FAQs

How do I obtain a Wordfast Pro License and install the application?
	When you purchase a Wordfast license, you will receive an installer and a license certificate which contains login credentials for our website. When you install Wordfast Pro for the first time, it will be in Demo mode. When you login to our website using the credentials on your license certificate, an activation key is provided. Enter the activation key in Help > License Management. This will change the Demo mode to a full version. Refer to Licensure.
What does Wordfast Pro Demo mode mean?
	When in Demo mode, you are limited to creating bilingual projects and storing up to 500 translation units in your Translation Memory. To get a full version, you must upload a license. Refer to Licensure.
What happens if a corrupted file is uploaded for translation?
	When creating a project, if one of the files are corrupted or invalid, you will still be able to create a project with the clean files. The corrupt or invalid file will not be uploaded, and a warning message will be displayed.
How do I chain individual files?
	Instead of opening files one-by-one to display in individual tabs, you can chain files to open in a single tab as long as these files are in the same batch. You cannot chain files across batches. Chaining files has the following main advantages: Open hundreds of files within seconds Filter or search and replace in one pass as opposed to once per individual file Refer to Chain Files.
Why is the Analyze button inactive when a chained file is opened for translation?
	The Analyze button on the TXLF Editor is inactive when a chained file is opened because the translation memory cannot provide the best results.
What are the different ways to analyze files?
	The analysis process converts source files into TXLF, and leverages the content against existing translation memories and generates a report listing matches, non-matches, word count, character count, and segment count. Source files can be analyzed in the following ways: Analyze files within a project from the Project Files tab (Refer to Analyze) Analyze any files outside of the project files from the Quick Tools tab (Refer to Analyze) Analyze a file open for translation in the TXLF Editor by clicking the Analyze button under the Translation tab
How do I Skip 100% and 100%+ Segments when Navigating through Grid?
	To skip 100% and 100%+ segments when navigating to the next segment that requires linguistic changes, you have two options: Filter for All except 100% and Context match segments Set preferences to Skip 100% and 100%+ segments The second option is preferred because it allows you so see the 100% and 100%+ segments for context while editing adjacent No Match and Fuzzy match or MT pre-translations.
How do I share and commit translations to TMs in real time?
	To share your translation as soon as you are done translating or editing a segment, you must commit it to the TM. Committing a segment will turn the color highlight from pink to purple. You can commit a segment to the TM as follows: Move to the next segment using ALT + . Click Translation > Commit. Press Alt+Q. If a segment does not require any changes, for example, if the 99% match or the MT match is linguistically correct, you can verify the segment. Verifying the segment will also commit it and turn the color highlight to purple. You can verify a segment as follows: Click the check mark next to the segment. Click the Translation > Verify. Press Ctrl+Alt+V. Once the segment is committed to the TM, it becomes a private translation unit (TU) that is penalized at 1%. As a 99% match, the segment is listed following the 100% match. Your preliminary translations go through additional steps such as editing and proofing. This private TU is elevated to a public TU once the last linguistic step in the translation workflow is completed. A public TU is leveraged during analysis automatically at 100% or 100%+.
How do I keep translations from getting written to the master TM?
	To prevent a segment from getting written to the TM: Open the file for translation and click on the segment that you do not want to write to the TM. On the Translation tab, click Unconfirm/Confirm. An unconfirmed segment will show a bull’s eye icon in the Status column, and will not be written to the TM. To write the segment to the TM, select the segment and click Unconfirm/Confirm again. The bull’s eye icon disappears and the segment is written to the TM. On the Translation tab, click Unconfirm / Confirm All to unconfirm or confirm all segments in the file.
How do I apply formatting correctly in WordFast Pro?
	Inline formatting can be applied to the target segment in two ways: You can enter tag(s) from the source language segment for basic styles such as bold and italic using the buttons on the Formatting tab. However, these formatting buttons could introduce tags in the target that do not match the source. Unless the linguist identifies these mismatched tags using Transcheck and corrects them, they will prevent effected TXLF files from converting into monolingual files at the align stage. To avoid the mismatched tags, after opening a file for translation, go to Preferences > Tags and select Show Formatting as Tags. Since this preference persists from one WFP session to another you only have to set it once. This preference enables you to reuse tags from the source using the Copy button under the Translation tab. If the tag preference is set to Show Text Formatting (when supported), you must apply formatting using the buttons in the Formatting tab, unless you toggled segment-by-segment from Tag Formatting to Tag Non-Formatting.
Why is the Whole Words Only checkbox inactive in Find/Replace dialog?
	In the Find and Replace dialog, the Whole Words Only checkbox will be inactive if multiple words or punctuation are added in the Find field.
What are Preferences for and how can I access them?
	All the user interface options and features can be customized in the General, Current project and User preferences groups. Preferences can be accessed in the following ways: Wordfast Pro tab drop-down menu Projects tab Project Files tab Quick Tools TXLF Editor Refer to Preferences.
What are the different ways that I can preview a file as PDF during translation?
	You can preview any MS Office or HTML file as a PDF on the TXLF Editor > File tab. Refer to Preview PDF.