Migrating from Wordfast Pro 3

Not only has the user interface drastically changed from Wordfast Pro version 3 (WFP3) to newer versions (4 and above) of Wordfast Pro (WFP), but the format of linguistic assets (translation memories and glossaries) has changed as well as the default locations they are stored at.

In this guide, we will first discuss ways to organize your projects and after determining the best way for you, we will explain how to migrate your assets from WFP3 to WFP.

There are three main ways to organize your projects and the way you choose will depend on your user profile.

IMPORTANT

When you create a project, WFP creates a folder of the same name on your hard drive (the default location is HD⁩ ▸ ⁨Users⁩ ▸ ⁨YourName ▸ ⁨WordfastPro ▸ projects but you can change this in the project creation wizard). This folder contains several sub-folders, including one called source. By default, two things happen when you add a source file to the project:

1. The source file is copied to the source folder (now you have two copies on your computer).
2. The translatable content from the source file is extracted and put into a newly created simple text file called a TXLF file. This is the file that you will be working on during the translation process. The TXLF file is also saved in one of the project sub-folders.

If you are organizing your projects using the Language or Client Container methods (see below), we suggest updating your general preferences to create the TXLF file with the target language suffix next to the source file (Preferences > General Preferences > General > Project Source file options). This will result in the following:

1. The source file will not be copied to the project’s source folder (because you are already saving and organizing your source files on your own).
2. The TXLF file will be created next to the source file, wherever it is located on your computer.

By changing this default setting, your project folder on your hard drive will not organize your files. Instead, it will only contain your project preferences, the same way projects worked for WFP3. If you decide to organize your projects (and files) using the Unique Projects method (see below), you should keep the default settings.

Organizing your Projects

You can organize projects in three different ways, namely Language Project Containers, Client Project Containers and Unique Projects.

Language Project Containers

User profile

This setup is for translators working for a small in-house translation department with uncomplicated workflows (e.g. no revision by a second translator).

You create one project per language pair that you translate into; for example, FR-EN and ES-EN. You open the appropriate language project for the job in question and add files for the job to the project. You translate files in the TXLF Editor, then Save Translated Files and deliver the translated file. You can eventually remove files from this project if you want.

Pros

• Simplifies project organization.
• Fast for starting new jobs in the future.

Cons

• Cannot use advanced project workflow features when working with editors, such as exporting and importing project packages.

Client Project Containers

This is basically the same as the above example except that projects are per language pair that you translate into and per client; for example, Client ABC FR-EN and Client ABC ES-EN. The pros and cons are the same as above, and the only difference is the user profile. This would be a set-up for a freelance translator who has multiple clients and wants to keep client data in separate TMs. This is also a set-up that most users used for WFP3.

When creating a project, you can specify where you want to save the project to. You can also create, add or import linguistic assets (TMs, Glossaries, Blacklists) and specify their location (unlike glossaries in WFP3). Furthermore, you can add reference files to the project, such as a style guide. Finally, you can create multilingual projects; however, this feature is probably best suited for an organization involving unique projects (see below).

Unique Projects

User profile

This setup is for users who are familiar with CAT tools, handle multi-lingual projects, or involve multiple people in the translation process (e.g. translator, editor, proofreader). It involves creating a separate project for each… project! A project has a definite start and end date and can have several files. While this may seem like the most tedious way of organizing things in the beginning – especially compared to using client project containers – it allows you to take advantage of advanced features and scale your activity for different, unknown needs (for example, outsourcing work to a colleague). Furthermore, it creates a folder structure for you where your source, bilingual and target files can be saved.

Pros

• Scalability
• Speed up project creation by reusing previous projects as templates
• Retain project specific preferences (for example, Transcheck settings)

Cons

• Slow in the beginning
• Requires a project naming standard

Migrating Linguistic Assets from WFP3 to WFP

Migrating your project(s)

No need to do anything for this, you will simply create a new project in WFP. The project could be called "Source language to Target language," for example "French to English" or "Client SL to TL" if you are using language or client containers (see explanation above). However you decide to name your projects, be consistent! This helps you stay organized. Also, be sure to save all projects to a dedicated project folder on your computer.

If you are organizing your projects as unique projects, we recommend a dedicated project folder on your computer and a standardized naming convention for each project. For example: "YYMMDD Client - Project key words". This way you have a chronological time stamp, the client’s name and some key words that describe the project. If you work with different source languages, your naming convention could be "YYMMDD_sl Client - Project key words" where sl stands for your source language code.

Migrating TMs

1. If all of your WFP3 TMs are already saved to the same folder, skip to step 5
2. Open WFP3, go to Preferences > Translation Memory > TM List
3. Click on the first TM in the list, then Export
4. Export each TM as TMX file to a dedicated TM folder. This TM folder should be regularly backed up and its location should not change. Furthermore, consider renaming your TMs at this point to use a standardized naming convention. We recommend "client FIELD ssss tttt wfm". By looking at the TM name, you know which client it is for, general field for the client’s industry, the source and target language, and that the TM is a Wordfast TM.
5. All of your TMs are now ready to be imported into WFP. We recommend importing TMs on an as needed, per project basis. In other words, import the TM when you create a project in WFP for your client. Under the Translation Memory tab in the project creation window, click on the Import icon. Select the TMX file to import (or change the File Type to "WF TXT TM Format (.txt)" if you skipped ahead and are importing directly from TXT), choose the option "Create New TM", name and save it to your TM folder.
6. You will little by little have old TMX or TXT TMs and new WFP TMs in your dedicated TM folder. Please note that the format for WFP TMs is not a single file (like TXT or TMX) but a folder containing several database files.

Migrating Glossaries

1. Open WFP3, go to Preferences > Terminology > Glossary List
2. Click on the first glossary in the list, then Export
3. Export each glossary as a TBX file to a dedicated glossary folder. This glossary folder should be regularly backed up and its location should not change. Furthermore, consider renaming your glossaries at this point to use a standardized naming convention. We recommend "client FIELD ssss tttt wfg". By looking at the glossary name, you know which client it is for, general field for the client’s industry, the source and target language, and that the glossary is a Wordfast glossary.
4. All of your glossaries are now ready to be imported into WFP. We recommend importing glossaries on an as needed, per project basis. In other words, import the glossary when you create a project in WFP and need to use it. Under the Glossary tab in the project creation window, click on the Import icon. Select the TBX file to import, choose the option "Create a new glossary", name and save it to your glossary folder.
5. You will little by little have old TBX files and new WFP glossaries in your dedicated glossary folder. Please note that the format for WFP glossaries is not a single file (like TXT or TBX) but a folder containing several database files.