TMs and TDBs are separated in two classes:
· Main TM/TDB
· Secondary TMs/TDBs
The difference between main and secondary databases is not in the databases themselves. Any TM or TDB can be used as the main database for one document and as secondary database for another document (though a database cannot be used as the main database and as a secondary database for one document at the same time, of course). The difference is only in the way the databases are used by the program during the translation process. Secondary databases are only searched while you translate, whereas the main database is the one where new items can be added or existing items can be changed:
· The main TM is the TM where the TUs of the document are saved in automatically or manually via the following menu commands:
▪ Save current translation unit in main TM
▪ Save all translated segments in main TM
· The main TDB is the TDB where new terminology is saved when you add new terminology via the following menu commands:
▪ Add new terminology pair to main TDB
▪ Pre-save selection as source text
▪ Pre-save selection as translation
When a database search is executed, the databases are searched in the following order:
1. Main TM/TDB
2. Secondary TMs/TDBs (in the order shown in the list of Secondary translation memories or Secondary terminology databases).