Leveraging files with Clear-CAT

Leveraging or re-using earlier translations with Clear-CAT® is standard functionality and always active directly following a file parsing operation.

So while a new and untranslated file is imported into Clear-CAT® TM, the leverage functionality checks for available translations for this product.

Clear-CAT supports three different leverage types:

Cross Leveraging (Which can be used to pickup available translations within a product group)
In Context Leveraging (which is using the exact location of a translated string within the same file)
And finally In Context Leveraging against translations generated externally from Clear-CAT®

What type of leveraging is used by Clear-CAT is completely related to the selected Node which is used to insert the new product.

Before any software product or product documentation can benifit from earlier available translations, these translations should be available in the Clear-CAT® Translation Memory or Clear-CAT® TM

There are a number of possibilities to import existing translations into Clear-CAT®:

Click to enlarge or shrink this Image

After a product has been translated with Clear-CAT®, the translations are stored into the TM in such a way that any new product update can re-use the existing translations.
Import a bi-lingual RTF.
Import translations from other product by means of TMX import.
Import translations from other Clear-CAT users by a Segment import.

Because Clear-CAT® is using the structure of the material as specified by the material explorer it is essential that a project structure is available before any attempt is made to Import earlier translations, or run a product update.

To create such a structure see Processing files for the details.

To import a Bi-Lingual RTF both the project and language structure should be available in the material explorer, see picture on the left.

The user can select any node location in the Material Explorer below the language level of a product like the "Getting Started Guide" or "Interface" nodes, as long as the target language of the Bi-lingual RTF is matching the target language in this section of the Material explorer, which is French for the "Interface" node, and could be French or Italian for the "Getting Started Guide" nodes.

It also should be noted that while a user is free to build up a translation memory under the specified language and product levels, it would only make sense to insert translations which are in context with the structure. Remember that the material inside the Bi-Lingual RTF has references to specific products or documents, so the available translations should match the location or structure in the Material explorer of Clear-CAT®

The picture on the right shows a typical Bi-Lingual RTF import at the "Getting Started Guide" level in the Material Explorer.

Clear-Cat® supports in-context leveraging due to the following facts.

The project structure which is determining where a project is belonging, and as a result where the actual material is stored is per definition maintaining the context of the translated material.

Click to enlarge or shrink this Image Then as soon as a project structure is available, files for translation can be inserted by selecting the proper pre-defined node location, which could identify the documentation or software components of your product.

Now the user can choose between a file import method (after right clicking the node), like is identified in the leftmost picture, or a directory import method which is shown in the picture below.

Click to enlarge or shrink this Image Depending on the selection either a file or directory dialog is provided to select one or more files, or a complete directory structure (including all nested directories).

After the selection has been acknowledged Clear-CAT® starts the import process for all selected files, or directories in one go.