OmegaT 6.0.1 - User Manual

# Menus

OmegaT has very few buttons and looks a bit stern, if not outright unfriendly, to people who are used to button-based interfaces. Most of the action takes place with the help of shortcuts associated to menu items.

Shortcuts are ubiquitous in this manual and you should be able very shortly to remember the few that are useful in the course of a standard translation day.

Menus are where you access most of OmegaT's functions. Most menu items have an associated keyboard shortcut.

Menu items that do not indicate a shortcut do not have one assigned by default. See the Customization appendix if you want to modify or add shortcuts.

### Note

Key shortcut description reminder:

Table 2. Modifier key identifiers

Linux/Windows | Key identifier | macOS
--- | --- | ---
Shift | S | shift or ⇧
Ctrl or Control | C | command or ⌘
Alt | A | alt / option or ⌥
| Ctrl | control or ⌃

## Project

This menu gives you access to project management commands.

Example 13. Shortcut description example

On Windows and Linux: Control + Shift + N

On macOS: Shift + Command + N

In this manual: C + S + N

New... C + S + N

  Creates and opens a new project. See the Create a new project section for details.

Download Team Project...

  Creates a local copy of a remote OmegaT project. See the Use a team project how-to for details.

Open... C + O

  Opens a previously created project.

Open Recent...

  Gives access to the last ten edited projects. Clicking one will save the current project, close it and open the selected project.

  Use the Clear Menu function to delete the list of recent projects.

Reload F5

  Reloads the project to take external changes in source files and project settings into account.

  ### Note

  New translation memories placed in the tm folder while translating are automatically taken into account as soon as the cursor moves from one segment to another. Similarly, the contents of the glossary folder are automatically recognized and do not require reloading the project.

  When reloading a team project, OmegaT reloads the remote, rather than the local, properties.

Close C + S + W

  Saves the project translation memory (project_save.tmx) and closes the project.

Save C + S

  Saves the project translation memory (project_save.tmx) and synchronizes team projects.

  OmegaT automatically saves translations every three minutes as well as when you close the project or quit the program. See the `Project data saving interval` preference for details.

Add Files...

  Copies the selected files to the source folder and reloads the project to take the new files into account.

Add MediaWiki Page...

  Opens a dialog where you can paste the URL of the MediaWiki page you want to translate. The source data of the page will be copied into the source folder, as a text file with the `.utf8` extension.

Commit Source Files

  ### Warning

  This function is specific to team projects. Only the team project manager should use this function . See the Use a team project how-to for details.

  Uploads locally added or modified files from the `source` folder to the team project repository.

Commit Target Files

  ### Warning

  This function is specific to team projects. Use this function only if the team project manager asked you to do so . See the Use a team project how-to for details.

  Uploads locally created translated files from the target folder to the team project repository.

Create Translated Files C + D

  Creates the target files based on your translation. The created target files are located in the target folder.

  ### Note

  You can prevent the creation of target files if tag issues are found. See the `Block the creation of translated files with tag issues` preference for details.

  Every time you create translated files, OmegaT saves the project (see the Save C + S menu item above) and creates reference memories that include the translated segments of the current source file set.

Create Current Translated File C + S + D

  Creates the target file corresponding to source file currently being translated. The resulting file is located in the target folder.

  Every time you create the current translated file, OmegaT saves the project (see the Save C + S menu item above) and creates reference memories that include the translated segments of the current source file set.

Open MED Project...

  Opens a project package in the MED format defined by the EU Directorate-General for Translation.

Create MED Projects...

  Converts the current project into a MED package.

Properties... C + E

  Displays the Project Properties dialog to edit the project languages and folder locations.

Source Files... C + L

  Opens the Source Files window.

Access Project Contents

  Gives access to the various project folders. See the Project Folder chapter for more details.

  In addition, there are three menu entries that directly open the current source or target files, or the writable glossary. The files are opened in the default application set by the operating system. The options are grayed out if the files do not exist.

  Project Folder

    Opens the folder in your default file manager.

  Dictionaries

    Opens the folder in your default file manager.

  Glossaries

    Opens the folder in your default file manager.

  Source Files

    Opens the folder in your default file manager.

  Target Files

    Opens the folder in your default file manager.

  TMs

    Opens the folder in your default file manager.

  Exported TMs

    Opens the folder in your default file manager.

  Current Source File

    The current source file is located in the source folder.

    Opens the file in the associated application.

  Current Target File

    The current target file is located in the target folder.

    Opens the file in the associated application if the file exists.

  Writable Glossary

    The writable glossary is located in the glossary folder.

    Opens the file in the associated application if the file exists.

Restart

  Saves the project and restarts OmegaT. You are asked to confirm that you really want to quit if you have not yet saved the project.

Quit C + Q

  Saves the project and quits OmegaT. You are asked to confirm that you really want to quit if you have not yet saved the project.

  ### Note

  In macOS, this menu item is found under the OmegaT menu.

## Edit

This menu gives you access to segment edition commands.

Example 14. Shortcut description example

On Windows and Linux: Control + Z

On macOS: Command + Z

In this manual: C + Z

Undo C + Z

  Cancels modifications made to the segment while it is current. Modification history is lost upon leaving the segment.

Redo C + Y

  Reapplies modifications that were cancelled while the segment is current. Modification history is lost upon leaving the segment.

Replace With Match or Selection C + R

  Replaces the target segment with the currently selected fuzzy match (the first match by default) or with the text selected in the Fuzzy Matches pane.

  Selected text has priority over the selected match.

  See the Fuzzy Matches pane description for details..

Insert Match or Selection C + I

  Inserts the currently selected fuzzy match or the text selected in the Fuzzy Matches pane at the cursor position. If a part of the target segment has been selected, that part will be overwritten.

  The selected text has priority over the selected match.

  See the Fuzzy Matches pane description for details..

Replace with Source C + S + R

  Replaces the entire target segment with the segment source.

Insert Source C + S + I

  Inserts the segment source at the cursor position. If a part of the target segment has been selected, that part will be overwritten.

Select Source Text C + S + A

  Selects the source text.

  The selection can be used directly in OmegaT for internal searches, replacements, entering glossary terms, external searches, and so on. Once copied to the OS clipboard, it can also be used in web searches and elsewhere.

Replace with Machine Translation C + M

  Replaces the target segment with the translation provided by the selected machine translation service.

  If the `Automatically fetch translations` preference is disabled, use this action once to fetch the translation, and a second time to insert it.

  No action is taken if no machine translation service has been activated in the Options Machine Translation menu. See the Machine Translation preferences for details.

Insert Missing Tags C + S + T

  Inserts the remaining missing source tags at the cursor position.

Insert Next Missing Tag C + T

  Inserts the next missing tag at the cursor position.

Export Selection C + S + C

  Exports the current selection to a text file for processing. If no text has been selected, the current source segment is written to this file. To remain consistent with usual clipboard behaviour this file is not emptied when the user exits OmegaT. The exported contents are copied to the selection.txt file located in the configuration folder.

Create Glossary Entry... C + S + G

  Allows the user to create an entry in the project writable glossary (the glossary.txt file).

  There are two ways to use this function.

  - The first is to call the dialog and then manually fill in the various fields.

  - The second is to select items in one of the OmegaT panes and sequentially call the dialog after each selection to have OmegaT enter it automatically in the various fields:

    1. Select a text string in any pane

    2. Press C + S + G

       The selection is entered in the Source term field.

    3. Select a text string in any pane

    4. Press C + S + G

       The selection is entered in the Target term field.

    5. [Optional] Select a text string in any pane

    6. [Optional] Press C + S + G

       The selection is entered in the Comment field.

    7. Hit Enter or click on OK

Search... C + F

  Opens a new Text Search window.

  If you select a text string (in any pane) before calling the function, the text will be pasted by default in the Search for: field.

  The C + S + F combination reuses the most recent still open Search window instead of opening a new one.

Replace... C + K

  Opens a new Text Replace window.

  If you select a text string (in any pane) before calling the function, the text will be pasted by default in the Search for: field.

Search Dictionaries A + S + D

  If the `Search automatically` preference is disabled, this function allows you to search for the selected word or for the whole segment terms in the dictionaries.

Switch case to

  Changes the case of the selected text in the target segment to the selected option, or cycles through the options. If no text is selected, OmegaT selects the word starting with the character immediately to the right of the cursor.

  - lower case

    all letters in lower case

  - UPPER CASE

    ALL LETTERS IN UPPER CASE

  - Title Case

    Almost all Letters in Lower Case

  - Sentence case

    Only the first letter in upper case.

  - Cycle S + F3

    ### Warning

    On macOS, the F3 key enables the overwrite mode in the editor. See Overwriting for details.

Select Match

  Selects the previous, next or `n`th fuzzy match displayed in the fuzzy match pane to replace or insert it to the segment.

  - Select Previous Match A + ↑

  - Select Next Match A + ↓

  - Select Match #1 C + 1

  - Select Match #2 C + 2

  - Select Match #3 C + 3

  - Select Match #4 C + 4

  - Select Match #5 C + 5

Insert Bidi Control Character

  Inserts the selected Unicode directional formatting character. See Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm for details.

  - Left-to-Right Mark (LRM U+200E)

  - Right-to-Left Mark (RLM U+200F)

  - Left-to-Right Embedding (LRE U+202A)

  - Right-to-Left Embedding (RLE U+202B)

  - Pop Directional Formatting (PDF U+202C)

  Use View Display Bidi Control Characters to display the characters for easier manipulation. See Directional Formatting Characters for details.

Use as Default Translation

  If several alternative translations are available for the active segment, you can label the alternative selected as the default translation. The entry will be grayed if only one translation is available.

Create Alternative Translation

  Segments that are one and the same segment may, depending on the context, require different translations. If the current translation does not apply, select this menu item and enter the alternative translation.

  ### Warning

  OmegaT differentiates between identical segments using either an internal identifier provided by the file type, or by referring to their preceding and following segments. In such cases, alternative translations relies on the identical segments having different preceding or following segments. If the identical segments also have identical preceding and following segments, you will not be able to translate them differently and make one of them an alternative translation in OmegaT.

  You can work around this issue by introducing a small change to one of the preceding or following segments in the source file to distinguish between the various instances of the same preceding or following segment.

Remove Translation C + S + X

  Deletes the current translation and sets the segment as untranslated.

Set Empty Translation

  Define the translation as empty. The target document contains nothing for this segment, while the Editor marks it with the `<EMPTY>` identifier.

Register Identical Translation C + S + S

  Use this command to register a translation as identical to the source, even if the `Allow translation to be equal to source` preference is not enabled.

## Go To

This menu gives you access to the segment and pane navigation commands.

Example 15. Shortcut description example

On Windows and Linux: Control + U

On macOS: Command + U

In this manual: C + U

Next Untranslated Segment C + U

  Moves to the next segment with no target language entry in the translation memory.

Next Translated Segment C + S + U

  Moves to the next already translated segment, ignoring untranslated segments.

Next Segment C + N

  Also: Enter

  Moves to the next segment, or to the first segment of the next file if the current segment is the last one in the file.

  ### Note

  You can use TAB as an alternative shortcut by enabling the `Use TAB to Advance` preference.

  This is useful with character entry systems that use Enter to validate input.

Previous Segment C + P

  Also: C + Enter

  Moves to the previous segment, or to the last segment of the previous file if the current segment is the first one in the file.

  ### Note

  You can use C + TAB as an alternative shortcut by enabling the `Use TAB to Advance` preference.

  This is useful with character entry systems that use Enter to validate input.

Segment number... C + J

  Jumps to the segment whose call-out or number is entered.

Next Note C + A + N

  Moves to the next segment with a note.

Previous Note C + A + P

  Moves to the previous segment with a note.

Next Unique Segment C + S + K

  Moves to the next unique segment.

Source of Selected Match C + S + M

  Moves to the segment that corresponds to the currently selected match in the Fuzzy matches pane.

Auto-Populated Segments

  Navigate between segments that were automatically populated by exact matches from the tm/auto and tm/enforce subfolders.

  See the Reuse TMs how-to for details.

  - Next Segment from tm/auto/ C + A + ,

    Moves to the next segment inserted from `tm/auto/`.

  - Previous Segment from tm/auto/ S + C + A + ,

    Moves to the previous segment inserted from `tm/auto/`.

  - Next Segment from tm/enforce/ C + A + .

    Moves to the next segment inserted from `tm/enforce/`.

  - Previous Segment from tm/enforce/ S + C + A + .

    Moves to the previous segment inserted from `tm/enforce/`.

Back in History C + S + P

  OmegaT remembers your segment navigation history.

  This command allows you to move backward one segment at a time to segments you have previously visited.

Forward in History C + S + N

  OmegaT remembers your segment navigation history.

  This command allows you to move forward one segment at a time to segments you have previously visited with the above Go To Back in History C + S + P command.

Notepad C + A + N

  Enter the Notepad to write or modify a note associated to the current segment.

Editor C + A + E

  Enter the Editor to proceed with your translation.

## View

This menu allows you to select the information you want to OmegaT to display.

All the colours indicated in the descriptions can be modified in the Colours preference.

Highlight Translated Segments

  If checked, translated segments are highlighted in yellow.

Highlight Untranslated Segments

  If checked, untranslated segments are highlighted in violet.

Display Paragraph Delimitations

  If checked, separations between paragraphs in the source document are indicated visually. You can change the paragraph delimitation string in the `Paragraph delimitation format` preference.

Display Source Segments

  If checked, all the source segments are shown and highlighted in green. If not checked, only the current source segments is shown.

Highlight Repeated Segments

  If checked, repeated segments are highlighted in pale gray.

Highlight Segments with Notes

  If checked, segments with notes are highlighted in cyan. This marking has priority over Highlight Translated Segments and Highlight Untranslated Segments.

Display Non-Breakable Spaces

  If checked, non-breakable spaces are displayed with a gray background.

Display Whitespace

  If checked, white spaces are displayed as a small dot.

Display Bidi Control Characters

  This option displays Unicode directional formatting characters. See Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm for details.

  Use Edit Insert Bidi Control Character to insert a selection of characters directly from the OmegaT interface. See Directional Formatting Characters for details.

Highlight Auto-Populated Segments

  If checked, segments that have been auto-populated are highlighted in various colours.

  See the `Save auto-populated status` preference for details.

Mark Glossary Matches

  Underlines source terms that have a match in the glossaries. Hovering on an underlined term displays the matching target term. Right-clicking on an underlined term displays the matching target term, which can be selected and inserted at the cursor position in the target text.

Mark Language Checker Issues

  Underlines parts of the target where LanguageTool has found errors. See the LanguageTool preferences for details.

Use Aggressive Font Fallback

  Check this option if OmegaT does not display certain glyphs properly (even if the fonts containing the relevant glyphs are installed on your machine).

  ### Note

  On Windows this manual font fallback mechanism has been known to interfere with the standard font fallback, causing undesirable font substitutions. For that reason, it is OFF by default.

Display Modification Info

  Displays the time and the author of the last change made to a segment.

  The default value is Current segment and it can be set to All segments or to None.

  You can modify the displayed information. See the `Customize segment modification information` preferences for details.

Restore OmegaT Window

  Restores the OmegaT window layout to its default values.

  ### Note

  Use this function when you run into problems while rearranging the window layout.

## Tools

This menu gives you access to a number of tools, including QA validation, match reports, an aligner, and scripting.

Example 16. Shortcut description example

On Windows and Linux: Control + Shift + V

On macOS: Shift + Command + V

In this manual: C + S + V

Check Issues... C + S + V

  This quality assurance tool carries out all automatic checks in one go and displays the results in a window.

  Four types of issues can be detected:

  - Tag Issues (always selected): detects missing or misplaced tags, including custom tags and flagged text. See the Tag Processing preferences for details.

    ### Note

    The option is always selected.

  - Spelling Issues (optional): detects spelling mistakes. Only works if a spelling dictionary is installed. See the Spellchecker preferences for details.

  - Terminology Issues (optional): detects all the glossary items that are not properly translated. See the Glossaries preferences for details.

  - LanguageTool Issues (optional): detects grammatical or typographical issues. See the LanguageTool preferences for details.

  The results are presented as a table in which:

  - Double-clicking a row activates the corresponding segment in the Editor pane.

  - Clicking a column header changes the sort order for that column.

  - Selecting or mousing over a row displays a context menu icon in the last column. Clicking that icon presents actions available to correct or ignore the error.

    ### Note

    To force issue checking each time you leave a segment, enable the `Check issues when leaving a segment` preference.

    To prevent the creation of translated files if tag issues are found, enable the `Block the creation of translated files with tag issues` preference.

Check Issues for Current File

  As above, but only for the document currently displayed in the Editor pane.

Statistics

  Opens a new window and displays project statistics such as the overall project word count or segment totals, and totals for every file in the project.

  The data is saved in the project_stats.txt file located in the omegat folder of the project.

  ### Note

  Word count, segment total and other items can be influenced by the following factors:

  - File filter settings: some filters allow for extra parts to be considered for translation. See the file filter options for details.

  - Segmentation rules: different rules will generate a different number of segment. See the Segmentation appendix for details.

  - Tags: OmegaT tags are never counted in the statistics but in some cases can split terms and create discrepancies in the way OmegaT counts them. See the `Hide tags` preference in the Project Properties dialog for details.

  - Custom tags and flagged text: as with OmegaT tags, they are not counted by default in the statistics, but you can have OmegaT count them as words. See the `Count flagged text and custom tags in statistics` preference for details.

Match Statistics

  Displays the match statistics for the project, which consist of the number of repetitions, exact matches, fuzzy matches and no-matches for segments, words and characters.

  The data is saved in the project_stats_match.txt file located in the omegat folder of the project.

Match Statistics per File

  Displays the individual match statistics, which consist of the number of repetitions, exact matches, fuzzy matches and no-matches for segments, words and characters, for each file in the project.

  The data is saved in the project_stats_match_per_file.txt file located in the omegat folder of the project.

Align Files...

  Select the two files to align (the source file and its translation) and click OK to open the Align Files window.

  The supported file formats depend on your project setting. See the File Filters appendix for details.

  The source and target files can have different formats (for example, a `.docx` file can be aligned with a `.pdf` file).

Scripting...

  Opens the Scripting window, which allows you to set the location where scripts are stored, as well as write and run scripts, and assign them a shortcut.

  The list below this item displays 12 potential slots for scripts. Clicking on an assigned slot launches the script assigned to that slot.

  ### Note

  To assign a number to a script:

  1. Open the Scripting window

  2. Select the script you want from the list on the left.

  3. At the bottom of the window, right-click on an unassigned number and select Add Script.

External search commands

  If you have defined external searches in the Global External Searches preferences, they are listed and accessible here.

## Options

This menu gives quick access to a few frequently used preferences.

Preferences...

  Opens the Preferences dialog.

  ### Note

  In macOS, this menu item is found under the OmegaT menu.

Machine Translation

  - `Automatically fetch translations`

  Allows you to activate or deactivate enabled and properly configured machine translation engines.

  If several translation engines are selected, you can also use C + M to switch between them and insert the last one selected. See the Machine Translation preferences for details.

Glossary

  - `Use fuzzy matching`

  Allows you to activate or deactivate fuzzy matching for glossary matches.

  See the Glossaries preferences for details.

Dictionary

  - `Use fuzzy matching`

  Allows you to activate or deactivate fuzzy matching for dictionary matches.

  See the Dictionaries preferences for details.

Auto-Completion

  Select the various options to activate or deactivate them. See the Auto-Completion preferences for details.

Global File Filters...

  Opens the Global File Filters preferences.

  Use Project Properties... C + E to access the local file filter preferences.

Global Segmentation Rules...

  Opens the Global Segmentation Rules preferences.

  Use Project Properties... C + E to access the local segmentation rules preferences.

Editor...

  Opens the Editor preferences.

Access Configuration Folder

  Opens the local folder where OmegaT configuration files are stored.

  ### Note

  The location depends on the operating system and launch options. See the Configuration Folder appendix for details.

## Help

This menu gives you access to information that will help you make the best of OmegaT.

User Manual... F1

  Opens this manual in the default browser.

About...

  Displays copyright, credits and license information.

Last Changes...

  Displays the list of new functionality, enhancements and bug fixes for each new release.

Log...

  Displays the current log file. The title of the dialog reflects the file currently in use (which depends on the number of concurrently running OmegaT instances).

Check for Updates...

  Checks to see if a newer version of OmegaT is available.