The QA Checker in SDL Trados Studio offers a large number of checks that you can pre-automate. The focus is on spotting mistakes that you might otherwise overlook, such as double spaces between words, missing punctuation, and incorrectly inserted numbers. Remember that the QA Checker is there to provide an indication of what might potentially be an error. It is up to you to decide whether it actually is or not.
To configure the QA Checker for the currently active project, from the Editor, in the Home tab, choose Project Settings | Verification | QA Checker 3.0. Alternatively, on the right of the Review ribbon, locate the Quality Assurance group and click the dialog-box launcher. The majority of the checks are self-explanatory.
In this section, we summarize the main settings, but it is worth experimenting to find the options that work for you.
To test the QA Checker out, we will run some checks on the deliberate errors in our sample file. For example, set up the following checks:
- Under Segments Verification, uncheck the box Check for forgotten and empty translations. Our sample file contains some empty segments, but in this case we do not want them to be reported as errors.
- Under Inconsistencies, activate the option Check for repeated words in target.
- Under Punctuation, activate the options Check for multiple spaces and Check for multiple dots and Check for extra space at end of target segment.
Notice that the severity level can be set separately for each option (in order of increasing severity, Note, Warning, or Error, shown together in the following screenshot), so that you can decide for yourself how important each type of reported mistake will be:
Under Word List, click Check word list. For the wrong and correct forms, type DOLLARS and dollars respectively, and then choose Action | Add item to add the check to the list. Change the severity level at the top-right of the Word List window from Warning to Error.
Once configured, the QA Checker will check each segment as you confirm it (with the exception under Inconsistencies of the option Check for inconsistent translations, which only works when you run a QA check on the entire document). Potential mistakes are represented by an icon in the segment status column corresponding to the severity level assigned to that category of mistake.
To check the entire document open in the Editor, choose Review | Verify (F8) or click the Verify button shown in the following screenshot. If you are using the sample file and have set up the checks described in the preceding section, do this now.
To check all of the files in a project (see Chapter 7, Working with Projects), go to the Projects view. Select the project in the projects list and, from the Home tab or right-click menu, choose Batch Tasks | Verify Files, and follow the wizard.
To turn the QA Checker off (so that each segment does not get checked as you confirm it), choose Project Settings | Verification. On the right, uncheck QA Checker 3.0.
When you verify a document open in the Editor as described in the previous section, potential mistakes are listed in the Messages window above the side-by-side editor. However, you can also produce a Verify Files report to record the mistakes reported by the QA Checker. To produce the report when your document is open in the Editor view, perform the following steps:
- In the Home tab, choose Batch Tasks | Verify Files and follow the wizard through to completion.
- Go to the Reports view, where you will see a Verify Files report (the most recent report is at the top of the list). The report shows the number of mistakes reported and displays them in a list, as shown in the following screenshot:
Click in the filename hyperlink to jump to the file so that you can review and correct the mistakes. To save the report in another format, such as Excel, in the Home tab, click the Save As button or press Ctrl + S.
Tip
To produce a Verify Files report on all the files in a project (see Chapter 7, Working with Projects), go to the Projects view, select the project in the list, and from the Home tab or right-click menu, choose Batch Tasks | Verify Files, and then follow the wizard.
Once you have run the QA check, the reported mistakes will be listed along with any tag verification issues in the Messages tab (above the side-by-side editor in Translation mode default layout but below it in Review or Sign-off default layout), as shown in the following screenshot:
To correct the mistakes, double-click on a segment in the Messages window. This displays the Verification Message Details dialog box (shown in the following screenshot), which can be used to correct mistakes quickly and conveniently. When correcting errors in this way, ensure that Track Changes is deactivated first, as it can interfere with the correction process:
Some mistakes, such as extra spaces, repeated words, or entries in the word list, can be rectified at the click of a button. In such cases, the Suggestions field will show the proposed replace action. To make the correction, click Change. The next mistake is then displayed.
Other mistakes, such as when the source and target are identical, require an intervention from the translator. Even so, there is no need to go back to the segment in the Editor to make the change. The mistake can be corrected by typing directly in the Target Segment Content field highlighted in the screenshot. Make the correction and click Change.
The fault notification icons in the segment status column disappear when you correct a mistake. If you click Ignore, the fault notification icons remain in the segment status column and the mistake is grayed out in the Messages window.