# The &lokalize; Handbook

Nick
Shaforostoff

    shaforostoff@kde.ru

2007-2009
Nick Shaforostoff
&FDLNotice;
2025-08-19
Applications 25.10

&lokalize; is a computer-aided translation system that focuses on productivity and quality assurance. It has components usually included in CAT tools like translation memory, glossary, and also a unique translation merging (synchronization) capability. It is targeted for software translation and also integrates external conversion tools for freelance office document translation.

&lokalize;
localization
l10n
internationalization
i18n
translation
globalization
g11n
XLIFF
gettext
OpenDocument

## Introduction

Usually program messages and documentation are written in English. Using a framework made of a set of tools and libraries, it is possible to have your favorite applications speak your native non-English language. This process of adapting an application to a specific language is known as localization. The localization process includes translating the program's interfaces and documentation to the various languages users need and, in some countries or regions, making the inputs and outputs conform to particular conventions. &lokalize; is a tool which will assist you in the localization process to make an application's interface speaks many languages.

Every internationalization-aware program makes available for translation one or more message-catalog files. The extension of these files is `.pot`. POT is an acronym for Portable Object Template. &lokalize; is an advanced and easy to use PO file (&GNU; gettext message catalogs) editor. It is a computer-aided translation system for translators, written from scratch using the &kde; Platform 4 framework. Aside from basic editing of PO files with nifty auxiliary details, it integrates support for glossary, translation memory, diff-modes for QA, project managing, &etc; It has many features like full navigation capabilities, extensive editing functionality, search functions, syntax checking and statistics functions.

Portable Object (.po) files: Each translator takes a copy of one of these POT templates and begins to fill in the blanks: each message is translated into the language desired. The file containing the translated text is referred to as a PO (Portable Object) file.

## Editor

### Main Window

By default, the main window contains six parts. The upper-right box is read-only and contains the current msgid (source text) field from the opened PO-file. The edit box just below this contains the msgstr (target text) field related to the msgid shown and here you can input or edit the translated text.

The main default &lokalize; window
This shows the default window when a file is opened.

The top-left part of the main window shows the Translation Units. Below this, there is Unit Metadata section and it contains comments relevant to the currently displayed source text. In the lower-left, there is a Translation Memory section which shows the suggested translations from the translation memory database for the current source text entry. On the lower-right corner of the window, the glossary section is shown.

Translation files are opened in separate tabs, with two big multi-line edits as well as a bunch of tool views. These views can be stacked (similar to tabs), shown separately, or hidden. Translation files consist of many English-target pairs called units. A unit typically correspond to a single string in the user interface, or one paragraph in the documentation. The purpose of the first multi-line edit is to display the original part of the pair. The purpose of the second multi-line edit is to display the translation. You can navigate through the units via the Translation Units view or by using Page Down and Page Up.

A unit may be translated or untranslated. A translation of a translated unit may be ready or not ready (also called fuzzy sometimes). If the unit is not ready, its translation is rendered in italics. &lokalize; allows you to easily navigate through the file according to the state of their translation. See Go menu for the shortcuts. The status bar at the bottom of the window shows the current string number, total number of strings, total untranslated strings, total not ready (fuzzy) strings and status of the current string respectively. When navigating, untranslated units are treated as not ready. Also, you may use the filtering feature of Translation Units toolview. Pressing Page Down actually takes you to the next unit in filtered/sorted list of that tool view.

To ease up translation of the console applications where spacers in messages are important you can check the Visualize separators such as spaces, tabs and new lines in the editor item on the page Editing of the configuration window which can be opened by choosing the Settings Configure &lokalize;... main menu item.

If you have no access to the original translation template file (it is a common practice on some commercial translation projects) then you can use a translation file from the related language. Just choose the File Clear all translated entries menu item or use &Ctrl;&Alt;D shortcut to clear all translation units.

To the main window one can add many more sections like Alternate Translations, Primary Sync, Secondary Sync, Binary Units by using Settings Toolviews from the main menu.

### Toolbars

You can add or remove actions in the toolbars using Settings Configure Toolbars... from the main menu.

Configure Toolbars
Here you can configure the toolbars.

For more information read the section about Toolbars of the &kde; Fundamentals.

### Shortcut keys

You can save time by using shortcut keys during translation. To configure shortcut keys, use Settings Configure Shortcuts... from the main menu.

Configure Shortcuts
Here you can configure the shortcut keys.

For more information read the section about Shortcuts of the &kde; Fundamentals.

### General Tips

If you are doing translations for &kde;, then either you will already have &lokalize; project file in your language folder (usually named `index.lokalize`), or you can select Project Create new project and the wizard will download translation files for your language and will create project for you.

It is recommended that you get used to the keyboard shortcuts instead of the menus and toolbars for increased productivity. For example, use the &Ctrl;L to focus Quick search input line to filter the unit list in Translation Units view. Once you are done, press Page Down to start moving along the filtered list. Pressing Esc in the filter input will move the focus back to the target text field without selecting another unit.

If you are working with translation files in XLIFF format (definitely the case when you translate OpenDocument), then extended states are available (new, needs review, approved, &etc;). You may select them in drop-down menu of Approved button in the toolbar. Classification of the state as ready or not ready depends on the current workflow phase (translation, review, approval). A default phase for you depends on your role in the project (set in project settings). Each unit usually contains information about phase it was changed last time, and for each phase its owner is logged to the file.

## Projects

### General Notes

The projects are one of the main concepts in &lokalize;. A project is represented by a file that contains paths, folders with translations, templates, and other files: glossary file, automation scripts, translation memories. Whenever &lokalize; opens a file without a project loaded, it will search for a project file in the parent folders (up to four levels). Alternatively, you can specify the project file via the `--project` flag when starting &lokalize; from the command line.

For each project you select your role in it (translator, reviewer, approver), which in turn affects the workflow phase &lokalize; automatically picks up for files you edit.

It is possible to define a word wrapping position on a project level. Just use the Project Configure project... menu item then go to the Advanced page.

Translation memories (unlike project files, glossary and scripts) are not shared between the translation team members, as they are created and stored under the user's home folder, meaning that the translation memories for all of the projects are stored in the same folder and thus can be used when other projects are opened.

### Project Overview tab

When you start &lokalize; first time, you will see an empty Project Overview tab. Project Overview is a file manager view, which helps you keep an overview of your PO files. The &lokalize; suite will help you to translate quickly and also to keep translations consistent. &lokalize; workflow implies that you start with creating/opening a project.

To create a new project, use Project Create new project. This will guide through the steps to create a new project. In Project menu you can also find options like Project overview, Configure project, Open project, and Open recent project.

Project Overview Tab Here you can configure the project.

The Project Overview tab displays a file tree with statistics for a current project, such as the percentage of translated units completed and the last translator. It allows you to open a selected file in a new tab of the current &lokalize; window.

You can switch off the completely translated files from the Project Overview using the Hide completed items button on the main toolbar or &Ctrl;T default shortcut.

When you start &lokalize; the next time it will show the last opened file by default. You can switch off this behavior with the Restore the previously opened files when opening &lokalize; item on the page General of the configuration window which can be opened by choosing the Settings Configure &lokalize;... main menu item. The same page can be used to configure &lokalize; behavior when you switch to the next/previous tab in it. It is possible to go through the tab list according to the tab positions or according to their activation order.

## Glossary

Have you ever become tired of typing the same long text sequence several times just because it would take more time to find its translation for a copy and paste? Now you will only have to find the (frequent) word sequence in the Glossary view, and then insert it by pressing a shortcut.

Of course the glossary should be populated with word sequences first. &lokalize; has a handy glossary editor that allows an explicit search over the entire glossary.

Glossary view in the bottom right corner displays glossary entries appropriate for the current unit
Glossary view in the bottom right corner displays glossary entries appropriate for the current unit

## Translation Memory

The Translation Memory view allows you to drag and drop a folder with translation files from say &dolphin; into the view, and then, within few minutes, translation suggestions will be shown automatically on the unit switch. To insert the translation suggestions into the file, use &Ctrl;1, &Ctrl;2 and so on, depending on the number of suggestion.

Use Tools Manage translation memories to add/manage projects to your Translation Memory. Here you can also import or export data from `tmx` file format.

Pressing F7 will open Translation Memory tab, which allows you to query the TM freely. Clicking a search result will open the corresponding file and unit. If you want to quickly open some file in the project (and it is added to TM), then instead of browsing Project Overview you can just type its name into the File mask field, accompanied by '*'.

The TM engine indexes all entries, including non-ready and untranslated ones. This allows it to completely replace the Search-in-Files feature which required scanning every file in the project each time a search is done.

The outdated TM entries will be deleted from the &lokalize; translation memory on rescan or clicking a missing entry if you check the Delete missing files from translation memory on Rescan or when clicking a missing entry item on the page Translation Memory of the configuration window which can be opened by choosing the Settings Configure &lokalize;... main menu item.

&lokalize; with translation memory search results for the current unit
&lokalize; with translation memory search results for the current unit

Batch Translation:

  To insert the exactly matching suggestion automatically from the translation memory database, use Tools Fill in all exact suggestions OR Fill in all exact suggestions and mark as fuzzy.

## Translation Synchronization Capabilities

The Sync Mode (previously known as Merge Mode) saves a great deal of time for the editors, and for cases when two or more translators are working simultaneously on the same file, or when one has to maintain translations for several branches of software.

&lokalize; allows quick navigation through units that differ, and displays word-by-word differences. Also, &lokalize; has two Sync views - Primary Sync and Secondary Sync. They are identical, but the former is usually used to merge translations and second to keep in sync translations for two software branches.

After you copied translation from auxiliary file (synchronized it), any subsequent changes made to this unit will be replicated back to auxiliary file.

### Merging

One use of Sync Mode is reviewing changes made by (new) contributors, when you cannot be sure of the quality of the work done.

Open a base file, then drop its changed version into the Primary Sync view, followed by &Alt;Down or &Alt; Up (remember that shortcuts may be modified in a usual way for all &kde; applications) to navigate through entries that are different.

&lokalize; used for merging changes in translation
&lokalize; used for merging changes in translation

### Replication

Sync Mode may also be used to make changes to translation for two branches simultaneously. Set Branch folder path in your project options to the path that corresponds to base folder of the branch, and Secondary Sync view will automatically open files from branch. Then, each time you make changes in files of your main branch, they will automatically be replicated to the branch (of course, if it contains the same English string).

For example, if you work on &kde; translation, you can checkout trunk to `/home/xx/hacking/kde/trunk/l10n-kf5/YOUR_LANG` and branch to `/home/xx/hacking/kde/branches/stable/l10n-kf5/YOUR_LANG`. Create &lokalize; project: `/home/xx/hacking/kde/trunk/l10n-kf5/YOUR_LANG/project.lokalize` and set `BranchDir=../../../branches/stable/l10n-kf5/YOUR_LANG`, then work via this project, and commit changes in both trunk and branch folders.

### Alternate Translations

Each unit may have several alternate translations associated with it. Such translations may appear during file update, when the source string is slightly changed. In this case the old translation with it's (old) source is moved to alternate translations list, so that they are not lost.

When translating software, usually gettext tools are used to prepare translation files. When original text changes, gettext tools update translation files and mark entries with changed original text as fuzzy (or non-ready in other terminology). They store previous original text so that translators could see what changes exactly were made. &lokalize; simplifies the life of the translator and highlights parts of the original text that were changed in the Alternate Translations view.

&lokalize; highlighting parts of original text that were changed since translation was last reviewed
&lokalize; highlighting parts of original text that were changed since translation was last reviewed

## External Tools

### Pology

The interaction with Pology can be configured using the page Pology of the configuration window which can be opened by choosing the Settings Configure &lokalize;... main menu item.

For more information, please refer to Pology homepage.

### LanguageTool

LanguageTool offers spell and grammar checking of your translation units.

You can configure your custom LanguageTool server using the page LanguageTool of the configuration window which can be opened by choosing the Settings Configure &lokalize;... main menu item.

To utilize LanguageTool checking capabilities use the Edit Check this unit using LanguageTool menu item or use &Ctrl;J shortcut.

For more information, please refer to LanguageTool homepage.

## Credits and License

&lokalize;

Program Copyright © 2007-2015, Nick Shaforostoff shaforostoff@kde.ru

Some code was taken from KBabel, the &lokalize; predecessor.

Documentation Copyright © 2007-2009 Nick Shaforostoff shaforostoff@kde.ru

Author:

- Nick Shaforostoff shaforostoff AT kde.ru; Shankar Prasad svenkate AT redhat.com; Sweta Kothari swkothar AT redhat.com

See the &lokalize; homepage for more details.

&underFDL; &underGPL;

&documentation.index;