xBench and TM maintenance

We all know how important it is the management of all translation assets.

I have used xBench to analyze translation memories and fix errors found at a TU level. It was really helpful to combine xBench with TextPad. It gives you the chance to right click on the segment and click on edit source which leads you straight to the segment that needs to be fixed.

However, often times and with some exported TMs in TXT format, I got a pop up message telling me that certain characters would not be allowed and would furthermore be changed. I got scared as I imagined later trouble when reimporting the TM.

Luckily, I have found a way to go around it.

The steps are as follows:

1. Export the TM in TXT format
2. Open the TXT file with Wordpad
3. Click on "Save as..." and choose TXT with unicode format
4. Use this unicode-formatted TXT with xBench and TextPad
5. Once you are done cleaning and fixing the TM, open the TXT file again in Wordpad
6. Click on "Save as..." and choose TXT (regular format)
7. Use this later TXT in regular format file to reimport to the TM
8. Always check with the help of the Concordance feature that all your fixes have been applied

Ufffff! I am again in sort of a catch-22 situation! :( I have a much larger TM with who knows how many strange characters. The thing is that when I try to open this file with TextPad it gives me the same prompt. I tried out using my little trick above mentioned but I failed.
I am doing some research now to see if I can go around it by using the TMX exported TM (instead of the simpler TXT). I will keep you posted! Hope someone will give me a hand too! :)

Hi Gentle

You are on your lucky day! Precisely a couple of days ago we had a similar problem here. I've posted the way round we found in a separate thread: http://www.english-spanish-translato...nance-tmx.html

Cheers.
P.

Thanx Pabloa! I'll go read your post at once.