Updated for CafeTran Espresso 11 Poppy Seed Roll (2022)
Customizing CafeTran. An introduction.
New CafeTran Espresso users may at first find its interface and workflows a bit unfamiliar when compared to other programs and CAT tools.
If you stick around, you will discover a powerful and flexible tool that is truly "fun to use", as goes its motto and puts you, the translator, in the driver's seat.
In Part I, this document takes you through the UI customization options (which are quite unique to CafeTran) to help you quickly make yourself at home and find a look and feel that you are comfortable working with.
In Part II, we'll go through some additional points of interest so that you can get the most out of it in no time.
For additional introductory and knowledge-base articles, please visit the official Knowledge base (Solutions). Especially, the User interface section offers more information about customizing CafeTran's interface.
Contributed by Jean Dimitriadis (EN-FR/EL-FR translator and CafeTran Espresso trainer).
So you’ve installed CafeTran Espresso on your computer.
Let’s take some time to get acquainted with the CAT tool and adjust it to your liking.
Once you accept the software license, you are greeted by the Dashboard.
To take a access the translation interface, you can close the Dashboard (Dashbord menu button ≡ > Close Dashboard) or simply create a new project.
To create a new project, on the top right, select one of your language pairs.
Next, click New, or drag and drop a Word or LibreOffice file (or any other compatible file fomat) on the Dashboard.
In the New project dialog, enter a project name and select the folder which will contain your project(s). Click Finish.
CafeTran then creates a bilingual translation project for you and presents you with the main translation interface.
You can now get on with your translation. But first things first: let’s start getting comfortable.
First, go to Edit > Preferences (Options) > Appearance.
From here, you can select a global Look and Feel theme.
CafeTran offers three options:
- The Metal Look and Feel (which gives you the classic Java look)
- The Nimbus Look and Feel (which is the default)
- A third Look and Feel meant to blend with your operating system:
- Windows
- MacOS
- GTK for Linux
Feel free to find which suits you best.
CafeTran needs to be restarted for these new settings to take effect. After each restart, just click on the Open button to get back to the last project you have been working on.
Appearance can be refined further with Themes and Colors, so let’s do that next.
Next, go to View > Themes.
CafeTran has a range of color-based or image-based themes to choose from.
They can be customized depending on your personal preferences.
Available choices are: Dark, Bright (default), System, and Dark/Bright image background, with or without transparency.
Bright or Dark mode? The choice is yours.
Transparency adds yet another twist, allowing to tweak the transparency level of the chosen image or color background at will.
The System theme provides a more neutral base look.
It goes well with the Windows/MacOS/GTK Look and Feel theme, but does nicely on the Metal and Nimbus Look and Feel as well.
Integrated look tip
To get the appearance that is the most integrated to your operating system, choose the Windows/MacOS/GTK Look and Feel and the System Theme. You can also check the Font settings (View > Font), see below.
View > Colors allows you to customize colors for various interface elements.
Choosing a Look and Feel and a Theme is usually enough, but it is good to know you can also tweak the various color settings within a theme should you wish so.
Messed up and want to revert to the default theme colors? Just reset them with [Set default colors].
Integrated look tip
If you want to match the background color when text is selected to match the one used by your OS, change the View > Color > Selection color setting. For MacOS, that would be b4d8fd (View > Colors > Selection > RGB).
When you have settled with the above and restarted CafeTran, you can also choose one of the two themes available for the Dashboard.
Via the Dashboard menu button ≡, select the Dark Dashboard theme and see if it suits you better than the default one.
In View > Fonts, you can set the font face and size for various UI items.
If the default font does not suit you or does not support your language script, choose your favorite installed font in terms of on-screen readability (or OS uniformity). Try to stick to the same font for all UI options.
Depending on your screen resolution, preference and eyesight, you might need to take some time to adjust the font size for the User interface and/or some of its specific elements, or even go for a bold font face.
Remember, you can easily make the source and target editor segment text bigger or smaller (via the Zoom commands or buttons).
Integrated look tip
If you use the Windows/MacOS/Linux Look and Feel, CafeTran's UI will already use the system font with this look and feel. If you wish so, you can also set a font to match the system font (and appropriate font size) for all individual interface elements in View > Fonts.
Let’s now focus on the Window layout, one of the most important settings you can choose.
Depending on the project/workflow type, your screen resolution or your own preference, you might want to switch between the six available layout options. Try them out instantly, no restart required!
The default, which is Layout number 4 is an excellent starting point for most uses.
Each layout has its reversed, mirror-like variant.
Also, each pane features handles for ad-hoc adjustment.
Resources can be further docked vertically or horizontally to the various panes, joined together, or even floated (for example to a separate monitor).
Do you prefer your Source/Target segment editors horizontal instead of vertical? No problem: View > Segment editors.
This degree of layout/appearance customizability is rarely found in other CAT tools, so use it to your advantage!
At this point, you might be asking yourself: What does each pane in CafeTran's interface do? Let’s see:
- The Segments Grid: This is where all the segmented text elements from the source file(s) are shown in sequenced order (or according to the Search and Filter options).
- The Source and Target segment editors: The current Source and Target text boxes where you edit your translation. We’re at the heart of the action!
- The Tabbed pane: The tabbed pane holds various sets of resources such as Translation memories, Glossaries, MT engines and web resources. Tabs can be reordered, docked to a specific pane, joined together or floated.
- The Matchboard: An important CafeTran feature, the Matchboard conveniently aggregates matches/results from various resources (translation memory segments and fragments, glossary entries, Machine Translation suggestions, etc.) in one place. Technically, it is still a Tab, so you can dock it anywhere, just like one. Ideally, it should be close to your segment editors, and visible at all times (which it is, by default).
- The Quick Search bar: Found at the top, just below the Menu, it allows you to quickly query different resources and conduct various searches by clicking on the buttons for Web Resources, Project or TM Source and Target segments, glossaries, MT engines, web resources, etc. (these can be launched via keyboard shortcuts as well).
- Additional search and filtering settings (and the all important Find and Replace operations) are accessible via the standard Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F) command, which brings up the (Advanced) Search window. More filtering actions can be performed via the Filter menu.
So there you have it!
By default, help tips are enabled in View > Toolbars submenu. The description appears as a tooltip when you hover the cursor and/or on the status bar (at the bottom of the CafeTran window).
Helpful to quickly get a grasp of what each UI element or menu item does!
Now, it is good to know that CafeTran offers a detached windows mode (View > Detached windows/Attached windows).
Although probably not needed, It could be handy if you use CafeTran with an external editor or a second screen.
Depending on the window layout, the panes are detached differently, so feel free to experiment.
CafeTran offers an option to show or hide some menus to avoid unnecessary complexity.
Just go to View > and select which you wish to have displayed or hidden.
And that concludes part I.
By now, you should have a better idea of how to begin customizing CafeTran according to your image.
Below, you’ll find some additional pointers and considerations to take it further.
Also, be sure to check CafeTran's official Knowledge base (Solutions).
CafeTran comes with sane default settings, so you don’t have to change much to get started.
You can adjust the Preferences to your needs over time (or as needed, like Segmentation).
To dive deeper into Preferences, see the related Preferences reference document. Take your time.
Still, there are some Preferences you might wish to set up soon:
Preferences > Memory > Java Memory size (MB)
You can define the amount of RAM dynamically allocated to Java for CafeTran’s operation.
Since resources are loaded in RAM, if you have 8 GB RAM or more, you can safely push this setting higher for a more comfortable operation. Consider increasing the default value from 1024 to 2048 (or higher). You can check the current RAM usage in Help > About.
Preferences > MT services
If you’d like to receive other Machine Translation suggestions while working on your translations, you’ll probably want to set up the available MT services (DeepL, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, MyMemory, Yandex.Translate, IBM Watson and Amazon Translate).
But you don't need any configuration to get started. MyMemory serves Google Translate/Microsoft Translator MT suggestions and does not require additional setup to be used. Just tick MyMemory under Other resources and services in the Dashboard before you create or open a project.
Some MT services can also be queried via their web interface, straight from within CafeTran. Depending on your language pairs, check out DeepL, Google Translate, Bing Translator, ModernMT, Systran and Youdao, in Resources > Web (or enable them from the Dashboard).
All these are entirely optional and can be stopped or queried manually on a per-segment basis.
Preferences > Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts speed up things greatly. And the point of using a CAT tool is to make your work efficient (and enjoyable), right?
At one point, you should take a moment to go through the various available shortcuts. There are a lot of them! Most (if not all) are found in the Preferences > Keyboard shortcuts.
If any is not self explanatory, you can check the Keyboard shortcuts section of the Preferences reference file to find out what it does.
You might wish to customize some as well, if the default options do not suit you.
It’s up to you!
You will certainly want to learn more about CafeTran’s translation interface, buttons and menus.
Many actions are accessible via shortcuts as well. Some menus give access to additional handy options. Take some time to cycle through them.
By default, help tips are shown at the bottom left when you hover a menu or a UI element.
To dive deeper into Menus, see the reference document “Menu and Interface”.
Resources > Web
Speaking of Menus, being able to query various Web resources from within CafeTran’s interface is a great advantage.
If you wish to use this feature, you’ll want to add and organize web resources relevant for your language combinations and subject matter. Here, you will find explanations and suggestions on adding web resources.
Want to query all open web resources at once? Make sure Resources > Simultaneous web search is ticked (it is by default). Otherwise, just uncheck this option, to avoid delays and overload.
ProZ
Want to query the KudoZ and other ProZ terminology resources while staying in CafeTran? Enable ProZ.com services under Other resources and services in the Dashboard before you create/open a project and sign in to your account once! You’ll also be able to ask KudoZ questions. Be sure to check the available options once logged in.
Translation Memories are an important part of any CAT tool and CafeTran is no exception.
In this regard, “settings are everything” as one would say.
Places to visit:
- Preferences > Memories holds various settings related to TMs (see the Memories section in the reference documentation).
- Memory menu (if hidden, View > Show Memory menu) with various Memory related actions. To save the latest changes to a read-and-write TM (with the default Save newest duplicates option), either use Memory > Import segments from projects and select your TM or use Project > Export and exchange > To TMX memory with no Filters on.
- Task > TMX memory submenu for tasks related to TM maintenance.
- And, of course, the various all-important TM options (and Total Recall options) available for each TM individually. There is a whole reference document dedicated to these.
Tip: If you tick the Project memory box under Translation memories (TMX) in the Dashboard before you create/start a project, CafeTran will create/open a ProjectTM file for you, which will store your project segments. You can add/use more than one memory resource, but it is recommended to enable at least this one.
Termbases for fragments vs glossaries?
CafeTran memories do not only store segments. They can also store fragments and be used as Termbases. Fragments or subsegments are parts of segments and phrases. They can consist of one or more terms (which in turn can consist of one or more words). In such a case, using a Memory for storing both segments and fragments (see TM options above) can be all you need. You can also set up a separate Memory meant to store fragments only.
Another way of tackling terminology is to use Glossaries. In CafeTran, Glossaries are simple tab-delimited text files for storing terms. CafeTran supports many features, such as synonyms, regular expressions, non-translatables, term patterns and multilingual glossaries. They can also hold more columns than the source and target term, which you can set in Preferences > Definitions. Just enter a column name to enable that column.
Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. You will find your own (possibly hybrid approach) on that front.
Tip: If you enable the Project glossary box under Glossaries (TXT) in the Dashboard before you create/start a project, CafeTran will create/open a ProjectTerms file for you, in which you can store your project-specific terms. You can add/use more than one glossaries, but it is recommended to enable this one.
TXT glossaries can be renamed to CSV or TSV and opened in a Spreadsheet program such as LibreOffice Calc or Microsoft Excel.
CafeTran offers a project templates feature which stores a variety of settings in template files for easy reuse in new projects.
Saving and loading project templates is accessible via the Dashboard menu ≡.
This can be very convenient, especially if you happen to work on different language pairs or wish to quickly swap resources and (various) settings from one project/client to another.
Check out the reference document on Project templates.
CafeTran handles many file formats natively and allows you to work on external projects as well. For file types not directly supported, there are (almost) always solutions. All this is covered in the File formats reference document.
Of special interest if you intend to work on external bilingual files and packages (Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast, etc.): Read the General notes in the External Projects section, as well as the section dedicated on the related CAT tool.
And that concludes Part II. This should give you a good head start!
Happy translating