OmegaT+ User Guide

Available Documentation

• Software Requirements & Installation
  - how to get OmegaT+ ready for use
• Quick Start
  - a short tutorial to get started quickly with OmegaT+
• Essentials
  - details on many aspects of OmegaT+ (a work in progress)
• Document Filters
  - instructions on how to use the document filter functionality to deal with file encodings and naming
• Locales
  - an overview of locale usage in OmegaT+, related information about locale codes, language codes, and references to some standards
• Localization Guide
  - guide for those localizing OmegaT+ into different locales (language/country)

The most recent versions of these documents are available on-line: OmegaT+ User Guide

Notice

Please read the documentation provided before attempting to use the application. OmegaT+ is relatively easy to use, once you know what you are doing, but read first. It has come to our attention that many first time users do not make much effort to read the documentation. Thus, they end up not being able to get much useful work done with the program as soon as they could.

Check the documentation first. RTFM!

There are user groups for OmegaT+ (read below) where users of the program can help each other with various issues, asking any questions they want. Join those groups and ask your questions there. Do not send direct email to any of the projects members, you will not get a response unless your question is deemed significant. Post your questions on the user groups. OmegaT+ project members monitor the groups and may answer questions there, at their discretion, as well as possibly receiving answers provided by other users of OmegaT+.

In summary, read the documentation and ask questions on the user groups only.

If you really need more extensive help then consider obtaining paid support (for a reasonable low fee). Any fees obtained will help in thefuture development of OmegaT+. You will get one-on-one help, direct program updates, and more.

Please consider doing this if you earn any kind of living through the use of OmegaT+, we would like to make a living also. Plus, any fees help to continue working more to improve the application for everyones benefit. Contact the project manager for details.

Notes for this Version - 1.0 M3 (Milestone 3)

• This milestone release is stable enough to work with, but there might be some things still broken or missing. In its current form it has been tested on numbers of real translation projects over the course of more than a year, with little or no problems. In any event, be cautious about saving your valuable data as you work. Consider yourself warned.

• As was the case with Milestones 1 and 2 (M1 & M2), do not depend upon all the functionailty in this version as being avaialble in future milestone versions of OmegaT+ in exactly the same manner. There have been significant changes between M1, M2, and M3 in the underlying code. Some of the core changes may not be that obvious in normal use and this is just mentioned so that it is clear about changes having occurred.

• OmegaT+ is a project unto itself. It uses code from other projects, but there is no intention to retain any compatibility with other projects. If you want to use OmegaT+ with resources from other projects, create a new project and place compatible files in the appropriate locations first.

• As always, please take adequate precautions with your data. Make regular backups and check for proper generation of translation documents and project TMX.

• Documentation is minimal at this point. A proper guide (English) is in progress, with a substantial portion of basic information complete. It is still too rough to distribute, but will become available as the application moves towards a full version 1.0 release.

• The application and documentation are only being released in English at this point. Partial to almost complete localizations in some other languages are available, but they need some cleanup. If anyone wants to know more about this or help to complete a localization, please contact the project.

• If you need more help, please ask on the OmegaT+ user groups (only):

  • OmegaT+ Yahoo group
  • OmegaT+ Google group
  
  

  Both of these require accounts on Yahoo or Google to join and post messages, but are free. Post all your questions to those groups, do not send direct email to project members about issues with OmegaT+, you will not get a reply.

• This is free software. Therefore, it comes WITHOUT warranty of any kind.

Important Notes

If you are upgrading from a release before 1.0.M2.2 then you MUST READ the notes given here for the Document Filters and Segmentation Rules.

• Document Filters: If you are upgrading from a prior release then changes to the software result in an inability to translate document/file formats using the filters configuration file (filters.xml) from the older OmegaT+ versions (1.0.M2.1 and prior). Errors may or may not be displayed (depending on the particular way of using the application). Removal of the old filters.xml and restart of OmegaT+ will solve this issue. Removal of the old filters configuration will result in loss of all user setup for the filters, if any changes were done from the default settings in older versions of OmegaT+. If you need to retain old settings, make a backup of the old file version, then the new file can be edited to include the old settings (if you know how to do this in XML).

• Segmentation Rules: If you are upgrading from a prior release then changes to the software will result in an inability to use older segmentation rules (segmentation.conf) from the older OmegaT+ versions (1.0.M2.1 and prior). No errors will be displayed and any user-defined rules will not be available. The file to be used now is named segmentation.xml instead and the new setup in this file does not correspond to the old one. No removal of the old file is necessary, but rules in that file will not be read by the program. If you need to include rules from the older then the new file can be edited to include them (if you know how to do this in XML).

Changes

Current Version: 1.0 M3 (build 091114)

• faster project open
  • projects now open faster due to matching being performed when a segment is activated, not all at once when a project is opened
  • many mutli-megabyte projects (documents, external and project TMX) now open in less than a minute, some even in a matter of a few seconds.
• toolbars
  • multiple toolbars with related buttons have been added to modernize the interface and make OmegaT+ even easier to use
  • toolbars can be moved around to the four sides of the interface and collapsed by dragging/clicking on the grabber dots
• original segments can now be exported as translations into TMX
• new Messages View added inside docking desktop
  • see messages the program has output during work on a project
  • no more messages unreadably passing quickly by on the status bar
  • have the messages your way: open, closed, minimized, etc.
• Status bar changes
  • most program messages have been removed from this and now show up in the Messages View instead
  • now indicates active document being translated
  • now indicates the segment number and postion within the segment
• search terms highlights in Search View
  • returned results from queries are colored in blue and green for original and translation terms, respectively, for easy location in context
• font application improvements
  • fonts configuration now applies to docking desktop View Titlebars also (minor quirks exist)
  • font configuration for Messages View added
• menuitem radio buttons added where appropriate
• Go to Segment dialog stays open until user closes it
  • makes easier navigation
• document filters
  • Portable Object (PO) document support updated
  • Android Resources support added
• localizations
  • new Italian and Polish localizations added
  • keyboard shortcuts can be localized or customized where needed by editing the appropriate localization file
• open web browser
  • open the default web browser from inside OmegaT+, from a menu or toolbar
• open original document externally
  • open the currently active original document in an external application
  • uses default application of operating system according to file type, when available. Else, web browser is open (some will be able to open another application from there)
• code (minor bug fixes, optimizations & cleanup)
• OmegaT+ icon/splash
• documentation updates

Version: 1.0 M2 - update 3 (build 090721)

• bug fix for missing desktop menubar on Mac OS X when attempting to open a project.
• drag and drop support added for text related components: Translation Editor, Matches View (drag only), Glossaries View (drag only), Search View/Window (entry and results).
• search entry box in Search View/Window has platform specific look on Mac OS X now.

Version: 1.0 M2 - update 2 (build 090608)

• document filters
  - intial(experimental) support for LaTeX/TeX documents
  - intial support for ResX documents
• more default language segmentation rules added:
  • Catalan
  • Dutch
  • Polish
  • Spanish
  • Swedish
• new Search View added inside docking desktop
  - search without needing to open an extra window, if desired
• redesigned Search Window: streamlined appearance
  - less cluttered and easiesr to read search results
• the project and exported translation memories now default to TMX version 1.4(b)
  - for both level 1 and 2 TMX documents
• code optimizations & cleanup
• documentation updates

Important Notes

If you are upgrading from a prior release then you MUST READ the Notes for this Version given earlier on this page regarding the Document Filters and Segmentation Rules.

Version: 1.0 M2 - update 1 (build 090310)

• fixed application quit confirmation dialog on Mac OS X to prevent potential loss of unsaved segments
• fixed launch of Quick Start tutorial in browser
• fixed missing shortcut key for Search window
• updated English localization
• added French and Spanish localizations
• added user interface locale/language change functionality with menu of current localizations selectable to change program language
• adjusted mnemonics
• removed java information from About dialog. Added Java dialog in place of it to show program memory usage and other information (future)
• more code cleanup
• documentation updates

NOTE: if you are upgrading from a prior release then changes to the software to support Java properties in this version result in an inability to translate that format using the filters configuration file (filters.xml) from the old OmegaT+ version (1.0.M2 and prior). An error dialog will be shown if you open a project that contains .properties files for translation. Removal of the old filters.xml and restart of OmegaT+ solves issue. The removal of the old filters configuration will result in loss of all user setup, if any changes were done from the default settings. If you need to retain old settings, make a backup of the old file version, then the new file can be edited to include the old settings (if you know how to do this in XML).

Version: 1.0 M2 (build 081225)

• Sentence segmentation support
• New and updated document filters
  - Current support for: DocBook, HHC/HHK(HtmlHelp), HTML/XHTML, INI, Java properties(.properties), ODF(OpenDocument), OOo(OpenOffice.org), OOXML (MS Office Open XML), plaintext(.txt), PO(Portable Object), SRT(SubRip), XLIFF, XML, XTag(CopyFlow Gold).
• Removed superfluous start/end tags from translation editor segments
  - Segment number is indicated in title bar of editor and in the status bar when a segment is activated
• Improved robustness, reliability, and quality:
  - Refactored java threading
  - Eradicated numerous bugs from legacy code (200+)
  - Cleanup of java code (still in progress towards 1.0 final)
• Improved graphical user interface
  - Application title bar shows open project's name
  - Original segment is indicated in bold blue (no more ugly higlights)
  - Matches view and glossaries view show the resulting number of matches when moving between segments
  - Metrics view added to show translated/unique segments in project
  - Better looking buttons for dockable views
  - Altered default layout of dockables
• Metrics file output for project
• Reorganization of application menus
• Improved keyboard shortcuts across platforms (Linux, OS X, Windoze)
• Functions to move back and forth between project documents (mouse, shortcuts)
• Cut, copy, paste support (menu, shortcuts)
• Uppercase, lowercase support (menu, shortcuts)
• Project Reopen function
• Option to automatically load last project on application launch
• Option to automatically validate tags on translation generation
• Java Swing 'Look and Feel' selection (Linux, Windoze)
• Window menu to allow open/close of dockables/application components
• Functionality to open User guide in web browser
  - Uses system default browser on Mac OS X and Windoze
  - Configurable on Linux (attempts to locate a known one when launched, but can be set if one is not located)
  - Builtin User Guide viewer as backup
• About dialog shows OmegaT+ memory usage and Java version

Version: 1.0 M1 (build 080312)

• removed non-compliant GPL libraries for OS X integration; inherited from legacy code
  - replaced it with new code
• QuickStart documentation updated, plus other minor documentation updates

Version 1.0 M1 (build 080220)

• fixed bug with launching documentation in help window or in web browser
  - path problem related to launching OmegaT+ on the desktop
• minor documentation updates

Version 1.0 M1 (build 080129)

• initial release

Copyright (C) 2005-2009 by Raymond: Martin. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/). Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. Distribution of the work or derivative of the work in any standard (paper) book form is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder.