Common Error Messages in Wordfast Pro 3

WFC or PlusTools TM does not give matches in WFP

Q. I have a TM created by Wordfast Classic or PlusTools and when I opened it in Wordfast Pro, I cannot retrieve matches at all. I double-checked that it is marked as "Selected" and when I searched a word in TM Lookup, I got results.

A. Open the TM created by Wordfast Classic or PlusTools in Wordfast Classic and click "Reorganize" (TM tab) before opening and using it in Wordfast Pro.

Failed to connect. Translation memory header is invalid

Receiving this error while trying to open a txt TM may be due to one of the following reasons:

• language code is incorrect (open in NotePad and find-replace),
• Trados txt TM (convert to TMX), or
• missing % (open in WFC, Reorganize, open WFC Data Editor, go to TM Tools and click "Repair and Compact TM" — back up your TM first).

Failed to connect. Problem getting encoding for tm.txt

If you receive a "Problem getting encoding" error while trying to open a txt TM or import a tab-delimited glossary file, convert your TM or glossary txt file to Unicode. You can use NotePad or TextEdit: File > Save as > Encoding > Unicode or UTF-8, or you can use Wordfast Classic Data Editor > Tools > Special Filters > Rewrite TM as Unicode.

Note: If you use the TM or glossary file in both Wordfast Classic and Wordfast Pro use Unicode (UTF-16) rather than (UTF-8) as Wordfast Classic does not support the latter and will convert it to ANSI.

TM Connection Error: Failed to leverage segment. Unknown Wordfast escape {character} in source

Solution 1: Open the TM in a text editor. Search for the problematic character in the TM and delete it.

Solution 2: Open the TM in Okapi Olifant; it will exclude any problematic translation units including errors. Save the TM file with a new name. If you rather prefer not to lose segments, "Import" the original TMX (such problems usually happens for TMs of the TMX origin) and select to "Check for invalid XML characters" as illustrated by this video.

Failed to connect. Translation memory file does not exist

Reason: The TM file does not exist in the first location any more as you have re-located it or its folder.

Solution: Go to Translation Memory menu > New/Select TM, place the cursor on each TM on the list and click "Edit". Then, click "Browse" and locate the TM file in its new location. Do not forget to click "OK".

Reason: The TM file name includes accented or non-Unicode characters.

Solution: Rename the TM file and locate it again.

Reason: Windows Vista blocked the TM file as it comes from another machine.

Solution: Go to the TM file itself in the folder in which it is saved and right-click the TM file > Properties > and see (at the very end of "General" tab) if it is blocked, click the button "unblock". Then, re-open the client's TM.

Reason: You used the button "Open" (or "Add TM") instead of "New" (or "Create TM") to create a new TM.

Solution: If you need to create a new TM, click "NEW" or "Create TM" (based on your WFP version). If you rather need to open an EXISTING TM, click "OPEN" or "Add TM" (based on your WFP version).

Invalid term at line #. '*' cannot be placed among the first 3 characters.

The problem is in initial asterisks only, namely asterisks within the first three letters of any word of a term, which is not supported yet. Any other asterisks (in the middle or the end or a term) should be OK and functional.

Once the initial asterisks are removed, the whole glossary should be imported successfully.

Invalid term at line #. Target field is required

Receiving such error while trying to import a glossary may be due to:

• the target equivalent is missing for this source term, or

• there are more than *one tab* between each term and its equivalent. Removing the extra tabs should enable Wordfast Pro to import the glossary successfully.

Checksum failed. Original file could not be found

Checksum failed. Original file could not be found; it's either renamed or changed. Would you like to locate it by yourself? or "Checksum error" for filepath.txml during cleaning up.

• Click on "Yes" for "Would you like to locate it yourself? Then, just select the source file.

• For successful "Cleanup", make sure the original source file is in the same folder as the TXML file.

Note: if your client has not provided you with the source file, you will not be able to get the target file in its original format.

Cannot Open file: Java heap space

If while opening a file or saving the translated file, you get a "Java heap space" error message, go to "Edit" menu > "Preferences" > "Memory Preferences" and raise it to the third or fourth value. Restart WF Pro and try again.

Open "Memory Preferences" again; if you find your change reverted back to the default (smallest) value, click here to see how to solve this.

Java Virtual Machine Launcher. Could not create the Java virtual machine

Q. While trying to deal with a very large file in Wordfast Pro, I got a message that I must allocate more memory in the Preferences; so I did. Restarting Wordfast Pro, it does not open, and I got an error message:

Java Virtual Machine Launcher. Could not create the Java virtual machine

Q. While trying to deal with a very large file in Wordfast Pro, I got a message that I must allocate more memory in the Preferences; so I did. Restarting Wordfast Pro, it does not open, and I got an error message:

Java Virtual Machine Launcher Could not create the Java virtual machine

A. if you are on Windows, go to C:\Program Files\Wordfast and find the file Wordfast.ini

Open Wordfast.ini in NotePad, and change the line

-Xmx1470m

to be:

-Xmx1024m

Save the file and try to open Wordfast Pro.

Note that another solution is to reinstall Wordfast Pro even while keeping configuration files. However, you now know that you should not raise Memory Preferences again to the value that caused the issue after solving it.

Tracking changes detected in document

Q. I am trying to open a Word document and receive the following error message: "Tracking changes detected in document.
Please accept all tracking changes before loading." I am sure the track changes are already accepted and the option is disabled.

Go to Edit menu > Preferences > Formats > Default Word [2007] Filter and check the option "Accept Track Changes". Apply.

This [Excel] file contains no translatable segments

Trying to import an Excel file into Wordfast Pro, a message appears "This file contains no translatable segments" or some sheets are not imported.

Open the Excel file in MS Excel and un-protect each sheet:

Tools > Protection > Unprotect Sheet (or MS Excel 2007 > Review > Unprotect Sheet)

Tracking changes detected in document. Please accept all tracking changing before loading.

1) Please open the original doc file in MS Word and disable "Track Changes"; save.

To do so in MS Word 2007, under "Review"

• Accept > Accept all changes in document
• Make sure that "Track Changes" is off. If it is in orange colour, click on it to disable it.
• After making sure of those two matters, save the doc file.

In MS Word previous versions, you should find similar options under "Tools" menu > "Track changes".

2) Open the original doc file (after disabling "Track Changes") in WF Pro.

An error has occurred. See the log file. C:\Users\UserName\.eclipse\........*.log

Sometimes, this happens on Windows 7 especially after upgrading to a new WFP version. To fix it, close WFP, go to C:\Users\UserName\ and delete the .eclipse folder. Restart Wordfast Pro.

An error has occurred. See the log file. C:\Users\UserName\.wf_workspace\.metadata\.log

Q. When you try to open Wordfast Pro, you get this error.

A. Right-click the Wordfast shortcut, select "Run as administrator".

If this helps you open Wordfast, you need to make it the default option as follows:

1. Right-click the Wordfast shortcut, and select Properties. 2. Go to the Compatibility tab. 3. Under Privilege Level, check the option Run this program as an administrator.

Please make sure to close all open applications before starting installation wizard

Q. You have a problem installing the new version of Wordfast Pro and you got an error message.

A. Create a new user account on your Windows and install WFP on it. Reverting back to the original account, WFP now works in the latest version.

OR

Try to delete the "Wordfast" folder from "Program Files" and delete "wf_workspace" folder from C:\Users\UserName - for Vista or Windows 7 (OR for previous versions: C:\Documents and Settings\UserName).

In some cases, you might also need to use Regedit to delete everything related to Wordfast.

Then, try re-installing the latest version. Make sure that you disable any antivirus or security software during that.

OR

Sometimes, this is caused by another application, opening some resources used by either Wordfast or other applications. Please try to close open applications one by one to see which one affects Wordfast Pro installation.

You can press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to see the currently open applications.

You can't open the application Wordfast_Pro_3.x because it may be damaged or incomplete

Check the size of the downloaded package (before extraction). If it is less than 97mb, you need to download it again. You can also try to unzip the contents of the package using a different application such as Zipeg or GUI Tar.

Mac: "Wordfast" can't be opened because it is from a unidentified developer

Q. I downloaded Wordfast Pro on Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8+) and Lion (10.7.5+) , but when I double-clicked on the icon to open the application, the following message appeared:

"Wordfast" can't be opened because it is from a unidentified developer. Your security preferences allow installation of only apps from the Mac App Store and identified developers.

A. Change settings in the Security & Privacy pane in System Preferences as follows:

• In Spotlight, search for System Preferences & open.
• Click on Security & Privacy icon.
• Under General tab; temporarily change the option under Allow applications downloaded from to be ANYWHERE. The default setting is "Mac App Store and identified developers".
• After the installation, it is recommended to reset this option to the previous setting in order to keep your system as safe as possible.

Mac: Unable to expand 'Wordfast Pro' into Downloads (Error 1 - Operation not permitted)

I have downloaded Wordfast Pro; when I double-click the downloaded file, I got this error message.

Reason: Check the file size; it should be about 95MB; if it is smaller, this should be the problem.

Solution: Download the Mac installation package again from Wordfast website, or at Box.net

Mac: Error while saving a PPT file

Q. While trying to "Save Translated File" of PPT, I got a similar error message on Mac:

Error while saving file java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: Index 2, Size 2

Solution: Open the source PPT in PowerPoint (or any similar application) and save it as PPTX. Then, pre-translate the PPTX in Wordfast Pro using the toolbar button "Translate All".

Mac: Target PPT file cannot be open in PowerPoint for Mac

Q. After saving the translated PPT file, I cannot open it in PowerPoint for Mac

Solution 1: You can download NeoOffice for free, and you will find it can open the PPT file without any problem. Also, the file can be open with PowerPoint for Windows; so the problem seems to be related to PowerPoint for Mac only.

Solution 2: Open the source PPT in PowerPoint (or any similar application) and save it as PPTX. Then, pre-translate the PPTX in Wordfast Pro using the toolbar button "Translate All".

Next segment (TM Commit) did not complete normally

A. When I press Alt+Down to move to the next segment, I receive the error message: Next segment (TM Commit) did not complete normally.
Please see the log for more information. java.lang.NullPointerException

Completely uninstall Wordfast Pro which means deleting the configuration files. Make sure you first Export your glossaries, if any. (How?)

"java.lang.NullPointerException" error message when trying to use Wordfast Aligner

Wordfast Aligner supports DOC files while it cannot handle DOCX files; so you have to save your Word documents as DOC before starting using it. Files formats supported by Wordfast Aligner are: TXML, DOC, PPT and XLS.

Slow Typing for Double-byte Languages

When a segment is long, typing in the target cell becomes slow.

Reason: WFP needs better machine hardware resources for double-byte languages such as Chinese and Hindi.

Solution: Switching to the "Text View" by clicking on its tab at the bottom of the translation pane should speed up the typing process.

TM.txt failed to update tu. null

While working in WFP, and press Alt+Down, sometimes this errors appears: Failed to update segment. The following error occurred: TM_Name.txt: Failed to update tu. null"

This might mean there is a segment in the TM that is corrupted, like being split in two lines which make it looks like an orphan line without a complete segment while it is pertaining to the previous translation unit.

You should open the TM file in NotePad, try to find such translation unit, and correct it.

Save Failed ..\..\FileName.ZIP\FileName.TXML(Access is denied)

I tried to "Save" the translated TXML file, but got this error message.

Reason: It is not recommended to work on any file (with or without WF) while it is still zipped.

Solution: You should have unzipped the file before working. Now, just go to WF Pro "File" menu, and click "Save as"

--Yasmin Moslem 29 December 2011