Common problems with Wordfast Pro
Wordfast Pro 5 is slow, especially with big files
Q. I've started running into a slowdown problem… even copying the source takes a few seconds. It's almost as if the program is running short of memory. How can I speed things up?
A. There are several quick fixes to resolve this problem:
- Make sure you are using the Hunspell spell checker and not Microsoft Word (PC-only). The use of the Microsoft Word spell checker can slow down WFP5 to the point of frequent freezing. Modify this setting by going to Wordfast Pro > Preferences > Spellchecker.
- If you have the "spell check as you type" option active, disable it. This could cause slowdown issues, especially with large files. Furthermore, best practices dictate that spell checking should be done during the revision phase and not the translation phase. You save time by using "change all" for frequently misspelled words and don't break your translation flow by constant spelling error interruptions. You can disable it by going to Wordfast Pro > Preferences > Spellchecker.
- Try disabling term highlighting. Go to Wordfast Pro > Preferences > Terminology and uncheck the option that says "Enable term highlighting as you type", as in this screenshot http://prntscr.com/b9qid1
- If you are saving TMs, glossaries, or projects to a back-up or synchronisation folder such as Dropbox or Google Drive, this can take up a lot of computer memory because it is constantly re-syncing the files. Put the service on pause while working on your translation.
- Try disabling Show Whitespace Characters by clicking on the icon under the Edit Tab in the TXLF Editor. This improves the speed of the TXLF Editor.
- On a very large Word file with images, compress all images in the source document, save it as a copy, translate the copy, then use Analyze in Quicktools or from the Current Project view to pre-translate the original source file.
Thanks to Danielle Deremo Cosimo for compiling a few of these issues.
