Auto-propagation, introduced in Chapter 3, Translating a File, is the feature whereby matching (by default, identical) segments elsewhere in the SDLXLIFF are filled out automatically when you confirm a segment.
To make the auto-propagation feature even more powerful for reviewing purposes, you can change its behavior in File | Options | Editor | Auto-propagation. By changing the settings, you can control more effectively how the changes that you make during review affect other segments in the SDLXLIFF. For example, you can decide whether a revision should be applied to identical segments both earlier and later in the document, or whether you want to auto-propagate to segments that you have already confirmed.
The following table shows the default settings and some suggested changes that work well in combination in certain situations. It is worth experimenting to find the best combination of settings for you.
|
Default setting |
Change |
Effect |
|---|---|---|
|
1) Only segments below the current segment are auto-propagated, and not those above |
Set Starting Position to First segment in document |
Segments above as well as below are auto-propagated. If you edit and confirm a segment, all 100% matching segments in the SDLXLIFF are updated. |
|
2) Already confirmed segments are not auto-propagated |
Check the option Auto-propagate exact matches to confirmed segments |
Even if a segment has already been confirmed, it is updated when changes are made to a 100% match elsewhere in the bilingual file. |
|
3) Auto-propagated segments remain unconfirmed (even previously confirmed segments are unconfirmed when auto-propagated) |
Check the option Confirm segment after auto-propagating an exact match |
Set this option if you do not want to have to check and reconfirm such segments. This works well in combination with option 2, because you may well edit the same segment translation more than once during a review. |
|
4) Matches are always auto-propagated (based on the other auto-propagation settings) without the user being prompted |
Under Prompt User, choose Conditionally when: and Matching segment has been translated differently |
If the document contains a different translation for the same source segment, you are prompted to keep or replace the alternative translation when the segment is auto-propagated. |
The following screenshots (with segment numbers added on the left) show these settings in action. In each case, the first of the three segments has already been confirmed, thereby auto-propagating the second and third instances of the segment further down the SDLXLIFF, as shown in the following screenshot of Segments 31 to 33 in the sample file.
To simulate these examples in the sample file, first confirm the segment in each group of three, and then configure the settings for each example. Finally, revise and confirm the middle segment of the three to see the effects described in the examples. For our demonstration, we have worked in Translation mode. If you are working in Review mode, deactivate Track Changes before you go through these examples in the sample file.
Example 1: In the situation shown in the following screenshot of Segments 31 to 33, the default settings are used. The middle segment is changed to a different translation and confirmed, thereby auto-propagating the last segment below, but not the first segment above. The auto-propagated last segment is left unconfirmed.
Example 2: In the situation in the following screenshot of Segments 35 to 37, settings 1, 2, and 3 from the preceding table are used. The middle segment is changed to a different translation and confirmed. This time both the last segment, below, and the first segment, above, are auto-propagated.
Setting 2 ensures that the first and last segments, which were already confirmed with different translations to the middle one, are auto-propagated with the revised translation. Setting 3 ensures that the first and last segments are both left confirmed after auto-propagation.
Example 3: In the situation in the following screenshot of Segments 39 to 41, setting 4 is used together with settings 1, 2, and 3:
When Segment 40 is changed to a different translation and confirmed, we are prompted to decide whether or not to auto-propagate the revised translation to every identical segment that currently has a different translation to Segment 40, such as Segment 39 immediately above this segment.
Auto-propagation can be turned off by unchecking the Enable Auto-propagation option.
Segments with tracked changes are not auto-propagated until the changes are accepted or rejected, regardless of the auto-propagation settings. It is therefore often worth running an inconsistency check via the QA Checker after revising the document. This averts the risk of leaving repeated segments unchanged when the segment producing the auto-propagation has changed.