Number of TUs in TM decreases with subsequent imports of xliff files with the setting "Overwrite..."

Question

The number of translation units shown in the TM Settings > Translation Units seems to decrease with every subsequent import of xliff files, with the setting "Overwrite existing translation units". 
 
 The project at hand had been finalized, but subsequent changes were made to xliff files. Those updated xliff files needed to be imported to the TM. Because of the large number of files, I chose to re-import all files, not just the ones with changes. 
 There were five batches of xliff files to import to the TM (30-40 files per batch). I imported one batch at a time, with the setting "Overwrite existing translation units". And with each batch, I noticed that the number of translation units in the TM setting would decrease: 34,839, 34,815, 34,794, 34,772. 
 What behavior is taking place for this number to go down?

Alison Field · Accepted Answer

Hi Micaela,

The measurement of the number of TUs can be affected by several things.

Off the top of my head, for example, importing an exported tmx can have the effect that any identical source duplicate TUs in the memory are overwritten till there is only one of each. Also, TU numbers that have been deleted get removed from the count. Likewise erroneous TUs can be eradicated.

I know the above happens when importing into a new memory and at least the first is also true if you export and import to an existing memory.

Maybe these 2 things also happen when importing an sdlxliff. It certainly prevents the creation of duplicates.

Someone more knowledgeable than I will have a better explanation.
All the best,
Ali :)

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Number of TUs in TM decreases with subsequent imports of xliff files with the setting "Overwrite..."