission it needs.
Before you start
Clearing requires the Clear Translations permission, in the Editor module of the permission matrix. Account Admins and Project Managers have it by default. Vendors and Clients need an Account Admin to turn it on in People > Users > [User] > Permissions.
Vendors can clear only the tasks assigned to them that they can still edit. Other users can clear any task they have access to.
Clearing cannot be undone. The previous text stays in each segment's history, so you can still read it there.
What is cleared and what is kept
Segment | What happens |
Unconfirmed and unlocked | The target text is emptied. |
Confirmed | Kept, unless you choose Also clear the confirmed segments (see below). |
Locked | Always kept. |
Translation memory, word counts and project costs do not change. Each cleared segment gets a Clear translations entry in its history.
Clear a task in the Editor
Open the task in the Editor and click Segments in the top bar.
Click Clear all. You can also press
Ctrl+Shift+Delete(Cmd+Shift+Deleteon a Mac).
The Clear all segments window counts the segments that will be cleared, the confirmed, kept ones and the locked, kept ones.
To empty the confirmed segments too, select Also clear the confirmed segments. This option only appears while the next workflow step has not started.
Click Clear to confirm. The button shows how many segments will be cleared, for example Clear 3 segments.
ℹ️ Note: When you also clear confirmed segments, their copies in the next workflow step are cleared too, and the segments lose their reviewed status from the previous step. Once the next step has started, confirmed segments can no longer be cleared, and the window says so.
Clear a task from your task list (Vendors)
You can clear a task without opening it in the Editor:
On Home > My Projects, click a project to show its tasks.
On the task's row, click the ⋮ (Actions) button and choose Clear translations.
The Clear translations window shows the same counts and options as in the Editor. Click Clear to confirm.
⚠️ Warning: If the task is open in the Editor, close it first. An open Editor can save the old text back over the cleared segments.
When the clearing finishes, a message tells you how many segments were cleared. Open the task in the Editor to start translating again.
For Project Managers
You have the Clear Translations permission by default and can clear any task of a project you have access to, whoever it is assigned to. Open the task in the Editor and follow the steps above.
A delivered task follows the same rule as editing it: reopen the task first, then clear it.
To give a Vendor this option, ask your Account Admin to turn on Clear Translations for them. Vendors then see Clear translations in their task list and Clear all in the Editor, only for their own tasks that are still editable.
To clear or confirm several tasks at once without opening the Editor, use the project's Actions button; see Confirm All Segments and Clear All Segments.
Troubleshooting
I don't see Clear all or Clear translations. You don't have the Clear Translations permission. Ask your Account Admin to turn it on.
The item is disabled in the task's Actions menu. The task is read-only for you, for example because it was already delivered.
"Nothing to clear". Every segment with text is confirmed and already reviewed in the next step (or that step has started), or locked. Locked segments are never cleared.