Across - a Versatile Translation Memory

User-Friendly Start Screen Layout

The first thing thing you will notice about the What Do You Want To Do? interface, is the clear user-friendly layout. The designer of this layout clearly focused on the tasks users typically want to perform. Under the headings, you can find short descriptions of the individual modules. For example: "Alignment Wizard – Import and recycle old source and target documents to build up your translation memory". By clicking More, you can open the corresponding topic in the Help.

Comprehensive Help

The Help is detailed and provides step-by-step instructions, examples, and background information. These cover topics such as terminology work or the functionality of TMs.

If you have never worked with a TM before, or are using a function such as "Alignment" for the first time, you should read the corresponding introductions in the Help and use the detailed descriptions to familiarize yourself with the subject.

Individual Settings

Users can save individual settings to their profile – from the color of the matches, to how often the translation is saved. However, it is not always easy to find these settings.

To customize your individual profile, click Tools -> Profile Settings.

Useful Buttons

The most commonly used functions are displayed as buttons, which are always visible in the crossDesk toolbars. This avoids searching tediously through the menus.
However, without practice, it can be difficult to understand which function each symbol represents.

Useful Shortcut Keys

Shortcut keys enable you to work faster by navigating between modules or translation segments almost completely without using the mouse.

In the Help, there is a reference where all preset shortcut keys are listed according to topic: Across -> An Overview of Across -> Appendix -> Reference: Shortcut Keys.

If you don't like the shortcut keys, you can define your own. You can find information on how to do this in the Help, under Across -> An Overview of Across -> Introduction -> Customizing Across under the entries Customizing Toolbar and Customizing Shortcuts.

User Rights

Every user belongs to a specific user group with specific rights, for example, terminologists, project managers, and translators. Don't forget to assign the individual user rights in advance, particularly if several users work separately due to conflicting work schedules.

You must have at least project manager rights for many important tasks, such as checking in and out new documents.
You can find a list of what rights are assigned to the various user groups in the Help, under Across -> An Overview of Across -> Appendix under the entry Rights System: Default Settings.

If the preset rights are not suitable, you can define new user groups and individually assign their rights. This requires supervisor rights. To do this, in the left module list, click Administration -> Groups -> New. The Group Wizard opens and guides you through the process of setting up a new group.

Defined Target Languages

A user can only edit texts written in the language defined in the user's settings.
Only a supervisor can change this, and only while the user is offline. To do this, in the left module list, click Administration -> User. Select the username you want to edit and click Settings. On the Languages tab, set the target languages.

Caution: Poorly Formatted Source Texts

Is the source text in Word structured without proper formatting templates? Or has the paragraph mark been used to create blank lines between paragraphs? If so, when the document is checked into Across, it might not be properly segmented. If your are not sure whether the text has been properly formatted, open the document and edit it if necessary.

The following can happen when dealing with poorly formatted source texts:
When you generate a Word document from a PDF document, a paragraph mark is automatically inserted at the end of every line. When the document is then checked into Across, these paragraph marks are each interpreted as a new section. This separates the parts of the sentences, which then appear as different segments during the translation.
When you check in narrow table columns from a Word document, Across sometimes interprets the end of each column row as the end of a section. In extreme cases a word that is in two column rows and separated by a dash, appears in Across in two different sections.

Format Restoration

When you check a document out of Across, the formatting from the source text is automatically applied to the translated target text. However, don't just assume that everything has worked properly! After translating a couple of sentences, check to see that the target text is formatted correctly. This way, you can identify any potential problems early.

You can preview the source or target document by using the preview function under Tools -> Preview -> Preview Target Text. However, be aware that reproducing the original formatting in the preview does not always work. The formatting in the preview document is not necessarily the same as the final document that is checked out of Across. Play it safe, and always check out the text as a test.

Choose from Several Workflow-Templates

The workflow template determines which task types Across identifies for a text, for example, "terminology work", "translation", and "correction." Before you check in new documents, check that the correct workflow template has been defined under Tools -> Profile Settings -> Project Wizard settings under the entry Workflow template.

If you have unintentionally checked in a document with the default workflow when you only want to translate, you can delete the unwanted tasks, such as terminology work and correction by later modifying the workflow. To do this, in the left module list, clickProjects -> Projects. Select the document that you want to edit and click Settings below the top right window. Change the workflow on the Document Settings tab. To do this, you need project manager rights.

Multiple Saved Translations

Normally, there should only be one translation – one 100% match – saved in crossTank, in order to avoid incorrect translations. To ensure this, check that the option Prevent multiple translations by overwriting existing entries with new ones is selected. This is found under Tools -> Profile Settings -> crossTank -> Storing in the Save Settings.

In some instances, you might have specific reasons to save duplicate translations, for example, to account for different contexts.

Problems with Matching

It is not always possible to translate the original text into the target language using the exact same number of sentences. Across can have problems with "Matching."
As a precaution, Across can display a "matching dialog" so you can assign matches manually. To do this, click Tools -> Profile Settings -> crossTank -> Storing and, under the Translation Units Saving Mode subsection, select Automatic Storing and Open dialog when automatic matching is not possible.

Correcting Alignments Manually

The alignment function scans the source text and the translation and automatically assigns each sentence to its corresponding translation. However, don't just assume that all translations have been correctly assigned! You must always use the option Manual Correction. Mistakes are particularly common in documents with images.

New Features of Across Version 5.0

Below is a list of the most important new features in Across v5.0 (full explanations can be found in the WhatsNew PDF file on the Across website (www.Across.net) under Services -> Documentation Center -> What's New):

New features related to the document formats
Improved support of Chinese and Japanese source documents
Project management with crossWeb
User-defined system attributes
Multiple selection of attribute values
crossTerm instances
User-defined crossTerm filters
crossTerm filter sets and cascading search
crossMining: statistical analyses of crossTank and crossTerm entries for correlations between the source and target languages
CrossAutomate: the new reporting module of Across
crossAnalytics: Reports and Analyses