Lori

What happens if you select an item to remove first?

It's the same. The x button is still grayed out and the selected item cannot be removed.

Lori

Did you encrypt the entries by any chance?  If you did this and made it read only then you will get this effect.  I can only reproduce this if I take these steps.

The termbase is not encrypted:

p.s. all my termbases have the same problem.

Lori

Can yo share a simple termbase with me so I can see whether the same problem with your termbase is on my machine?  You can email it to pfilkin@sdl.com if this is ok?

Can you also advise what operating system you are using?

Lori

Thanks for sending me your termbase example.  That actually triggered the obvious reason for your issue.... apologies for not realising this earlier.  The reason for the delete being unavailable is because you have terms in your termbase already using this field.  MultiTerm has controls to ensure this cannot happen.  So if you wish to make changes to the definition you need to do at least one of these things... or probably other ways too, but all involve more work:

• export your termbase, change the data and recreate the termbase, or maybe
• use something like Excelling Multiterm which is a very powerful tool allowing you to make all kinds of changes to your termbase including field manipulation:
  https://appstore.sdl.com/language/app/excelling-multiterm/6/

Lori

Thanks for sending me your termbase example.  That actually triggered the obvious reason for your issue.... apologies for not realising this earlier.  The reason for the delete being unavailable is because you have terms in your termbase already using this field.  MultiTerm has controls to ensure this cannot happen.  So if you wish to make changes to the definition you need to do at least one of these things... or probably other ways too, but all involve more work:

• export your termbase, change the data and recreate the termbase, or maybe
• use something like Excelling Multiterm which is a very powerful tool allowing you to make all kinds of changes to your termbase including field manipulation:
  https://appstore.sdl.com/language/app/excelling-multiterm/6/

When I add a new value to a picklist, the new value cannot be deleted either, even though no terms are associated with the value.

MultiTerm is inflexible in its ability to manipulate definition/entry structure in my opinion. It's also a bit crazy to require so many apps (MultiTerm, Glossary Converter, MultiTerm Convert, Excelling Multiterm, etc) for termbase management. The user can get easily lost and make mistakes in the conversion processes between the apps, not to mentions having to learn 4 to 5 apps. Don't you think Trados needs to streamline them into just one?

Excelling MultiTerm is not available for MultiTerm 2021...

Lori

Lori said:

Excelling MultiTerm is not available for MultiTerm 2021...

This will apparently be available by the end of October.

Lori said:

It's also a bit crazy to require so many apps (MultiTerm, Glossary Converter, MultiTerm Convert, Excelling Multiterm, etc) for termbase management.

Well... most users who work heavily with terminology have got by with just MultiTerm for years.  The Glossary Converter and Excelling MultiTerm just make life easier.  But having said this you are right in that it's a clunk and outdated application.  Long overdue an overhaul... which relates to your other question.

Lori said:

MultiTerm is inflexible in its ability to manipulate definition/entry structure in my opinion.

You could also try using Language Cloud Terminology which is available to you as well.  This is a more modern application that is being continually enhanced and you can make changes to the definition even if the database is populated.

Lori said:

Don't you think Trados needs to streamline them into just one?

No. I don't.  My personal opinion is that I'd like to see a new desktop database technology for terminology altogether and ensure it is capable of handling all the things you are finding difficulties with.  But I doubt that will happen as the effort is going into Language Cloud Terminology.

I just gave Language Cloud Terminology a try. It's definitely more streamlined than MultiTerm in terms of steps required to do what you need to do, including allowing me to tweak my termbase definition/entry structure as I go. Doing away with the ancillary apps is a big plus. It eliminates a lot of confusions. One of the things that MultiTerm drove me crazy was, whenever I created a new termbase from Excel, I had to set up termbase definition twice, both in Glossary Converter or MultiTerm Convert, and in MultiTerm. It felt like a bad déjà vu.

Hopefully Trados will create a new desktop version that works just as well as the cloud version. Desktop version ensures more privacy and allows one to work off the internet grid.

Lori

Lori said:

One of the things that MultiTerm drove me crazy was, whenever I created a new termbase from Excel, I had to set up termbase definition twice, both in Glossary Converter or MultiTerm Convert, and in MultiTerm.

This is probably also because you're unfamiliar with these tools.  Once you have the definition you can reuse it in all these applications.  There shouldn't be a need to keep manually recreating the structure.

You are probably right. That said, I dread MultiTerm.