Newbee question on OmegaT
Thread poster: vensunan da
vensunan da
vensunan da
Myanmar
Pali to English
+ ...
Sep 24, 2019

I have never used OmegaT before and am struggling with the user interface. Can someone suggest a good place to get a better understanding of how the interface works as it is quite different from normal Windows software?

I am having trouble importing the source text and viewing it in OmegaT. Sometimes it does not show up in the list of source files after selecting it, or it disappears later. I don't understand what I am doing wrong so it is difficult to give a sensible description of
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I have never used OmegaT before and am struggling with the user interface. Can someone suggest a good place to get a better understanding of how the interface works as it is quite different from normal Windows software?

I am having trouble importing the source text and viewing it in OmegaT. Sometimes it does not show up in the list of source files after selecting it, or it disappears later. I don't understand what I am doing wrong so it is difficult to give a sensible description of the problem!
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 00:03
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Vensunan Sep 24, 2019

vensunan da wrote:
OmegaT's interface is quite different from normal Windows software


In my opinion there is nothing odd about OmegaT's interface on Windows. Which version of Windows do you use, and can you give us some examples of programs whose interface is more like that which you expect from normal Windows software?

I am having trouble importing the source text and viewing it in OmegaT. Sometimes it does not show up in the list of source files after selecting it, or it disappears later.


When you create a project in OmegaT, it creates a folder with a set of subfolders. On of the subfolders is called "source", and your source file should be copied to inside that subfolder. Press F5 (reload) in OmegaT if you've added or removed a source file, so that OmegaT can recheck the "source" subfolder for the source files. OmegaT will only show source files that are in a format that OmegaT recognises (it must have a file extension that OmegaT recognises and it must be a valid file of that type).

Also, when you re-open OmegaT later, you have to "open" the project if you want to continue working on it.

What kinds of files are you having trouble with?


 
vensunan da
vensunan da
Myanmar
Pali to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Reply Sep 25, 2019

Many thanks for your reply.

Samuel Murray wrote:

In my opinion there is nothing odd about OmegaT's interface on Windows. Which version of Windows do you use, and can you give us some examples of programs whose interface is more like that which you expect from normal Windows software?


I am using Windows 8. For example often it is very unclear whether OmegaT is creating/looking for a file or a folder, and when highlighting a file in the file selector if you press return its behaviour is non-standard for 99.9% of Windows programs (whichever Windows version). The look and feel of the interface is VERY non-standard for Windows.

What kinds of files are you having trouble with?


I copied text from a text database and pasted it into MS Word 2007 and saved as docx. It looked normal in Word but in OmegaT it had tags before and after every word. I then copied the text from the database again and pasted in MS notepad to remove formatting, then copied from notepad and pasted in MS Word - again it looked normal in Word. I tried to import into OmegaT but it refused to show up at all. I copied it to the Source folder manually in file explorer (and it was visible there in file explorer) but OmegaT showed the folder as empty (even though in the file selector showed file type "all files" - again utterly non-standard for Windows software).

At one stage a file which had previously been accepted in OmegaT but later suddenly disappeared. (I am not certain from memory exactly what I did, but I think something like the following: I installed the first file in the previous paragraph, which OmegaT accepted. Then I copied the second file to the source folder manually in file explorer, and then both files became invisible to OmegaT.)


 
Milan Condak
Milan Condak  Identity Verified
Local time: 00:03
English to Czech
Changing something in project Sep 26, 2019

I created presentation about OmegaT for people speaking Interlingua.

http://www.condak.cz/interlingua/2019-09/25/cs/00.html

The presentation is in Czech language and Graphic user interface in Interlingua.
... See more
I created presentation about OmegaT for people speaking Interlingua.

http://www.condak.cz/interlingua/2019-09/25/cs/00.html

The presentation is in Czech language and Graphic user interface in Interlingua.

http://www.condak.cz/interlingua/2019-09/25/cs/03.html

When are you changing something in project, you should press F5 or click in menu a command "Recargar".

==
Documentation (Dokumentace)

http://www.condak.cz/interlingua/2019-09/25/cs/01.html

https://omegat.sourceforge.io/manual-standard/

In English:

https://omegat.sourceforge.io/manual-standard/en/index.html#__sethome

Milan
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 00:03
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Vensunan Sep 26, 2019

vensunan da wrote:
For example often it is very unclear whether OmegaT is creating/looking for a file or a folder...


Yes, the "Create a new project" dialog is rather confusing, if you don't understand how it works yet. On the one hand, it looks like you're supposed to select a file, but on the other hand it looks like you're supposed to select a folder. Hopefully, after using it a few times, you realise that you are supposed to specify the name of a project that you want OmegaT to create. In other words, navigate to the parent folder where you want to create the project, and then type in the name of the project. OmegaT will then create a folder with that name in that location.

This ambiguity has been discussed with the developers in the past, but it is felt that the alternative (namely to use Windows' built-in "Browse for folder" dialog) will make it more cumbersome for experienced users to quickly navigate to the appropriate parent folder. Windows' built-in "Browse for folder" dialog is very user-unfriendly (even in Windows 8).

...and when highlighting a file in the file selector if you press return, its behaviour is non-standard for 99.9% of Windows programs.


The behaviour is certainly unexpected, at first, but it does do what other Windows programs also do: you get an error message, and the error message is short and a little cryptic ("Folder already exists and is not empty. Please select a different folder."). So allow me to explain the error message: a project in OmegaT is a folder, and you can either let OmegaT create that folder (using the "New project" menu) or you can create the folder yourself manually and then select the folder (using the same "New project" menu). If you select a folder while using the "New project" menu, OmegaT assumes that you are trying to indicate that you want that folder to be be used for the project folder, but OmegaT will only do so if the folder is empty. So what you should do is double-click the folder so that you move into it, and then type a name for the project.

Also, the behaviour isn't really non-standard. In Windows, pressing ENTER (or Return) activates whichever function has the focus, and if the selected file has the focus, then pressing ENTER will do something with the file (e.g. open it). Often, when you select a file, the file itself gets the focus. However, in some dialogs it is possible to select a file while the focus remains on some other element of the dialog (e.g. a button). This is what happens here, too, although Windows 8's default theme can make it difficult to see which widget has the focus (bad Microsoft!). The "Save" button retains the focus, so if you press ENTER, it acts on the Save button, not the selected file. This is standard... although perhaps unexpected.

Here's what it looks like in Windows 10 using the most basic theme:

new folder omegat

Even though I have just selected the "test" folder, the "Save" button has the focus, so pressing ENTER will work in on the Save button. In such cases, one has to double-click the folder to open it (because pressing ENTER won't open it, because a folder is only opened when pressing ENTER if the folder itself has the focus).


 
esperantisto
esperantisto  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:03
Member (2006)
English to Russian
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SITE LOCALIZER
Very probably… Sep 26, 2019

vensunan da wrote:
It looked normal in Word but in OmegaT it had tags before and after every word.

…you did not set the correct language for the text. Open the file, set the correct language (or, even better, the target language) for the entire text, tick ‘Do not check spelling’, then press F7 to run the spellcheck routine. Or, a much better option, use LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffice and save to ODT.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 00:03
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Vensunan II Sep 26, 2019

vensunan da wrote:
Samuel wrote:
What kinds of files are you having trouble with?

1. I copied text from a text database and pasted it into MS Word 2007 and saved as docx. It looked normal in Word but in OmegaT it had tags before and after every word.


Yes, MS Word often has hidden formatting tags that are not visible to users. There are ways to process Word files in an attempt to remove the formatting. What you did next is one such thing:

I then copied the text from the database again and pasted in MS notepad to remove formatting, then copied from notepad and pasted in MS Word - again it looked normal in Word. I tried to import into OmegaT but it refused to show up at all.


Did you save as DOC or as DOCX? OmegaT can't process DOC files. Did you paste it into the same file as previously, or did you create a brand new file and then pasted it in it?

I copied it to the Source folder manually in file explorer (and it was visible there in file explorer)...


I confirm that that is a correct thing to do... (and then you were supposed to open the project in OmegaT again, or if the project was already open, press F5 in OmegaT to let OmegaT reload all files from the project's source folder)...

...but OmegaT showed the folder as empty (even though in the file selector showed file type "all files" - again utterly non-standard for Windows software).


I know of no dialog in OmegaT that would show "all files" when trying to open a file. The only way to open a file in OmegaT is to press Ctrl+L and select the file.

It sounds as if you were trying to use the Project > Open menu to open a file. That dialog does have the option "All files" in it, but you won't be able to open a file that way, because that menu is for opening projects, not files, and therefore you'll only ever see folders in it (and you'll be able to see the OmegaT project folder easily because it has a special icon).

It is possible to *add* a file to an existing project that is open in OmegaT (this may be referred to by some people as "opening the file in OmegaT"). If you use the menu Project > Copy files to source folder, the resulting dialog does show all files. It truly shows *all* files (even files that OmegaT doesn't support, because you are allowed to add files to an OmegaT project that OmegaT doesn't support). Selecting a file and pressing ENTER will cause that file to be copied to the source folder, and then the file will become visible in OmegaT (if you press Ctrl+L).


[Edited at 2019-09-26 08:44 GMT]


 


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