Browse action dead in Wordfast Pro

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Here is some help if an icon in Wordfast Pro for Windows becomes unresponsive for you.

The problem

An icon that triggers the File-Save or File-Open dialogue, which lets you browse for a file or folder, dies in Wordfast Pro for Windows. When you click the icon (or use the corresponding keyboard shortcut), nothing happens. Most typically, this can happens with these features:

  • Import Package
  • Add Files
  • Save
  • Save As
  • Save File As Translated

But it can happen with other features that let you select, open or save a file or folder.

The cause

It happens in Windows when the default path for the dialogue gets preceded with \\?\ in Wordfast Pro settings. My understanding is that this happens after you browse to a file that uses a very long path name.[1]

The solution

To fix this, close Wordfast Pro, then go to the following folder on your computer:

C:\Users\your_user_name\WordfastPro [2]

There should be two files, called application.settings and application.settings.sfc.

Fix first settings file

Open application.settings in a text editor (typically NotePad) and search for \\?\. If, say, the Save File As Translated icon is dead in Wordfast Pro, you should find a line like this: 

<saveTranslatedFileDirPath>\\?\C:\Users\David\Jobs\PS\1422\corrected</saveTranslatedFileDirPath>

Delete everything between the opening and closing tags on that line. After your intervention, the above line would read: 

<saveTranslatedFileDirPath></saveTranslatedFileDirPath>

Save and close the file in your text editor.

Fix second settings file

Open application.settings.sfc file in your text editor as well. Repeat the same procedure to fix the bad line as with the first file.

Finally, open Wordfast Pro. The icon should work normally again.

References

  1. ↑ It appears Windows consider a path name long when the name of all the folders in the path plus the file name exceed 260 characters.
  2. ↑ The path typically starts with C:\ but it may be D:\ or any other drive letter, depending how your hard drive is set up. The folder called your_user_name shows your Windows user name, so the path on my system is C:\Users\David\WordfastPro.
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