Use
to access this dialog (the
OmegaT menu on macOS).
Use the search field at the top of the preferences list to look for specific items.
Preferences set in this dialog are saved to the default configuration folder and apply to all translation projects unless you have specified a different configuration folder.
It is possible to have OmegaT use a different configuration folder to define project-specific configurations. See the Command line launch section for details. If you specify such a configuration folder, all modifications made in this dialog will be stored there.
Use TAB
to Advance
The default key to validate and leave a segment is Enter .
This option sets the segment validation key to Tab instead.
This option is useful with some Chinese, Japanese or Korean character input systems.
Always
Confirm Quit
The program will ask for confirmation before closing.
Access
Configuration Folder
Opens the local folder where OmegaT configuration files are stored.
The location depends on the operating system and launch options. See the Configuration Folder appendix for details.
Automatically
fetch translations
If you disable this option, machine translations will only be fetched when you use C + M in the current segment. You will then have to press that combination again to insert the suggestion.
Untranslated
segments only
Check this box to send only untranslated segments to the machine translation services.
Provider
list
In the list of machine translation available in OmegaT, check the Enabled box for each provider you want to access. Use the button to manage your authentication credentials for that provider.
Most providers require some kind of registration before using their services. Make sure you have the proper credentials before using this function.
Required
credentials
| Engine | Required credentials | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Belazar | ||
| DeepL | Requires a Deepl Pro Advanced plan available only in some countries | https://www.deepl.com/en/pro |
| MyMemory (machine translation) | https://mymemory.translated.net/ | |
| Apertium | URL, key | http://www.apertium.org |
| MyMemory (human translation) | ||
| IBM Watson | URL, Model ID, Login ID, Password | https://www.ibm.com/watson |
| Google Translate v2 | API key | https://cloud.google.com/translate/ |
Display
TBX glossaries context description (TBX 2)
Uncheck this option if the context description shown for each glossary entry is unnecessary or too long.
Match
term groups even if the terms appear separately
When a glossary term is a compound word, the term will match even if the words appear separately in the source text.
Use
stemming
OmegaT will use the associated tokenizer to find matches.
Replace
matches when inserting source text
When you use
C + S + I or
the
Insert the
source text
preference, etc.
to insert the source content in the target segment, words with a glossary entry will automatically be replaced by their translation.
Ignore
matches with very different case (e.g., USER vs user)
Matches with very different case are not displayed.
Layout
Select a layout for the glossaries pane contents. Additional layouts can be added as plugins.
Merge
alternate definition of the same term
If a glossary item has multiple definitions, they will be displayed on the same line.
Preferences here define how the contents of the dictionary folder are displayed in the Dictionaries pane.
Search
automatically
While the option is disabled, use A + S + D to search for matches of the selection or of all the terms in the segment source.
When the option is enabled, OmegaT automatically searches in all the dictionaries for matches of the terms it identified in the segment, as it enters the segment.
Use
fuzzy matching
OmegaT will use the associated tokenizer to find matches.
Use
condensed view
Some dictionary drivers provided as plugins do not support this feature.
Theme
Select a theme for the OmegaT user interface.
Additional themes can be added as plugins. The themes also provide predefined set of default colours.
Not all natively provided Java themes are compatible with OmegaT operation.
Restore
Main Window
Restores the OmegaT window panes to their default arrangement.
Use this feature when you are unable to restore the desired arrangement after undocking, moving, or hiding one or more panes. You can use it when panes do not appear as expected after an OmegaT upgrade.
Select the font and font size used to display the text in the main window panes.
OmegaT uses the same font for both the source and target languages. If you work in a language pair that uses different writing systems, make sure you choose a font that can display both languages correctly. Characters that are not supported will appear as squares.
Apply this font to tabular data (project files, statistics,
etc.)
Tabular data is by default displayed in a monospaced font that keeps columns properly aligned. Using a proportional font will break that layout.
Apply a different font size to the dictionaries pane
By default, the dictionaries pane uses the same font size as the main window panes.
You can assign different colours for the various parts of the user interface.
Scripts can be used to set predefined themes. OmegaT is bundled with a script called Switch Colour Theme that provides a default dark theme. See the Scripting window for details.
Automatic dark theme detection is available on Linux systems with the Gnome/GTK look and feel for users who run OmegaT on OpenJDK. This feature depends on Java functionality that is not yet available on other platforms.
This dialog lists the file filters available to projects that do not use local file filters.
The contents of this preference are identical to the contents of the local file filters dialog. See the File Filters appendix for details.
If local file filters are used, modifying global file filters will have no effect on the project.
See the Segmentation appendix for a general explanation of segmentation (global or local, paragraph or sentence, etc.)
This dialog only accesses the global segmentation rules. If you have set local rules in the Project Properties dialog, modifications here will not be taken into account.
Only the rules associated to language patterns that correspond to the source language of your project are applied. See the Languages project properties.
For a translation from Japanese,
only
the
rule set associated to the JA.* pattern and the generic
rule sets associated to the .* will be taken into
account.
When you click on a language pattern in the top half of the dialog, a list of associated rules will be displayed in the bottom half of the dialog.
All segmentation rule sets for a matching language pattern are active and are applied in order. Rules for specific language regions should be higher than default ones.
The rules for FR-CA should be set higher than those for FR.* , which should themselves be higher than the generic .* set.
Thus, when translating from Canadian French the rules for Canadian French—if any—will apply first, followed by the rules for French and lastly, by the generic rules.
To create a new rule set:
Click . An empty line will appear at the bottom of the table.
Change the name of the rule set and the language pattern to the desired label and corresponding pattern. The language pattern is a regular expression.
Use the button to set the rule set priority.
Exception rules should be listed above break rules.
When OmegaT reads files, it puts a non-breaking marker at every exception location. Places that do not have such markers and that match break rules will be break locations.
Exceptions
To define an exception rule, leave the Break/Exception check box unchecked.
Specify text combinations that are exceptions to a break rule. For example, Mrs. Dalloway should not be split in two segments even though a break rule for period followed by a space generally defines a sentence.
Breaks
To define a break rule, check the Break/Exception box.
Separates the source text into segments. For example, period followed by a space generally defines a sentence end in English.
The Before pattern identifies the parts that are before the break or exception point.
The After pattern identifies the parts that are after the break or exception point.
The Before and After patterns are regular expressions. See the Regular expressions appendix for details.
The existing rules always provide a good starting point.
The auto-completion menu is available in the Editor pane. See the Auto-completion menu section for details.
Click on Glossary to configure the auto-completer glossary view.
Click on Autotext to configure the Autotext options, and to add or remove entries.
Click on Character Table to set the Character table auto-completer options.
Click on Enable history completion or Enable history prediction to set history based completions.
Absolutely none of your data (history, etc.) is ever sent to an external server by OmegaT for processing. All prediction/completion results are computed locally.
If the Show Relevant Suggestions Automatically
option is checked, typing the first letter of a translated glossary entry,
or < for a tag, automatically launches the
auto-completer.
OmegaT has a built-in spellchecker but requires you to install spellchecking dictionaries based on your target languages.
OmegaT will use the language dictionary that has the same name as the target language code set in the Languages project property. An FR-FR dictionary will not spellcheck FR target segments. If necessary, modify the name of the dictionary or change your project’s language settings.
Spellcheck
the translation
Enable after installing a spellchecking dictionary. OmegaT will underline spelling mistakes with red wavy-lines.
Use the editor context menu to correct the mistake, to or to . See spellchecker files for details.
Spellchecking
dictionaries location
The folder where OmegaT will install and search for spelling dictionaries. It is generally in the Configuration Folder folder.
Available
languages
The list of dictionaries that are present in the above folder.
If none are displayed it either means that you have not yet installed a spelling dictionary, or that your project uses a specific configuration folder that does not contain yet a spelling dictionary.
URL of
downloadable spellchecking dictionaries
The default URL where OmegaT will look for dictionaries to install.
You can also download dictionaries from other locations, or copy dictionaries installed locally.
Displays the list of available dictionaries from the above URL.
This action requires an internet connection
Select the dictionaries that you want to install and click . Depending on your internet connection it may take a while before the dictionary is installed.
Service
type
Select the location of the language checker.
Using a different language checker on your local machine than the one supplied with OmegaT allows you to customize the verification rules.
Rules
Select the rules depending on whether they are relevant to the type of text you are translating.
External searches are either web searches or local commands that take the string selected in the Editor as a parameter. The web searches are opened in the default browser and the commands are equivalent to items launched on the command line.
Allow
local external search commands
For security reasons, local external searches are disabled by default.
Local external search commands are saved in the filters.xml file. Only activate this option if you trust the source of that file.
This option enables you to change the order of the commands in the Editor pane context menu. Values around 100 display commands at the top, and values around 900 display them at the bottom.
Restart OmegaT to apply this change.
Sets
Each set represents a group of web searches or local commands that are launched simultaneously.
A set must be given a name. The name will be displayed at the bottom of the menu.
If you check Show in Editor context menu, the set name will also be displayed in the context menu if a string is selected.
URL searches as well as commands must contain the string
{target} to be accepted. The
{target} placeholder will be replaced by the string
that was selected in the Editor.
URLs are opened with the default web browser, one per tab.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22{target}%22+site%3A.fr+-linguee
This opens a search for the {target} term on DuckDuckGo with a number of search parameters.
Commands are opened on the command line. The
Delimiterdefines the delimiter between command
parameters. The default delimiter is |.
/usr/bin/open|dict://{target}
This opens the dictionary application that implements the
dict protocol on your machine looking for the {target}
term.
When entering an empty segment:
Insert the
source text
Use this option temporarily for parts of the translation that do not require much transformation.
Leave the
segment empty
You can enter your translation right away.
Insert
the best fuzzy match
OmegaT inserts the translation with the highest match percentage above the value you set in this dialog.
The prefix identifies translations inserted as fuzzy
matches. You can also register the prefix in the
Flagged
text
preference to include it in the tag issues checking process and make
sure you do not forget it in your translation.
Attempt
to replace fuzzy match numbers
When a fuzzy match is inserted, OmegaT tries to replace the numbers in the fuzzy match with the numbers in the source text.
Only integers and simple floats (e.g., 5.4) are considered.
2001 in the source:
[[2001年]]、ドイツの永住権を取得。
2003 in the fuzzy match:
[[2003年]]、ドイツの永住権を取得。 [[2003]], elle acquiert la nationalité allemande.
When the match is inserted, OmegaT will convert 2003 to 2001:
[[2001]], elle acquiert la nationalité allemande.
Allow
translation to be equal to source
A translation that is identical to the source text is not recognized as a translation by default. OmegaT will erase it and will count the segment as not translated.
Use this option to force OmegaT to register such entries and count them as translated.
Export
the segment to a text file
When OmegaT enters a segment,
the content of the source part is copied to the source.txt file,
the content of the target part (if any) is copied to the target.txt file,
both located in the scripting folder.
This function has no relation to the Scripting function.
The files are overwritten when OmegaT enters a new segment.
The Extract Text Content script does something similar but for the whole project at once. See the Scripting window.
Stop
at untranslated and alternatives translations
C + U also stops at segments with alternative translations.
Allow tag
editing
Tags should generally not be modified, but that is possible when this option is enabled.
OmegaT runs an issues check on the segment as you leave it. The option is equivalent to using C + S + V .
Save
auto-populated status
Translation memories located in tm/auto and tm/enforce can auto-populate the project memory. Segments that receive automated translation at that time can be marked in the Editor pane by using . .
See the Reuse TMs how-to for details.
Save
origin of translation
When machine translation is enabled, OmegaT registers the name of the engine that was used to populate a given segment.
Initial
number of loaded segments
The editor initially loads and displays 2,000 segments, and progressively loads more as you scroll up or down. Change this number according to your machine performance.
Paragraph
delimitation format
Check
printf function variables
Check printf variables in file formats other than the PO
format. The PO filter already handles variables marked with
%.
You can select
None
None of the variable patterns are checked.
Simple variables (e.g., %s, %d)
Only the simple variable patterns are checked.
All variables (e.g., %s, %-s)
This can result in false positives in some files.
Check
simple Java MessageFormat placeholders
Check Java MessageFormat placeholders in file formats other than
the Java Bundles format. The Java Bundles filter already handles
placeholders marked with {#} where
# is a number.
Tags in a different order than the source will not appear in the list of tag issues. See the C + S + V menu for details.
Block
the creation of translated files with tag issues
If you try to create the translated files, OmegaT will display the issues dialog until no issues are found. See the C + S + V menu for details.
Unlike OmegaT tags, flagged text and custom tags are by default counted in the statistics. See the menu for details.
Use regular expressions to define custom tags. To define a list
of tags, group each tag between parentheses and separate the groups
with | (equivalent to "OR" in regular
expressions).
For example, use
\d+
to treat all numbers
as tags, enabling you to check that numbers have not been accidentally
changed in the translation.
Similarly, use
</?[^>]+>
to make
sure that HTML (or similar) tags entered into the source text are
preserved without modification in the translation.
Use parentheses and | to have OmegaT consider
the two tags:
(\d+)|(</?[^>]+>)
.
See the Regular expressions appendix for details.
Flagged
text
Text in the target segment matching this expression is marked in red and identified as an extraneous tag for issue checking purposes. See the C + S + V menu for details.
The name you enter here will be attached to all the segments you translate.
Repository
Credentials
List of projects for which login details have been stored in OmegaT. Remove a project from this list if you want OmegaT to ask you for its credentials the next time you access it.
TM Matches
Sort
fuzzy matches by:
By default, stemming is used to determine the closest matches displayed in the Fuzzy Matches panel.
To obtain more literal matches closer to 100%, select the Full text, including tags and numbers option.
Minimal threshold to show a fuzzy match
OmegaT displays the five best fuzzy matches above 30% by default. You can change that threshold here.
Each of the three types of matching percentages presented in the Fuzzy Matches pane are taken into account to determine whether a match is displayed. Potential matches are rejected if all three percentages are below the threshold.
Determine how to handle tags in TMX files generated by other tools.
You can choose whether to display them and whether to use standard XML notation for standalone tags (e.g. <i/>).
Include
matches from other languages
Segments that have matches in different target languages can also be displayed in the Fuzzy Matches pane. You can apply a penalty to such matches.
Match
display template
Change how fuzzy matches are displayed, through the use of pre-configured variables:
The default is:
${id}. ${fuzzyFlag}${sourceText} ${targetText}
<${score}/${noStemScore}/${adjustedScore}%
${filePath}>
Here is a possible alternative:
⥤ ${id}. <${score}/${noStemScore}/${adjustedScore}%> ${fuzzyFlag} ${fileNameOnly}
[NEW]▷ ${diff}
[OLD]◀ ${diffReversed}
◀ ${targetText}
The template variables are also available from a drop-down menu and can be inserted with a button.
${id}
|
Number of the match from 1 to 5 |
${sourceText}
|
The source text of the match |
${diff}
|
A string that shows the differences between the source and the match. |
${diffReversed}
|
Same as ${diff}, but with the differences (what is to be inserted and deleted) inverted. |
${targetText}
|
The target text of the match |
${score}
|
Percentage calculated with the Stemming, no tags and no numbers option. |
${noStemScore}
|
Percentage calculated with the No tags and no numbers option. |
${adjustedScore}
|
Percentage calculated with the Full text, including tags and numbers option. |
${fileNameOnly}
|
The TM filename, without the extension. |
${filePath}
|
The TM file full path. |
${fileShortPath}
|
The TM file relative path. |
${initialCreationID}
|
The ID of the translator who created the segment. |
${initialCreationDate}
|
The date when the segment was created. |
${changeID}
|
The ID of the translator who last changed the segment. |
${changeDate}
|
The date when the segment was last changed. |
${fuzzyFlag}
|
Indicate that this match is fuzzy (currently only for translations from PO files with the #fuzzy mark). |
${sourceLanguage}
|
The segment source language. |
${targetLanguage}
|
The segment target language. |
Display
all source segments in bold
By default, only the current segment is displayed in bold face.
Display
active source segment in bold
If source segments are displayed in normal face, you can use this option to display only the current source segment in bold.
Mark
all repeated segments
Use to mark the second and subsequent copy of a repeated segments. Use this option to also mark the first copy of the segment.
Simplify
tag tooltips
OmegaT tags are protected text that represents format-specific tags in the source document. When hovering on an OmegaT tag, OmegaT displays a tooltip that contains the original content of the tag. If that content was originally enclosed in paired tags, the paired tags can be removed from the tooltip for better readability.
Customize
segment modification information
Segment modification information is displayed over the segment. the default setting shows who last modified the translation and when:
Translation last modified by suzume on Oct 6, 2022 at 2:18:27 PM [[チューリッヒ大学]]大学院博士課程修了。 [[Université de Zurich]] Elle finit sa thèse de doctorat.<segment 0178>
Standard
template
Use the template variables to adapt this template to your needs.
Template
for segments without date
Use the template variables to adapt this template to your needs.
Project
data saving interval
Allows the user to select the interval between automatic project data saves. See the Automatic backups section for details.
Change the default interval (3 minutes) depending on the characteristics of the project:
Short intervals (10 seconds minimum) for projects synchronized on an internal server.
Longer intervals for team projects hosted on external servers.
Global
post-processing commands
OmegaT can automatically run commands after you use C + D or C + S + D . You can define such commands here.
Commands specified here are available to all the projects that use the same configuration folder. They are saved in the omegat.prefs file.
The template variables list gives you access to various project data and system variables. See the Template Variables section for details.
Allow
local post-processing commands
For security reasons, the local post-processing commands are disabled by default.
You can also define local post-processing commands available
only to a given project. Such commands are defined in the
Local
post-processing commands
window.
Local post-processing commands are saved in the omegat.project file. Only activate this option if you trust the source of that file.
Local commands are run before global commands.
If you use an authenticated proxy server to access the Internet, enter your credentials here.
Define or reset the master password used to protect login credentials as well as access keys for machine translation services.
Before resetting the master password, always make a backup of that information, because it will be deleted and will have to be re-entered.
Displays the list of all the installed plugins.
Plugins are by default installed in the configuration folder, but can also be installed in the plugins/ folder under the application folder.
Additional plugins can be found on the OmegaT development site.
Use this option to choose whether to be automatically notified of updates to OmegaT.
If OmegaT detects an update, it will display a link to the download page. See the Upgrade section for details.