Touring the Workspace

The Start Page in this application is a handy window pane that displays when you first launch Lingo and remains open unless you close it. This window pane consists of links to high-level tasks and information.

The large middle section of the workspace is used to display the Translation Editor, which is used to perform the actual translation work for individual files in your project. Lingo's Translation Editor allows you to work in Translation (or grid) mode, with the source content in one column and the target language in the next column. For some types of files—such as Flare topics, snippets, and master pages; Microsoft PowerPoint documents; Microsoft Word documents; DITA files; HTML files; and XML files—you can also switch to Live Preview mode, which allows you to view content in its intended context. A suggestions area at the bottom of the Translation Editor lets you quickly select and insert matching translations from your translation memory (TM) database. See Translation Editor.

The File List window pane lets you view all of the content files in your project in alphabetical order—or in another order, such as by file type—by clicking the heading in one of the columns. You can limit the files that are displayed by using the file type filter. For example, if you want to see only your snippet files, you could select the "Snippet Files" option from the Filter drop-down list. If you want to see a comprehensive list of the files in the project that should be translated, you can select the "Translation Candidates" option from the drop-down list. See Viewing Files Requiring Translation.

If you have a Lingo project with multiple languages, you can click the down arrow in the Language field at the top of the window pane and choose the language whose files you want to see.

The Statistics Browser window lets you view statistics for your Lingo project, displaying information about the translation work. This is a way to compare the project files against the TM database in order to see how much translation work has been completed and how much still needs to be done. This report can be useful if you are a translator and need to provide estimates to a client, or if you are an author who is using Lingo to manage the translation process. See Computing Statistics.

By using the CTRL+TAB and CTRL+SHIFT+TAB shortcuts, you can easily switch between elements in the user interface. This opens a popup displaying icons of the various files and window panes that are currently open in the user interface. Therefore, you can easily move from element to element. By pressing CTRL+TAB, you can tab forward through the icons. By pressing CTRL+SHIFT+TAB, you can tab backwards through the icons. When you release the keys, the element associated with the selected icon opens.

The ribbon layout consists of a File drop-down with common tasks such as creating, exporting, and updating projects, as well as computing statistics. This is followed by the Home ribbon, which is the default, and several others related to various features in Lingo. See Ribbons.

The ribbon view also lets you take advantage of the Quick Access toolbar, which lets you add your favorite ribbon options to it. See Quick Access Toolbar.

Lingo's user interface includes a menu bar at the top of the program window, containing several menu options. One of the most unique menu items is the Resources menu, which can be used to perform various translation memory (TM) tasks, such as installing/selecting a TM database and importing/exporting TMX files. See Menus.

Tools in the Standard toolbar let you start a new Lingo project and open user interface elements such as the File List window pane and Termbase window pane. There are also shortcut buttons for performing basic functions, such as Save, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, and Redo. In order to see this toolbar, you can select View>Toolbars>Standard. See Standard Toolbar.

Tools in the Translate toolbar let you perform various tasks directly related to the process of translating files. In order to see this toolbar, you can select View>Toolbars>Translate. See Translate Toolbar.