Using ApSIC Xbench

Version 3.0

Printed on 11 April, 2016

Copyright Notice
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respective owners and ApSIC acknowledges such ownership.

ApSIC, S.L.
Caballero, 76 4-3
08029 Barcelona
Spain
Website: http://www.xbench.net

Contents
Copyright Notice

Overview

Search features .............................................................................................................................................. 3

QA features ................................................................................................................................................... 4
Installing and Uninstalling ApSIC Xbench .................................................................................................. 7
To install ApSIC Xbench .................................................................................................................. 7
To uninstall ApSIC Xbench .............................................................................................................. 9
Unattended Installation ...................................................................................................................... 9
Launching and Shutting Down ApSIC Xbench .......................................................................................... 11
Launching ApSIC Xbench............................................................................................................... 11
Shutting Down ApSIC Xbench ....................................................................................................... 11
Signing Up for ApSIC Xbench ................................................................................................................... 13

Working with Search Features

15

Defining Search Projects ............................................................................................................................ 17

Searching for Terms.................................................................................................................................... 23
Regular Expressions and Microsoft Word Wildcards ................................................................................. 25
Regular Expressions Syntax ............................................................................................................ 25
Microsoft Word Wildcards Syntax .................................................................................................. 28
Special Sets ...................................................................................................................................... 31
Advanced Features ...................................................................................................................................... 33
PowerSearch function ...................................................................................................................... 33
Zooming In ...................................................................................................................................... 34
Reverse search ................................................................................................................................. 34
Filtering the search scope ................................................................................................................ 35
Seeing the context ............................................................................................................................ 35
Ignoring tags .................................................................................................................................... 35
Editing the source document ........................................................................................................... 35
Search templates .............................................................................................................................. 36
Switching the layout of search fields ............................................................................................... 37
Exporting Items .......................................................................................................................................... 39
Working with Ongoing Translations .......................................................................................................... 41
Key Terms .................................................................................................................................................. 43

Working with Quality Assurance Features

45

Managing Checklists................................................................................................................................... 47
Running QA from Windows Explorer ........................................................................................................ 51
Working with ApSIC Xbench Instant Spell-Checker ................................................................................. 53
Using Addendums ...................................................................................................................................... 55
Additional Spell-Checker Features ............................................................................................................. 56
Grammar and Spell-Check in Microsoft Word ........................................................................................... 56
Working with the ApSIC Xbench Plugin for SDL Trados Studio 2014 ..................................................... 57
Installing and Uninstalling the Plugin ......................................................................................................... 59
Installing the Plugin ......................................................................................................................... 59
Uninstalling the Plugin .................................................................................................................... 59

ii

Contents
Using the Plugin ......................................................................................................................................... 61
How to Run QA on memoQ Files ............................................................................................................... 65
Instructions for memoQ 6 to memoQ 2014 until build 51 .............................................................. 65
Instructions for memoQ 2014 build 51 or later ............................................................................... 66

Additional Information

67

Working with ApSIC Xbench Settings ....................................................................................................... 69

ApSIC Xbench Quick Tips ......................................................................................................................... 79
Where to Obtain the Microsoft and Apple Software Glossaries ................................................................. 81
Obtaining Microsoft Glossaries ....................................................................................................... 81
Obtaining Apple Glossaries ............................................................................................................. 81

Internet

83

Searching the Internet ................................................................................................................................. 85

Defining Internet Shortcuts ......................................................................................................................... 86

Bugs and Suggestions

89

Reporting Bugs and Suggestions ................................................................................................................ 91

Overview
ApSIC Xbench allows you to organize and search your bilingual
reference terminology. ApSIC Xbench also features several Quality
Assurance (QA) checks to boost the quality of your translations.

Search features
ApSIC Xbench allows you to perform powerful searches on the following
bilingual formats:

Tab-delimited text files (*.txt, *.tsv, *.utx)

XLIFF files, including memoQ XLIFF, Memsource XLIFF, Idiom

XLIFF, Translation Workspace XLIFF, XTM XLIFF, and other
flavors of XLIFF (*.xlf, *.xlif, *.xliff, *.xlz, *.mqxlz, *.mxliff)

TMX memories (*.tmx)

TBX/MARTIF glossaries (*.xml, *.tbx, *.mtf)

TIPP files (*.tipp)

Trados exported memories (*.txt)

Trados exported MultiTerm 5 glossaries (*.txt)

Trados MultiTerm glossaries (*.xml, *.sdltb, *.mdb)

Trados TagEditor files (*.ttx)

Trados Word uncleaned files (*.doc, *.rtf)

Trados Studio files (*.sdlxliff, *.sdlproj)

Trados Studio memories (*.sdltm)

memoQ files, including hand-off and hand-back packages (*.mqxlz,

*.mqxliff, *.mqout, *.mqback)

memoQ termbases in CSV format

SDLX ITD files (*.itd). Note: This option requires that SDLX is
installed on the machine.

SDLX memories (*.mdb)

STAR Transit 2.6/XV/NXT directories

PO files (*.po)

IBM TranslationManager exported dictionaries (*.sgm)

IBM TranslationManager installed and exported folders (*.fxp)

IBM TranslationManager exported memories (*.exp)

OpenTM2 exported dictionaries (*.sgm)

OpenTM2 installed and exported folders (*.fxp)

OpenTM2 exported memories (*.exp)

Using ApSIC Xbench

Wordfast memories (*.txt)

Wordfast glossaries (*.txt)

Wordfast Pro files (*.txml, *.txlf)

Dj Vu X/Idiom files, including Satellite and Pack&Go (*.wsprj,

*.dvprj, *.dvsat, *.dvpng)
Dj Vu X/Idiom memories (*.wstm, *.dvmdb)

Dj Vu X/Idiom termbases (*.wstb, *.dvtdb)

Logoport RTF files (*.rtf)

Microsoft software glossaries (*.csv)

Mac OS X glossaries (*.ad, *.lg)

Qt Linguist files (*.ts)

Passolo glossaries (*.glo)

Transifex projects

Matecat jobs

Remote Xbench Server glossaries

Reference terminology can be organized in several levels of priority to

show clearly to translators the particular translation project preferences.
ApSIC Xbench runs on the background and can be invoked to search for
the currently marked text using a system-wide key combination (by
default, Ctrl+Alt+Insert). This effectively provides instant terminology
searches from within any Windows application using a common key
combination.
ApSIC Xbench features a very powerful search engine. Not only can you
search by source or target text but also perform negative or conditional
searches with the PowerSearch function (Ctrl+P) or perform complex
searches using either regular expressions or Microsoft Word wildcards.
Note: After it is launched, ApSIC Xbench stays on the background until it
is explicitly closed with the Shut Down Xbench command that is
available either by right-clicking the icon on the Windows task bar or
using the Project pull-down menu.

QA features
By defining your current translation files as ongoing translation in your
ApSIC Xbench project, you can run the following QA checks:

Find untranslated segments

Find segments with the same source text and different target text
Find segments with the same target text and different source text

Find segments whose target text matches the source text (potentially
untranslated text)
Find tag mismatches

Overview

Find number mismatches

Find URL mismatches

Find alphanumeric mismatches

Find unpaired symbols (i.e. unpaired parentheses, square brackets, or

braces)

Find unpaired quotes

Find double blanks

Find repeated words

Find UPPERCASE words in the source text without a match in the

target text and UPPERCASE words in the target text without a match
in the source text

Find CamelCase words in the source text without a match in the

target text and CamelCase words in the target text without a match in
the source text

Find terminology mismatches against a list of key terms

Execute user-defined checklists.

Spell-check translations (requires downloading the language

dictionary with Tools->Spell-Checking Dictionaries)

Checklists are user-defined searches that you can run in batch against
your ongoing translation. For example, with checklists you can search for
banned words or typical translator pitfalls.

CHAPTER 1

Installing and Uninstalling

ApSIC Xbench
To install ApSIC Xbench
ApSIC Xbench 3.0 is available in 32-bit and 64-bit editions. The 32-bit
edition can be installed on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows machines. The 64bit edition can only be installed on 64-bit machines. ApSIC Xbench is
supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
It is also supported on Windows 2003 and Windows 2008.
To install ApSIC Xbench, please do the following:
Run the installation executable (for example,
Setup.Xbench.x64.3.0.1080.exe). The installer welcome screen will
appear.

Using ApSIC Xbench

Click Next. The license window appears. Please read carefully the license
information to ensure you accept its terms.
If the terms of the license are acceptable to you, please click I Agree. If
they are not acceptable please click Cancel.

Change the destination folder if necessary and click Install to continue.

Files are copied to the selected destination and the following window
appears.

Click Finish to close the Window and start using ApSIC Xbench.
A link to the ApSIC Xbench executable is installed on the Start>Programs->ApSIC Tools->Xbench path, together with the
documentation.

Chapter 1 Installing and Uninstalling ApSIC Xbench

To uninstall ApSIC
Xbench
To uninstall ApSIC Xbench, please do the following:
1 Choose Start->Settings->Control Panel on the Windows task bar.
Go to the Windows Control Panel and open the Add/Remove
Programs icon.
2 Look for ApSIC Xbench 3.0 in the list and click the Change or
Remove button.
3 When you receive a confirmation message, click Yes.

Unattended Installation
You can perform an unattended installation of ApSIC Xbench using the
/S switch from the command line.
c:\>Setup.Xbench.x64.3.0.exe /S
If you wish to specify a different installation directory, you can do so
using the /D switch.
c:\>Setup.Xbench.x64.3.0.exe /S
/D=[install_directory_path]
Please note that the /S and /D switches are case-sensitive!

11

CHAPTER 2

Launching and Shutting

Down ApSIC Xbench
ApSIC Xbench is an application that, once launched, must be explicitly
shut down when it is no longer needed. In a normal scenario, you will
load your reference project to search for terminology while you are
translating and leave it in the background until you finish your translation
work. Closing the ApSIC Xbench window does not remove the program
from the memory because it is waiting for your next query with the
Ctrl+Alt+Insert key sequence.

Launching ApSIC Xbench

To launch ApSIC Xbench, follow one of these procedures:

Choose Start->Programs->ApSIC Tools->Xbench on the Windows

task bar.

Double-click on the icon of a previously defined ApSIC Xbench

project (.xbp extension).

Shutting Down ApSIC

Xbench
In order to shut down ApSIC Xbench, you have the following options:

Right-click the ApSIC Xbench icon (a pink gem) located in the

system tray and click Shut Down Xbench.

On the Project menu, click Shut Down Xbench.

13

CHAPTER 3

Signing Up for ApSIC

Xbench
ApSIC Xbench licensing system requires that users sign up with their
email. When you first start Xbench, a Sign In dialog will appear.

If you do not have yet an Xbench account, you need to sign up to create
one. Click the Sign Up link in the Sign In window to expand it with the
fields for the sign up.

Type your email and password twice and click Sign Up for Xbench.
In a few seconds, you will receive a verification email in your email
inbox. Open the email item and click the Verify your email address
link.
Now you are able to sign in with your newly created credentials.

15

Working with Search Features

In this section you will learn about ApSIC Xbench search features. The
following concepts are useful to understand how ApSIC Xbench works:
Project: In ApSIC Xbench, a project is a definition of files and their
priorities and relationships. The first thing you do in ApSIC Xbench is to
define a project that includes the terminology you want to search -- and
how to search it.
Ongoing translation: ApSIC Xbench lets you mark a file or set of files as
"ongoing translation" to visually identify its strings in the search results.
In addition, QA features can be performed only on files defined as
ongoing translation.
Checklist: In ApSIC Xbench, a checklist is an array of searches that can
be run in batch.
PowerSearch: This is a special search mode where you can define
AND/OR conditions and negations to the search string to perform
complex searches. This is a very useful feature for QA-related activities.
Regular Expression: A regular expression is a search string that contains
special characters with specific meanings that allow you to provide a
concise and flexible means to identify patterns of characters and words.
The grammar of regular expressions follows industry standards. This is
one of ApSIC Xbench search and QA modes.
Microsoft Word Wildcard: ApSIC Xbench also allows you to perform
searches using Microsoft Word wildcards, which follow a grammar
similar to regular expressions but normally in a simplified alternative
syntax.

17

CHAPTER 4

Defining Search Projects

The first step to use the powerful search features of ApSIC Xbench is to
define the reference material for your project. To do so, add the relevant
files and directories into your project by choosing Project->Properties
or pressing F2. The Project Properties dialog appears as illustrated
below.

Click the Add button to add files to your project.

Select the type of file that you will be adding to the ApSIC Xbench
project:

18

Using ApSIC Xbench

ApSIC Xbench supports the following file types:

Tab-delimited Text File (*.txt, *.tsv, *.utx). A file where every line
consists of a number of fields delimited with the tab character. The
first and the second fields of an entry are assumed to be the source
and the target texts respectively. The additional fields are assumed to
be descriptive and there can be any number of them. Tab-delimited
UTX files are also supported with this format.

XLIFF File (*.xlf, *.xlif, *.xliff, *xlz, *.mxliff, *.mqxlz). A file compliant
with the XLIFF specification.

TMX Memory (*.tmx). A file compliant with the TMX specification.

Most translation tools are capable of generating TMX memories of
varying compliance levels.

TBX/MARTIF Glossary (*.xml, *.tbx, *.mtf). A file compliant with the

TBX or the MARTIF specification.

TIPP File (*.tipp). A file compliant with the TIPP specification.

Trados Exported Memory (*.txt). A Trados memory in .txt format as

exported from Trados.

Trados Exported MultiTerm 5 Glossary (*.txt). A MultiTerm glossary

exported into a .txt file where each entry is delimited with a line
containing two asterisks (**).

Trados MultiTerm Glossary (*.xml, *.sdltb, *.mdb). A MultiTerm

glossary exported in XML, SDLTB, or MDB format.

Trados TagEditor File (*.ttx). A Trados .ttx file.

Trados Word File (*.doc, *.rtf). A Trados .doc or .rtf file with bilingual
segments.

Trados Studio File (*.sdlxliff, *.sdlproj). A Trados Studio .sdlxliff or

.sdlproj file. When a Trados Studio project file (*.sdlproj) is
specified, ApSIC Xbench opens the .sdlxilff files pointed by the
project file for the first language pair found in the project file.

Trados Studio Memory (*.sdltm). A Trados Studio Translation Memory

in .sdltm format.

memoQ File. A memoQ XLIFF file with .mqxlz or .mqxliff extension,

a memoQ hand-off file (*.mqout), a memoQ hand-back file
(*.mqback), or a memoQ termbase file (*.csv).

SDLX File (*.itd). An SDLX .itd file. Note: This option requires that
SDLX is installed on the machine.

SDLX Memory (*.mdb). An individual SDLX .mdb file containing a

translation memory.

STAR Transit 2.6/XV/NXT Directory. A directory that contains Transit

language pairs.

PO File. A bilingual .po file, normally generated with gettext.

IBM TM/OpenTM2 Dictionary (*.sgm). An IBM TranslationManager or

OpenTM2 dictionary in SGML format. This file has the .sgm
extension.

Chapter 4 Defining Search Projects

19

IBM TM/OpenTM2 Folder. An IBM TranslationManager or OpenTM2

folder installed on your system. This format can be defined as
ongoing translation to clearly distinguish the new and the old
translation and also to display the untranslated segments to make
better decisions for new terminology.

IBM TM/OpenTM2 Exported Folder (*.fxp). An IBM

TranslationManager or OpenTM2 folder exported in .fxp format.

IBM TM/OpenTM2 Exported Memory (*.exp). An IBM

TranslationManager or OpenTM2 memory exported in .exp format.

Wordfast Memory (*.txt). A Wordfast memory, with the .txt extension.

Wordfast Glossary (*.txt). A Wordfast glossary, with the .txt

extension.

Wordfast Pro TXML (*.txml, *.txlf). A Wordfast Pro bilingual file, with
the *.txml or *.txlf extension.

Dj Vu X/Idiom File (*.wsprj, *.dvprj, *.dvsat, *.dvpng). A Dj Vu or

Idiom database of project translation files, with extensions .dvprj,
.dvsat, .dvpng, or .wsprj.

Dj Vu X/Idiom Memory (*.wstm, *.dvmdb). A Dj Vu or Idiom

translation memory, with extensions .dvmdb or .wstm.

Dj Vu X/Idiom Termbase (*.wstd, *.dvtdb). A Dj Vu or Idiom

termbase, with extensions .dvtdb or .wstb.

Logoport RTF (*.rtf). An individual Logoport .rtf file or a directory

containing Logoport .rtf files.

Microsoft Glossary (*.csv). A Microsoft software glossary, made

publicly available by Microsoft via MSDN and containing all the
strings of a Microsoft software application.

Mac OS X Glossary (*.ad, *.lg). A file in Apple's XML format for

software, freely downloadable from the Internet.

Qt Linguist Files (*.ts). A file in the translation format for the Qt

framework.

Passolo Glossaries (*.glo). A Passolo glossary, with extension *.glo.

Transifex Project. An online Transifex project.

Matecat Job. An online Matecat job, both from www.matecat.com or

self-hosted.

Remote Xbench Server. A reference to a Remote ApSIC Xbench

Server.

After the file type is selected, the File List tab appears where you can add
multiple entries of the selected type. Depending on the file type chosen,
click on the Add File... or Add Folder... button to add entries to the list.
From this point, the sequence of displays may differ depending on the
selected file type. Follow the instructions corresponding to the specific
file type for the exact steps.

20

Using ApSIC Xbench

If you are adding a ...

Follow these steps:

1 The File List tab appears. Click

Tab-delimited text file, XLIFF
Add File or Add Folder to add files
file, TMX memory, TIPP file,
or folders of files from the selected
Trados Exported memory,
type. Folders will appear on
Trados Tag Editor file, Trados
boldface in the list.
Word file, Trados Studio file,
Trados Studio memory, memoQ 2 Click Next on the File List tab to
file, SDLX file, SDLX Memory,
get to the Properties tab.
PO file, IBM TM/OpenTM2
Dictionary, IBM TM/OpenTM2 3 Assign the properties relevant and
click OK to finish. Note: If you
Exported folder, IBM
added any folder in step 1, click
TM/OpenTM2 Exported
Next to get to an additional panel
memory, Wordfast memory,
where you indicate if you wish to
Wordfast glossary, Wordfast Pro
include files of the same type in
TXML/TXLF, Microsoft
child folders with the Recurse
glossary, Mac OS X glossary,
Directories check box.
Dj Vu X/Idiom file, Dj
Vu/Idiom memory, Dj
Vu/Idiom termbase, Logoport
RTF file, Qt Linguist file,
Passolo glossary
STAR Transit directory

After the File List tab appears,

opening automatically the Select
Directory.. dialog. Navigate to the
directory that contains the files you
wish to load into the ApSIC Xbench
project.

2 Click Next on the File List tab to

get to the Properties tab.
3 Assign the properties relevant to the
directory and click Next to get to
the Directory Settings tab.

Trados exported MultiTerm 5

glossary, Trados MultiTerm, or
TBX/MARTIF

In the Directory Settings tab you

can check the Recurse Directories
check box to have ApSIC Xbench
search also subdirectories for files.

The File List tab appears, opening

automatically the Add Glossary
dialog. Select all the files of the
current type in this window. If you
need to pick up more files from
another directory, when you are
again in the File List tab, click the
Add File button to open again the
Add Glossary window.

2 Click Next on the File List tab to

get to the Properties tab.
3 Assign the properties relevant to the
file and click Next to get to the tab

Chapter 4 Defining Search Projects

21

corresponding to the file format.

IBM TM/OpenTM2 Folder

Select the source and the target

language from the list of languages
offered and click OK to finish.

After the File List tab appears,

opening automatically the Select
IBM TM/OpenTM2 Folder dialog.
If necessary, change to the drive
containing your IBM TM or
OpenTM2 folder and then select the
folder or folders in the list of folders
that appears.

2 Click Next on the File List tab to

get to the Properties tab.

Transifex Project

Assign the properties relevant and

click OK to finish.

Assign the properties relevant and

click Next to get to the Transifex
tab.

2 Type a Transifex project slug or

paste the URL of a Transifex project
and then click Connect.

Matecat Job

Remote Xbench Server

Choose a language from the list of

languages of the project and click
OK.

Assign the properties relevant and

click Next to get to the Matecat tab.

Paste in Matecat URL the URL

that appears in the browser when
you open the Matecat job in the
Matecat online editor.

Assign the properties relevant and

click Next to get to the Remote
Xbench Server tab.

2 Assign a name for the connection

and specify the URL of the Xbench
Server.
Once you are returned to the Project Properties window, you can add
other files or directories following the steps described above.
When you are done, click OK on the Project Properties window to
return to ApSIC Xbench main window. ApSIC Xbench will load the
glossaries into the work environment.

22

Using ApSIC Xbench

At this time, on the Project menu, click Save as to save the newly
created project in your directory with other ApSIC Xbench projects. It is
recommended to save project files with meaningful names for later reuse.
Note: The next time ApSIC Xbench is started, it will automatically load
the previous project unless this feature is disabled in Tools->Settings>Miscellaneous.

23

CHAPTER 5

Searching for Terms

ApSIC Xbench has a very powerful search engine. For example, you can
search by source term, target term, or both source and target term. ApSIC
Xbench also allows you to search using regular expressions or Microsoft
Word wildcards, and combine them using the PowerSearch mode.

Likely, most of your searches will be done by source term. However,

your need to search for a term will not originate while you are in the
interface of ApSIC Xbench, but when you are translating within Word or
within some other CAT application such as Trados Studio, memoQ,
Wordfast, Dj Vu, or from a note in your email program such as
Microsoft Outlook.
This is why ApSIC Xbench is accessible system-wide from any
application with a single key combination (Ctrl+Alt+Insert).
The following 5 steps describe how you should interact with ApSIC
Xbench. The starting point for this scenario is an open document with
Microsoft Word in the foreground and an ApSIC Xbench project loaded
in the background.
1

In Microsoft Word, highlight the term (totally or partially) that you

want to search for.

2 In Microsoft Word, press Ctrl+Insert and then Ctrl+Alt+Insert to call

ApSIC Xbench. This action automatically searches the files loaded
into ApSIC Xbench for the marked term. This sequence of keys will
be the most important one for you when using ApSIC Xbench for
searching for terminology.

24

Using ApSIC Xbench

3 ApSIC Xbench presents the results of the query as illustrated in the

figure above.
You can have up to three priority areas, one in green (high priority),
one in maroon (medium priority), and one in blue (low priority). The
column labeled # provides a count of all the occurrences in the file
that have been grouped for the entry shown on the window.
The green bullet next to the Target term indicates that the entry is a
full exact match (case sensitive) with the search string. If a yellow
bullet appears next to a Target term, it means that the entry is a full
match except for the case. For example, if in the above example we
had searched for Clipboard instead of clipboard, the bullets
would have been green instead of yellow because the case of the
query string would match exactly the case of the string that is found
in the file (Clipboard).
When translating documentation, this indication is very useful
because you can copy-and-paste the target term, which makes you
more productive and accurate. The following steps describe how to
benefit from this.
4 If you want to copy the target term of the currently selected entry into
the clipboard, just press Enter to close the ApSIC Xbench window.
ApSIC Xbench is hidden and you are returned to the calling
application (in this example, Microsoft Word).
Note: If you do not want to copy anything to the clipboard, press Esc
or Alt+F4 to hide ApSIC Xbench and return to Microsoft Word.
5 If you opted to close the ApSIC Xbench window with the Enter key,
thus saving the target term in the clipboard, you can press Shift+Insert
to copy the target term into your document.
You will notice that, especially for software options, it is faster to search
and paste than to type the target software options manually. Thus, you are
more productive and your translations are more consistent at the same
time.
Tip: Familiarize yourself with the above procedure until you feel it is
intuitive enough. Try it with words that you know are exact matches so
you can get familiar with the paste step.

25

CHAPTER 6

Regular Expressions and

Microsoft Word Wildcards
ApSIC Xbench allows you to perform powerful searches using regular
expressions or Microsoft Word wildcards. To activate these search
modes, do the following:
1. Choose View->Search Options to show the Search Options pane.
2. Expand the Search Mode drop-down and choose Regular
Expressions or MS Word Wildcards.
3. You will notice that an icon will appear next to the Source Term and
Target Term fields to indicate that you are in the selected mode.

Regular Expressions Syntax

Character or
Expression

Meaning

Examples

Any character

Jo.n matches John and Joan, but does not

match Johan.

0 or more instances of the preceding Joh*n matches Jon, John, and Johhn, but does
character
not match Johan.
Note: In Regular Expressions, the asterisk does
not have the same behavior as in Microsoft
Word wildcards. To mean any number of
characters you need to use the dot-asterisk
sequence (.*). For example, Joh.*n matches
John, Johhn, and Johan (but does not match
Jon).

0 or 1 instances of the preceding

character

Joh?n matches Jon and John, but does not

match Johan.

1 or more repetitions of the

preceding character

Joh+n matches John, and Johhn, but does not

match Jon or Johan.

{m}

Exactly m repetitions of the

preceding character

Joh{2}n matches Johhn, but does not match

Jon, John or Johhhn.

{m,}

m or more repetitions of the

preceding character

Joh{2,}n matches Johhn and Johhhn, but does

not match Jon or John.

26

Using ApSIC Xbench

{,n}

1 to n repetitions of the preceding

character

Joh{,2}n matches John and Johhn, but does

not match Jon or Johhhn.

{m,n}

m to n repetitions of the preceding

character

Joh{1,2}n matches John and Johhn, but does

not match Jon or Johhhn.

<

Start of word

<Phon matches Phone but does not match

iPhone.

>

End of word

hones> matches Phones but does not match

Phone.
Note: To match a whole word, you can specify
<Phone> to match Phone, but not Phones or
iPhone, or you can specify <Phones*> to match
both Phone and Phones, but not iPhone or
iPhones.

Start of line (needs to be at the

beginning of the expression)

^Phone will match all units that start with

Phone.

End of line (needs to be at the end of received$ will match all units that end with
the expression)
received.

Escape character. The character

following it is parsed as a simple
character.

phone\. will match all units that have a period

after phone. (In this case, the dot does not mean
"any character" because it is escaped).

Make the preceding character or

expression case-insensitive. When
ApSIC Xbench search mode is casesensitive, this modifier can be used
to make part of the search string
case-insensitive.

In ApSIC Xbench case-sensitive mode, a% will

match a and A. Similarly, P(hone)% will match
Phone and PHONE, but will not match phone
because in the latter case, the letter p is not
included in the expression affected by the
modifier.

\xnn or \xnnnn

The character specified by nn or

nnnn, where nn or nnnn is a
hexadecimal number. If only two
digits are specified, it is assumed to
be its Unicode equivalent \x00nn.

\x48\x6f\x77\x64\x79\x3f and
\x0048\x006f\x0077\x0064\x0079\x003f both
match Howdy?

OR operator

^(H|I) matches all sentences that start with an H

or that start with an I.

()

Parenthesis operator to specify

priority

(^H)|I matches all sentences that start with an H

or that contain an I.

Chapter 6 Regular Expressions and Microsoft Word Wildcards

27

[set-expression] One character belonging to the set

defined by set-expression. A set is
defined by individual characters (for
example, [aeiou]) and/or by ranges
of characters specified by the starting
and the ending character (for
example, [a-z]).

File[0-9] matches File0, File1, File2, ... File9,

but does not match FileX.

[:special-set:]

One character belonging to a

predefined special-set. The following
special sets are predefined In ApSIC
Xbench: [:space:], [:control:],
[:punctuation:], [:punct:],
[:separator:], [:sep:], [:symbol:],
[:alpha:], [:num:], [:xdigit:],
[:alphanum:], [:letter:], [:digit:],
[:letterdigit:], [:number:]. Special set
must be used within set-expressions
(for example [:digit:]). The
characters matched by each specialset are listed in Special Sets (on page
31).

File[:digit:] matches File0, File1 or File2, but

does not match FileA or FileB.

[^setexpression]

Any character not belonging to the

set-expression.

File[^ABC] matches FileD or FileE, but does

not match FileA, FileB and FileC.

(expression)=n

Assigns to variable n the resolved

value of the expression in the
currently parsed segment. The
resolved value can be recalled with
the expression @n.

(File[0-9])=1 defines variable 1 as the resolved

value of File[0-9].

@n

Renders the resolved value of

variable n.

@1 in the example above would resolve to

string File1 if the string searched contains File1,
File2 if it contains File2, and so on.

File[ABC] matches FileA, FileB and FileC, but

does not match FileD.

File[:alpha:][:digit:] matches FileA0, FileB1

or FileC2, but does not match File1A or File2B.

28

Using ApSIC Xbench

Microsoft Word Wildcards Syntax

Character or
Expression

Meaning

Examples

Any character

Jo.n matches John and Joan, but does not

match Johan.

0 or more characters

Joh*n matches John, Johan and Johhn, but

does not match Jon.

0 or 1 characters

Jo?n matches Jon, John and Joan, but does not

match Johan.

1 or more repetitions of the

preceding character

Joh@n matches John, and Johhn, but does not

match Jon or Johan.

{m}

Exactly m repetitions of the

preceding character

Joh{2}n matches Johhn, but does not match

Jon, John or Johhhn.

{m,}

m or more repetitions of the

preceding character

Joh{2,}n matches Johhn and Johhhn, but does

not match Jon or John.

{,n}

1 to n repetitions of the preceding

character

Joh{,2}n matches John and Johhn, but does

not match Jon or Johhhn.

{m,n}

m to n repetitions of the preceding

character

Joh{1,2}n matches John and Johhn, but does

not match Jon or Johhhn.

<

Start of word

<Phon matches Phone but does not match

iPhone.

>

End of word

hones> matches Phones but does not match

Phone.
Note: To match a whole word, you can specify
<Phone> to match Phone, but not Phones or
iPhone, or you can specify <Phones*> to match
both Phone and Phones, but not iPhone or
iPhones.

Start of line (needs to be at the

beginning of the expression)

^Phone will match all units that start with

Phone.

End of line (needs to be at the end of received$ will match all units that end with
the expression)
received.

Escape character. The character

following it is parsed as a simple
character.

phone\. will match all units that have a period

after phone. (In this case, the dot does not mean
"any character" because it is escaped).

Chapter 6 Regular Expressions and Microsoft Word Wildcards

29

\xnn or \xnnnn

The character specified by nn or

nnnn, where nn or nnnn is a
hexadecimal number. If only two
digits are specified, it is assumed to
be its Unicode equivalent \x00nn.

\x48\x6f\x77\x64\x79\x3f and
\x0048\x006f\x0077\x0064\x0079\x003f both
match Howdy?

OR operator

^(H|I) matches all sentences that start with an H

or that start with an I.

()

Parenthesis operator to specify

priority

(^H)|I matches all sentences that start with an H

or that contain an I.

[set-expression] One character belonging to the set

defined by set-expression. A set is
defined by individual characters (for
example, [aeiou]) and/or by ranges
of characters specified by the starting
and the ending character (for
example, [a-z]).

File[0-9] matches File0, File1, File2, ... File9,

but does not match FileX.

[:special-set:]

File[:digit:] matches File0, File1 or File2, but

does not match FileA or FileB.

One character belonging to a

predefined special-set. The following
special sets are predefined In ApSIC
Xbench: [:space:], [:control:],
[:punctuation:], [:punct:],
[:separator:], [:sep:], [:symbol:],
[:alpha:], [:num:], [:xdigit:],
[:alphanum:], [:letter:], [:digit:],
[:letterdigit:], [:number:]. Special set
must be used within set-expressions
(for example [:digit:]). The
characters matched by each specialset are listed in Special Sets (on page
31).

[!set-expression] Any character not belonging to the

set-expression.

File[ABC] matches FileA, FileB and FileC, but

does not match FileD.

File[:alpha:][:digit:] matches FileA0, FileB1

or FileC2, but does not match File1A or File2B.

File[!ABC] matches FileD or FileE, but does

not match FileA, FileB and FileC.

(expression)=n

Assigns to variable n the resolved

value of the expression in the
currently parsed segment. The
resolved value can be recalled with
the expression \n.

(File[0-9])=1 defines variable 1 as the resolved

value of File[0-9].

\n

Renders the resolved value of

variable n.

\1 in the example above would resolve to string

File1 if the string searched contains File1, File2
if it contains File2, and so on.

31

CHAPTER 7

Special Sets
The following table shows the characters that are matched by the special
sets that can be used in regular expressions and Microsoft Word wildcard
characters:
Special Set

Characters matched by the special set

[:alpha:]

Any of the characters considered as alphabetic by the

operating system under the current ANSI code page.

[:alphanum:]

Any of the characters considered as alphanumeric by

the operating system under the current ANSI code
page.

[:control:]

Characters in the hexadecimal range 0x00-0x19.

[:digit:]

Any digit from '0' to '9'.

[:letter:]

Any of the characters considered alphabetic in any

language. For example, it matches Thai letters, Greek
letters, Hebrew letters, Latin letters, etc.

[:letterdigit:]

Any of the characters considered as alphanumeric in

any language.

[:num:], [:number:]

Any digit from '0' to '9' and the following superscript

and fractional numbers: '', '', '', '', '', ''

[:punct:], [:punctuation:]

Any of the following characters: ! " # % & ' ( ) * , - .

/:;?@[\]_{}-

[:sep:], [:separator:]

Space (Hex 0x20) and non-breakable space (Hex

0xA0)

[:symbol:]

Any of the following characters: $ + <=> ^ ` | ~

[:space:]

Space (Hex 0x20), tabs and carriage returns in the

range Hex 0x09-0x0C, plus Hex 0x85 and Hex
0xA0.

[:xdigit:]

Any hexadecimal digit from '0' to '9' and from 'a' to 'f'
(or 'A' to 'F').

33

CHAPTER 8

Advanced Features
ApSIC Xbench has some advanced features that you will appreciate when
you have special needs. They are described in the following sections.

PowerSearch function
You can use the Ctrl+P (PowerSearch) key combination to search with
more complex criteria. With the PowerSearch function you can search for
entries:

That contain two or more strings, but not necessarily next to each
other.

That do not contain a given string.

That contain a string or another string.

Any combination of the above conditions.

Examples:
This expression...

...does the following

string1 string2

It finds all entries that contain "string1"

and "string2"

string1 or string2

It finds all entries that contain "string1" or

"string2"

string1 -string2

It finds all entries that contain "string1" but

do not contain "string2"

string1 -"string2 with embedded It finds all entries that contain "string1" but
blanks"
do not contain "string2 with embedded
blanks"
In more complex expressions involving several strings with Boolean
and/or relationships, you can use parenthesis to indicate precedence.
In PowerSearch mode, you need to use double quotes as delimiters if
your expression contains embedded blanks or parenthesis. If your search
string contains a double quote character embedded, you need to escape it
using a sequence of two double quote characters.
Note: If one of the words to search in PowerSearch mode is the word
"or", you need to enclose the word "or" in double quotes to avoid that it is
parsed as the or operator.

34

Using ApSIC Xbench

PowerSearch can be used in any of the searching modes: Simple,

Regular Expressions, and MS Word Wildcards.

Zooming In
ApSIC Xbench features 4 types of zoom:

Zoom to Level. Shows the entries that belong to a given priority

level.

Zoom to Glossary. Shows the entries that belong to a given glossary.

If the glossary consists of only one file, it produces the same result as
Zoom to File.

Zoom to File. Shows the entries that belong to a given file.

Zoom to Flag. Shows the entries that belong to those glossaries than
have been assigned a given flag in their properties.

As you already noticed, ApSIC Xbench shows a snapshot of the most

relevant terms for each priority level on a single unified view. This allows
you to analyze the sources of potential inconsistencies or even different
meanings and make a more informed decision on which term to choose.
However, it is possible that you want to see more (or all) instances of a
specific level to make a more thorough analysis of a specific term.
To do so, double-click the body of the window for the level that you want
to zoom in to obtain a full list of entries for the searched term. The
background will become green so that you can tell that you are in zoomed
mode.
To exit the zoomed mode, double-click the body of the window again.

Reverse search
ApSIC Xbench also defines a system-wide key for searching in the target
column instead of in the source column. The default key combination for
this feature is Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.
This is equivalent to leaving the Source Term field blank and the Target
Term field filled out.
For example, this is convenient when you want to use a new term in your
language and want to make sure that such a term is not already used in
another term that could create potential clashes in the future with key
terminology for your project.

Chapter 8 Advanced Features

35

Filtering the search scope

The Search Options pane (View->Search Options) allows you to
narrow the scope for the search. The filtering options available are:

Only New Segments: It shows only matches in segments that are not
100% matches.

Only 100% Matches: It shows only matches in segments that are

100% matches.

Only Ongoing Translation: It shows only matches in files that have

been defined as ongoing translation in the project properties.

Exclude ICE Segments: It excludes In-Context Exact Matches (also

known as 101% matches or Perfect Matches) from the search results.

Seeing the context

If you right-click on a search result and choose the See Context menu
item, you will see all units that are found in the file physically before and
after the current entry appear.

Ignoring tags
If search matches within the tags need to be excluded from the search
results, you can choose the Ignore Tags check box in the Search
Options pane.

Editing the source

document
The Tools->Edit Source menu item, also attached to the Ctrl+E key
combination, allows you to open the source file to which the entry
currently selected belongs. This is very useful to quickly amend an issue
detected in an ongoing translation.
For many formats, for example when the source file is an SDLX itd file, a
Trados Tag Editor ttx file, a Trados Word file, a memoQ file, a Trados
Studio file or an IBM Translation Manager folder, ApSIC Xbench goes
directly to the segment that contains the text.

36

Using ApSIC Xbench

For Transifex, it opens a window where you can type your correction and
send it to Transifex, and for Matecat, it opens a browser with the online
editor, right at the segment that needs to be edited.
To use this feature with IBM Translation Manager, please ensure that
IBM Translation Manager is up and running and that there is no
document currently being edited.
Line positioning is also available for Tab-delimited files and Trados
exported memories, but your text editor parameters must be configured in
Tools->Settings->Text Editor. For example, to configure TextPad 4 for
line positioning, you must select there the Text Pad executable and
specify the following in Command-Line Parameters:
$filename($line,$column). Similarly, to configure Notepad++, you must
select its executable and specify the following in Command-Line
Parameters: $filename -n$line. Other text editors will require different
values for this field. Please check your text editor's documentation for the
suitable values.
ApSIC Xbench also allows performing segment positioning for the TMX
format, but the TMX editor must be configured in Tools->Settings>TMX Editor. For example, to configure OKAPI Olifant for segment
positioning, you must select there the Olifant executable and specify the
following in Command-Line Parameters: $Filename row=$Segment
col=trg edit=yes. Other TMX editors might have different values for this
field. Please check your TMX editor's documentation for the suitable
values.
This makes ApSIC Xbench a very useful and efficient tool to make
global changes in terminology for these formats. If you afterwards want
to regress the changes made, you can reload the ApSIC Xbench project
with Project->Reload or View->Refresh.

Search templates
Search templates are predefined searches that you can choose or run. To
use a search template, click on Search Templates... on the Search
Options pane and then choose the search from the list. In Template
Source, you can choose to show the Sample Search Templates or the
Project Checklist entries. Click Search to run directly the search
currently selected or click Choose to bring up the search template
definition to the Source Term and Target Term fields.

Chapter 8 Advanced Features

37

Switching the layout of

search fields
You can switch between a vertical layout and a horizontal layout for the
Source Term and Target Term fields in the Search tab. In the
horizontal layout, the Target Term field appears next to the Source
Term field and takes less screen space for the pane, hence there is more
space available for search results. In the vertical layout, the Target Term
field appears below the Source Term field and fields are therefore much
wider.
To switch between the vertical and the horizontal layout, simply pull up
or pull down the bottom border of the Source/Target pane to shrink it or
to expand it.

39

CHAPTER 9

Exporting Items
ApSIC Xbench allows you to export the project items in the following
formats:

TMX files

Tab-delimited text files

Excel files

Word files

To export the contents of a project choose Tools->Export Items. The

following dialog appears:

In this dialog, you can export all items in a project, all items in the current
query, only the items displayed in the current query (for example, if you
are in overview mode, you only see a few items from each priority level),
or all the items of a glossary that is a member of the project.
If you wish, you can remove the repetitions (items that have exactly the
same source and target values) from the exported data to reduce the size
of the resulting file. You can also exclude the ICE (In-Context Exact
matches) segments from the search.
Additionally, you can limit the export to only untranslated items (for
example to facilitate the feed to a machine translation system) or to only
translated items. If you choose to export only the translated items, you
can further specify if you wish to export only the pretranslated items (that
is, items retrieved from a translation memory) or newly translated items.
When exporting a tab-delimited text file or an Excel file, a header row
can be added. The format of the exported Word file is the same format
generated by Tools->Export Ongoing Translation to MS Word.

40

Using ApSIC Xbench

When exporting a TMX file, the source and target locales can be
specified. You can specify any value in these fields. If you don't
remember the locale code, you can press the ellipsis (...) button to open a
helper window to enter the languages and countries.

If you normally work with a limited set of files, you can click the arrow
button of the combo box to open a shorter language list of recently used
selections.

41

CHAPTER 10

Working with Ongoing

Translations
ApSIC Xbench allows you to define any file as ongoing translation in the
Project Properties window.
By default, when they are added to an ApSIC Xbench project, the
following file types are defined as ongoing translation:

XLIFF

Trados TagEditor

Trados Word

Trados Studio

memoQ

SDLX. Note: This option requires that SDLX is installed on the

machine.

STAR Transit 2.6/XV/NXT

PO

IBM TM Folders

OpenTM2 Folders
Wordfast TXML/TXLF

Dj Vu/Idiom

Logoport RTF

Qt Linguist

Transifex Project

Matecat Job

When a file or directory is defined as ongoing translation, the following

two features are enabled:

Translations identified as new (not 100% matches) are flagged with a

small red dot ( ). Translations that are 100% matches in the ongoing
translation are flagged with a hollow red dot ( ). These symbols allow
you to tell if the term was introduced by you or was already in the
existing memory. This helps you to make terminology-related
decisions, for example if you wish to recap on the translation for a
term and you want to make sure that the term was not already used in
the official translation memory used to pretranslate your project.

Untranslated segments appear after the translated segments. This is

especially useful to decide which terminology to use for a new term
by seeing how it will appear in all the future instances in your own
translation. This way you can make sure that the term chosen will be
a good match for all instances in your current translation.

42

Using ApSIC Xbench

Note: Glossaries defined as ongoing translation (normally only one per

project, but can be more) appear in bold face in the Project Properties
window.
In addition, files defined as ongoing translation can be parsed by ApSIC
Xbench powerful QA functions or exported using Tools->Export
Ongoing Translation to MS Word so that you can use Microsoft Word
Grammar Checker or Microsoft Word Spell-Checker (for languages such
as Thai, Japanese or Chinese that are not supported by Xbench spellchecking dictionaries).

43

CHAPTER 11

Key Terms
ApSIC Xbench allows you to define one or more files as Key Terms. To
do so, when in the list of glossaries in Project Properties, choose the
Key Terms check box. A green star will appear next to the glossary entry
as shown in the illustration below to indicate that the glossary belongs to
the Key Terms category.

When a file is defined as Key Term, its entries appear with a star on top
of the results. The color of the star indicates if the key term is an exact
match (green star ), an exact match except for the case (yellow star ),
or if the text searched is contained in the key term entry (empty star ).

44

Using ApSIC Xbench

The example below shows entries "clipboard" and "Clipboard Viewer",

which are flagged as Key Terms:

In the example above, the green solid star for the "clipboard" entry means
that the entry is a full match. The empty star in the "Clipboard viewer"
entry means that the searched term is part of a key term.
The QA feature also makes use of Key Terms defined for the project by
checking if they have been used in the ongoing translation.

45

Working with Quality Assurance

Features
ApSIC Xbench features Quality Assurance (QA) functions to perform
advanced checks on the files defined as ongoing translation. The QA
functions try to find segments with the following potential problems:

Untranslated segments
Segments that have the same source text but a different target text

Segments that have the same target text but a different source text

Segments where the target text matches the source text

Segments with tag mismatches

Segments with number mismatches

Segments with URL mismatches

Segments with alphanumeric mismatches

Segments with unpaired symbols (i.e. unpaired parentheses, square

brackets, or braces)
Segments with unpaired quotes

Segments with double blanks

Segments where words fully in UPPERCASE do not match between

source and target

Segments where words in CamelCase do not match between source

and target

Segments that deviate from the key terms of the project

Segments that meet the search criteria of items in the Project or

Personal Checklists. See Managing Checklists for more information
about this feature.

If you have installed dictionaries with Tools->Spell-Checking

Dictionaries, segments with spell-checking issues.

The Quality Assurance functions are carried out with the QA tab in the
main window. The QA tab can perform the following functions:

46

Using ApSIC Xbench

Perform all checks selected in Check Group and List of Checks by

clicking Check Ongoing Translation. By default all available checks are
selected, except Target same as Source.

Perform only the searches defined by the Project Checklists by

clicking on Run Project Checklists.

Perform only the searches defined by the current Personal Checklists

by clicking on Run Personal Checklists. To change the current
Personal Checklists, choose Tools->Manage Checklists.

Export the displayed QA results by right-clicking and choose Export

QA Results to the following formats: HTML, tab-delimited text,
Excel, or XML.

Note: Please remember that the ApSIC Xbench license does not permit
removal of the credits on the right-hand side at the beginning of the
exported QA report. We have tried to make this credit information nonintrusive and its aim is to avoid tell-a-friend or other more intrusive ways
of promoting use of the product among peers.
Results are shown in the body window of the QA tab. For some file
formats, you can open directly from ApSIC Xbench the file at the segment
shown to correct it by selecting Tools->Edit Source or by pressing
Ctrl+E.
You can limit the scope of the strings considered by the QA process by
checking the Only New Segments, Only 100% Matches, or Exclude
ICE Segments check boxes.
You can also make the consistency check mode case-sensitive by
checking the Case-sensitive Inconsistencies check box.
You can ignore the tag content within the segments for the QA pass by
choosing Ignore Tags. This will allow you to find inconsistencies that
have the same source or target text except for inline tags.
This window allows you to mark an issue by right-clicking on it and
choosing Mark/Unmark Issue. You can then optionally show or hide
marked issues with the Show Marked or Hide Marked radio buttons
under Filter Issues in order to limit the number of issues displayed. For
example, to quickly ignore and hide false alarms from the list of results,
one good set-up is to choose Hide Marked and then mark issues as you
process the list.
Note: The Export QA Results command only exports displayed issues (it
does not export hidden issues).

47

CHAPTER 12

Managing Checklists
Checklists are a very useful Quality Assurance (QA) function in ApSIC
Xbench. Built on ApSIC Xbench search engine, checklists are a
compilation of searches that can be run in batch to identify segments with
problems. Typically, you store in checklists common pitfalls, such as use
of banned terms or expressions. It is a very good practice to compile
client feedback in checklists to make sure that no feedback is forgotten in
subsequent deliveries of translations.
In the QA tab of the main window, you will be able to run these
checklists against all files defined as ongoing translation in the ApSIC
Xbench project.
Since checklists are built on top of ApSIC Xbench search engine,
anything that can be searched for in ApSIC Xbench can be added to a
checklist. Actually, one useful means of adding a search into the checklist
is by searching it first in the Project tab, and then clicking Add Last
Search to Checklist in the Search Options pane of the main window.
There are two types of checklists: Project Checklist and Personal
Checklist.
The Project Checklist is saved with the ApSIC Xbench project file (.xbp
extension) and normally it contains checks that are specific of the project,
such as checking if some untranslatable keywords have been accidentally
translated.
Personal Checklists are not saved to the ApSIC Xbench project file.
Instead they are saved to an ApSIC Xbench checklist file (.xbckl
extension). ApSIC Xbench remembers the last set of personal checklists
used across projects. You can have any number of personal checklists
loaded at any given time. Personal checklists normally contain nonproject types of checks, such as a common misspelling that survives the
spell checker or a generic language rule that is interesting to check across
projects. They are called "personal" because the terms compiled in these
lists normally are filled with the errors that a given translator is more
prone to do.
Checklists are managed in the Checklist Manager tab. You can open the
Checklist Manager tab with the following methods:

Choose View->Checklist Manager.

Click the Checklist Manager icon on the tool bar.

The Checklist Manager allows you to work with your Project and
Personal Checklists.

48

Using ApSIC Xbench

In the Checklist Manager, you can create new Personal Checklists by

choosing Checklist->New when the cursor is placed on Personal
Checklists group in the navigation tree. You can also add an existing
checklist with Checklist->Add. All of the personal checklists listed
under Personal Checklists will be run when you click Run Personal
Checklists or Check Ongoing Translation on the QA tab.
The <Project> checklist is stored in the ApSIC Xbench project file (.xbp
extension), and cannot be removed from the Project Checklists group in
the navigation tree. You can add more checklists to the Project
Checklists group, which will be run when you click Run Project
Checklists or Check Ongoing Translation on the QA tab. The items in
these additional project checklists are not saved to the ApSIC Xbench
project file itself but they become linked to the project, so next time you
open the ApSIC Xbench project file, any checklists linked to it will also
appear here.
The entries in the checklist selected on the navigation tree are shown on
the body of the window. You can sort by any of the columns. If you wish
to disable an individual entry, you can right-click it and choose Disable.
Please note that the disabled state is saved to disk, so next time that you
open the same checklist the entry will remain disabled.
You can test the selected checklist item against the loaded project by
right-clicking a check list item and choosing Test. This action will run a
search with the checklist item settings in the Search tab, so that you can
see if the search results returned match the expected behavior.
When you click on a column heading, the list is sorted by that column
alphabetically. If you click on the column heading a second time, the list
is sorted from bottom to top. If you type a sequence of characters, the
current column will be searched for the typed sequence of characters.
Individual checklist entries can be added or edited. Fields available are
the same that can be specified in the Search Options pane of the Search
tab.

Chapter 12 Managing Checklists

49

In addition, you can also specify a category for the checklist entry in the
Category combo box. You can specify here any category name. If you
wish to use a previously defined category name, you can expand the
combo box by clicking the arrow button and choose it from the list. If you
have created category names, you will be able to run selectively subsets
of categories when you run a project or personal checklist from the QA
tab using the Run Project Checklists or Run Personal Checklists
buttons.
You can also define inheritance relationships between checklists. When a
checklist inherits from another one, all entries are inherited. You can
inherit from several checklists.
To inherit a checklist, do the following.
1. Click the Inheritance button and then right-click on the list of
inherited items that appears and choose Add.
2. Type a name for the inherited checklist and choose the file name that
contains it. The name specified here does not need to match the checklist
display name.

3. Add any required checklists following steps 1 and 2. The dialog will
show the inherited items with the
icon. You can override these
inherited items but not edit or delete them.

50

Using ApSIC Xbench

Once you set an inheritance relationship, any changes or additions you

make in the parent checklist will be inherited.
The Project Checklist is saved automatically when you save the project.
If you add entries to the Project Checklist and then shut down ApSIC
Xbench, you will be prompted to save the project.
Changes made to all checklists are saved automatically, except for the
<Project> checklist that will be saved with the .xbp Xbench project file.
If you wish to make changes to a checklist but not save them to it, you
can create a duplicate of a checklist right-clicking on it and choosing
Save as.

51

CHAPTER 13

Running QA from
Windows Explorer
ApSIC Xbench includes a shell extension that allows you to start a QA
session right from Windows Explorer. This can be very handy when you
want to run a simple QA pass of one or more files or of a directory.
To run QA from Windows Explorer:
1

In Windows Explorer, select the file or directory that you wish to

QA.

2 Right-click and choose Run QA with Xbench.

These actions will launch ApSIC Xbench with a newly created project
that considers on-going translation all files selected with Windows
Explorer.
The project is now ready to run a QA pass. If you wish to further
customize the ApSIC Xbench project just created, for example to add a
Key Terms file, you can do so in Project->Properties.
The project created with Windows Explorer is in your Windows TEMP
directory. If you wish to save the ApSIC Xbench project for further reuse,
you can choose Project->Save As and give it a new name in a new
location on your computer.

53

CHAPTER 14

Working with ApSIC

Xbench Instant SpellChecker
ApSIC Xbench features an innovative method for instantly spellchecking all ongoing files in your project. Instead of opening and closing
many files and slowly traversing them with a spell-checker, ignoring false
alarms, ApSIC Xbench processes all files as a block and then presents
you the consolidated results so that you can flag real misspellings very
quickly.
ApSIC Xbench provides 48 spell-checking dictionaries based on the
Hunspell engine as front-end and Microsoft Word dictionaries as backend
if Microsoft Word for that language is installed on the machine. Only
words that do not exist in both dictionaries are flagged as errors. The pass
with Microsoft Word dictionary can be disabled if Settings->Use
Microsoft Word dictionary is deselected in the ApSIC Xbench Spell
Checker window.
Spell-checking dictionaries themselves are not included in ApSIC
Xbench installer. Instead, you should download and install them with
Tools->Spell-Checking Dictionaries.

When you add a spell-checking dictionary, the added language appears in

the Spell-checking group.

54

Using ApSIC Xbench

To include spell-checking in the checks to be done, choose Spellchecking and then select the language in List of Checks. Then click
Check Ongoing Translation.

The window that appears shows you all spell-checking issues, grouped by
misspelled term. Browse through the list, and double-click on those
issues to move the misspelled word to the Real Misspelling list.
Once you have gone through the whole list, click OK to add the segments
with misspelling issues to the main QA report.
In the Spell-Checking window there are a few settings that can allow you
reduce the number of false alarms listed. To show them, click
Exclusions.

The options available in this pane are:

Words with numbers. When checked, it does not consider words

like Pkd05 or G5HJKH7 to be misspelled.

Words in mixed case with a match in source text. When checked,

it does not consider words like PlantWorks to be misspelled if the
term also appears on the source text.

Segments where target text matches source text. When checked, it

does not perform any kind of spell-checking on segments where
target text matches exactly with the source text. If you are already
using the QA check Basic->Target same as Source, this exclusion
will allow you to skip words in segments that were deliberately left in
the original language.

Chapter 14 Working with ApSIC Xbench Instant Spell-Checker

Words in UPPERCASE. When checked, this setting will not spell

check words that are in uppercase.

Words in UPPERCASE with a match in source text. When

checked, this setting will not spell check words that are in
UPPERCASE if the exact same words are also in uppercase in the
source text. This setting can be useful if your translation has many
acronyms that do not change across languages.
Abbreviations. When checked, this setting will skip abbreviations.

55

Using Addendums
If your translations contain client-specific terms, such as products,
brands, common keywords, and so on, it is likely that the dictionaries
provided do not include them. The ApSIC Xbench spell-checker allows
you to create one or more addendums for each given dictionary, so that
you can enable them depending on your project's needs.
To create a new addendum to a dictionary, please do the following:
1

Choose Addendums->Manage Addendums.

2 Click Add.
3 Enter a name for the addendum and click OK.
Once created, if you want to add one or more terms to the addendum,
select them in the list of issues, right-click and choose Add to
addendum: <addendum_name>.

You can add as many addendums as you wish to any dictionary. The
addendums are stored in the path specified by Settings->Set Addendum
Folder.

56

Using ApSIC Xbench

Additional Spell-Checker
Features
The ApSIC Xbench spell-checker has some additional interesting
features:

You can change the font size by right-clicking on the Unknown

Words list, choosing Settings and then Enlarge Font or Reduce
Font.

You can copy the unknown words to the clipboard by right-clicking

on the Unknown Words list, choosing Export and then Copy to
Clipboard.

You can open Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel with the unknown
words by right-clicking on the Unknown Words list, choosing
Export and then Open in MS Word or Open in MS Excel. Opening
in Microsoft Word can be useful if, for example, you want to spell
check the remaining unknown words with Microsoft Word.

By default, you flag real misspellings by double-clicking on them and

moving them to the Real Misspellings list box. This is done under
the assumption that most unknown words will be false alarms, which
is often the case in a final check or regression. However, if your case
is the other way around, you may want to change the working mode
so that instead of flagging real misspellings, you flag false alarms
instead. To change the working mode, choose Settings->Change
Working Mode.

Grammar and Spell-Check

in Microsoft Word
You can use Tools->Export Ongoing Translation to MS Word to
create a Microsoft Word file with source and taget text side-by side. By
default, the source text is flagged as "no proof", so you can use F7 to
proof the target column using Microsoft Word spell-checker or grammar
checker, if it is installed for your language. For example, you can use this
Word document to proof languages that are not listed among Xbench
spell-checking dictionaries, such as Thai, Finnish, Japanese, or Chinese.
When you find an issue that you wish to fix, you can select it in Word,
press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to find the segment in Xbench and then press
Ctrl+E to open the segment with the typo in the native editor, such as
Trados Studio or memoQ.

57

CHAPTER 15

Working with the ApSIC

Xbench Plugin for SDL
Trados Studio 2014
The ApSIC Xbench Plugin for SDL Trados Studio 2014 allows you to:

From SDL Trados Studio 2014, create an Xbench project

automatically gathering information from your current SDL Trados
Studio 2014 project, and then automatically launch ApSIC Xbench so
that you can run QA on the files of the project.

From ApSIC Xbench, use the Edit Source command from the
Search tab or the QA tab to open an sdlxliff file in SDL Trados
Studio right at the segment that is currently selected in Xbench and in
the SDL Trados Studio project context (connected translation
memory and termbase).

59

CHAPTER 16

Installing and Uninstalling

the Plugin
Before you install the ApSIC Xbench Plugin for SDL Trados Studio
2014, you need to make sure that you have the following software
installed on your machine:

SDL Trados Studio 2014 SP1. The Help->About SDL Trados Studio
box should show version 11.1.3931 or later.

ApSIC Xbench 3.0 build 1186 or later.

If you do not have these versions, please download and install them
before installing the plugin.
You can download ApSIC Xbench 3.0 and the ApSIC Xbench Plugin for
SDL Trados Studio 2014 from the Download page at
http://www.xbench.net. The plugin installable file can be used both with
the 32-bit and the 64-bit editions of ApSIC Xbench 3.0.

Installing the Plugin

To successfully install the plugin, you need administrative rights. The
plugin will be installed for all SDL Trados Studio users on the machine.
After installing the plugin, you need to run at least once SDL Trados
Studio 2014 as administrator to unpack the plugin. This is especially
important if you install the plugin on a Terminal Server, where there can
be users without administrative rights.
To install the plugin, click the Setup.Xbench.Plugin.Studio.3.0.n.exe that is
found in the file you downloaded from http://www.xbench.net, and
follow the installation wizard instructions.

Uninstalling the Plugin

To uninstall the ApSIC Xbench Plugin for SDL Trados Studio 2014,
simply go to the Windows Control Panel and uninstall it.
Please note that you need administrative rights to uninstall the plugin.

61

CHAPTER 17

Using the Plugin

When you launch SDL Trados Studio with the ApSIC Xbench Plugin
installed, the first thing you will probably notice is that the ribbon for the
Projects view has a new guest.

The ApSIC Xbench Plugin installs an icon in these three ribbons:

The Home ribbon of the Projects view

The Home ribbon of the Files view

The Review ribbon of Editor view

Any of these icons performs the same action: Run QA in Current

Project.
The Run QA in Current Project action does the following:
1

Creates an ApSIC Xbench project (.xbp extension) with the following

items:

All sdlxliff files for the current project loaded as ongoing

translation and with medium priority (red color). If your project
has more than one target language, the Choose Language dialog
will appear.

The first file-based translation memory with .sdltm extension

found for the language in the SDL Trados Studio project settings.
The ApSIC Xbench plugin first scans the language-specific
settings and if no translation memory is found, it proceeds with
the All Language Pairs settings. This translation memory is
loaded with low priority (blue color) in the Xbench project. You
can disable the load of the translation memory using ApSIC
Xbench by choosing Tools->Settings->Studio Plugin and then
deselecting the Add first local translation memory checkbox.
Note: If you choose All Languages in the Choose Language
dialog, this file will not be loaded in the Xbench project.

62

Using ApSIC Xbench

The first file-based termbase with .sdltb or .mdb extension found

for the language in the SDL Trados Studio project settings. This
MultiTerm glossary is loaded with high priority (green color) in
the Xbench project. You can disable the load of the termbase by
using ApSIC Xbench by choosing Tools->Settings->Studio
Plugin and then deselecting the Add first local termbase
checkbox. Note: If you choose All Languages in the Choose
Language dialog, this file will not be loaded in the Xbench
project.

Launches ApSIC Xbench to load the project and opens the QA tab in
ApSIC Xbench.

Once in Xbench, you can select your desired QA settings and choose
Check Ongoing Translation to run the QA. Please remember that only
ongoing translation files (in our case the sdlxliff files) are considered for
QA. Any other files are considered reference for ad hoc searches.
During QA, you may want to search your sdlxliff files and the glossary or
translation memory. You can do so in the Search tab of ApSIC Xbench.
The illustration below shows how the information is organized in the
generated Xbench project.

When you find an item in the Search or QA tabs that you want to
change, simply choose the item, right-click and then choose Edit Source.
You can also press Ctrl+E as a shortcut to run the Edit Source
command. When you do so, SDL Trados Studio will go to the foreground
and the Editor view will open the file right at the segment that you chose
in ApSIC Xbench.

Chapter 17 Using the Plugin

63

Once you have made your change in SDL Trados Studio, you can go
back to Xbench using the Alt+Tab hot key.
After you have done your QA changes in SDL Trados Studio, you can
quickly run a regression QA pass by pressing again the icon in the ribbon.
When you click the ribbon icon, the Xbench plugin will save any unsaved
files and will create a new Xbench project with the updated files.
If you want to run a QA for only some of the files in the SDL Trados
Studio project, simply go to the SDL Trados Studio Files view, select the
desired files, right-click to bring up the popup menu and then choose Run
QA in Selected Files with Xbench.

65

CHAPTER 18

How to Run QA on
memoQ Files
Instructions for memoQ 6
to memoQ 2014 until
build 51
ApSIC Xbench can load memoQ .mqxliff and .mqxlz files. To add a
memoQ document to an Xbench project, you need to do the following:
1

In memoQ, select the document, choose Export bilingual, choose

memoQ XLIFF as the output format and click Export.

2 In ApSIC Xbench, choose Project->Properties, choose Add and

then choose memoQ File.
However, the Editor Source command that allows you to go to the same
segment in memoQ has one important limitation: it only works if the
current mqxliff document is open in memoQ.
Therefore, in order to get the most of the integration with memoQ, you
need to put the content you want to QA in a single .mqxlz file. You can do
by creating a view in memoQ and exporting it. Therefore the recommended
procedure to QA memoQ files is as follows:
1

In memoQ, select in the Translations view all documents that you

want to QA from the current project, right-click and choose Create
View. Type something like ToXbench in Name of the view, choose
Simply glue documents together and click OK.

2 In memoQ, in the Views tab, select ToXbench, right-click and choose

Export bilingual. Choose memoQ XLIFF and click Export.
3 Open the ToXbench view in the editor so that it is shown in the
translation grid.
4 In ApSIC Xbench, choose Project->Properties, choose Add and
then choose memoQ File. Add the ToXbench.mqxlz file you created
in step 2.

66

Using ApSIC Xbench

With this setup, that is, with the ToXbench view open in memoQ and the
corresponding mqxlz file loaded in ApSIC Xbench, if you choose Edit
Source in ApSIC Xbench, it will position in memoQ to exact same
segment that you have currently selected in Xbench.
This means that if you find an issue while running a QA on the memoQ
file in Xbench, you can fix it directly in memoQ by simply choosing Edit
Source (Ctrl+E).

Instructions for memoQ

2014 build 51 or later
A new feature was added to memoQ 2014 build 51 that simplifies the
interoperability with ApSIC Xbench. Starting with this memoQ build, the
instructions to QA a memoQ project are as follows:
1

In memoQ, select the documents, choose Export bilingual, choose

memoQ XLIFF as the output format and click Export to a folder, for
example ToXbenchQA.

2 In Windows Explorer, select the ToXbenchQA directory, right-click

and choose Run QA in Xbench (this is a bit faster than using
Project->Properties in ApSIC Xbench).
3 Run the QA (or search) in ApSIC Xbench normally. When you see a
memoQ segment in the QA or search results that you wish to edit,
just select it, right-click and then choose Edit Source (Ctrl+E).

67

Additional Information
You will find here several topics that will provide you additional
information on ApSIC Xbench features.

69

CHAPTER 19

Working with ApSIC

Xbench Settings
On the Tools menu, click Settings to open the Settings dialog as shown
in the illustration below.

In this dialog, you can set ApSIC Xbench to always start in maximized
mode (recommended) and also change the default hotkeys that are
available system-wide. Note: Changing the default hotkeys should be
necessary only as a workaround to avoid clashing with any other
application using the same keys.
The fields in this dialog are:
Maximize on Startup. If you check this box, ApSIC Xbench will appear
maximized when it is launched. It is recommended to check this box, as
the maximized mode is the one that provides the maximum amount of
information at the same time.
The following settings belong to the Hotkeys group.
Disable. This check box lets you disable the system-wide key
combinations featured by ApSIC Xbench. It is recommended to leave
this box unchecked as one of the most valuable features of ApSIC
Xbench is the capability to search directly from any application.
Source Hotkey. This is the hotkey defined to trigger a search of the
clipboard contents in the source text. By default it is Ctrl+Alt+Insert.
Target Hotkey. This is the hotkey defined to trigger a reverse search
of the clipboard contents in the target text. By default it is
Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.

70

Using ApSIC Xbench

It is recommended not to change these hotkey settings unless they clash

with the values in another application.
Internet Search / Open in default browser. When checked, it opens
your Internet searches in your default browser, instead of opening it in
ApSIC Xbench embedded browser.
Transfer Method. ApSIC Xbench uses the clipboard as a transfer
mechanism between the different Windows applications and ApSIC
Xbench. Normally the most convenient and consistent transfer method is
to leave the default options Manual Copy and Manual Paste, but in
some scenarios (for example with applications that do not feature
standard copy and paste keystrokes), you may have to change these
settings to get the most out of ApSIC Xbench.
The options available as a transfer method for Input are:
Copy Message. When you press Ctrl+Alt+Insert, ApSIC Xbench
sends a COPY message to the application to copy the selected text
into the clipboard and then performs a search using the contents of
the clipboard. A limited number of applications support this
technique, but it has the advantage of avoiding the need for copying
manually the text into the clipboard (normally with Ctrl+Insert).
Manual Copy. In this mode, ApSIC Xbench expects that the user has
already copied the text to search in the clipboard. It sounds more
tedious, but it has the advantage that many applications support the
Ctrl+Insert key combination for copying text, which means that you
feel a more consistent behavior across applications. On the downside,
if the editing application has a slow response time, you may go too
fast with the combination Ctrl+Insert, Crl+Alt+Insert for the
application.
Keyboard Emulation (Ctrl+Insert). In this mode, ApSIC Xbench
sends the Ctrl+Insert keystroke to the editing application and then
performs the search. This way the user needs not to type Ctrl+Insert
manually prior to the search. Some applications may not support this
input method.
Keyboard Emulation (Ctrl+C). In this mode, ApSIC Xbench sends
the Ctrl+C keystroke to the editing application and then performs the
search. This way the user needs not to type Ctrl+C manually prior to
the search. Some applications may not support this input method.
The options available as a transfer method for Output are:
Paste Message. When your press Enter to select a translation, ApSIC
Xbench sends a PASTE message to the application to paste the
translation. A limited number of applications support this technique,
but it has the advantage of avoiding the need for pasting manually the
text into the clipboard (normally with Shift+Insert).

Chapter 19 Working with ApSIC Xbench Settings

71

Manual Paste. In this mode, ApSIC Xbench copies the target text of
the selected entry into the clipboard if you press Enter to select a
translation. The user is expected to press Shift+Insert (or the
corresponding key combination for pasting text in the application) to
complete the copy and paste operation. This is the default and
recommended mode for consistency reasons across applications.
Keyboard Emulation. In this mode, ApSIC Xbench sends the target
text by simulating that it is entering the text to the editing application
when you select an entry and press Enter to copy the selection into
the clipboard.
Keyboard Emulation (Ctrl+V). In this mode, ApSIC Xbench sends
the target text by simulating the Ctrl+V keystroke to the editing
application when you select an entry and press Enter to copy the
selection into the clipboard.
Click the Colors tab of this dialog to change the default colors of the
main window. The following window appears:

Settings in this tab are the following:

Background color when zoomed. In ApSIC Xbench there are two

modes: overview, with some entries from the priorities shown, and
the zoomed mode, where all the entries of a given priority are shown.
This is the background color that is used in zoomed mode, as an
indicator that you are not in overview mode (the default mode is
overview).

Key Terms priority. This is the color that will be used for entries
that belong to the Key Terms priority. A glossary is defined as a Key
Terms glossary in Project->Settings.

High Priority. This is the color that will be used for entries
belonging to the high priority.

Medium Priority. This is the color that will be used for entries
belonging to the medium priority.

Low Priority. This is the color that will be used for entries belonging
to the low priority.

72

Using ApSIC Xbench

Background color when nothing found. This is the background

color that appears in the search box when no entry is found.

Click the Internet tab to work with Internet definitions:

The Internet tab lets you define the pattern URLs that you use to perform
targeted searches in the Internet, for example in a dictionary. You can
have as many entries as you wish, but only the first 10 will have a hotkey
assigned, either Alt+n within ApSIC Xbench or with Ctrl+Alt+n (with
the numeric keypad in this latter case in Num Lock mode) from any
Windows application. n can be a number from 0 to 9, where the 0
corresponds to the 10th entry in the list.
To add a new entry, press the arrow down key in the last entry. To
remove an entry, remove all text from the row.
You can use the Up and Down buttons to move an entry up or down in
the list.
The up to 10 entries with a key assigned appear in the Internet menu.
You can choose Internet->Capture URL to capture URLs into this list.

Chapter 19 Working with ApSIC Xbench Settings

73

The Miscellaneous tab lets you specify various settings that may improve
your experience as you get familiar with ApSIC Xbench.

Settings in this tab are the following:

Check weekly for new versions. If this check box is enabled, ApSIC
Xbench will check once a week if there are updates available.

Enable alternative project. If this check box is checked, ApSIC

Xbench keeps in memory the project opened prior to the current one.
To switch back and forth among both projects, choose Project>Switch to Alternative Project. To discard the alternative project
and recall the memory used by it, choose Projects->Forget
Alternative Project.

Load last project when ApSIC Xbench starts. If this check box is
checked, the next time ApSIC Xbench is started, it will load the
project that was opened at the time of the last shut down.

Show warning when copying fuzzy match. If this check box is

checked, ApSIC Xbench will issue a warning message if you press
Enter to copy the entry currently selected in the search results and
such entry does not match exactly the searched term.

Show warning when shutting down. If this check box is checked,

ApSIC Xbench will issue a warning message when you shut it down.

Show QA options changed from default. If this check box is

checked, QA results will include at the top a list of all QA settings
that do not have the default value defined by ApSIC.

Match whole words in QA check for key terms. If this check box is
checked, the target term of an entry of a glossary defined as key terms
should match as a whole word (please note that the source term is
always matched as a whole word).

Show metadata in exported QA reults. When enabled, ApSIC

Xbench will show the segment metadata in the Comments column of
the exported QA report.

Default project directory. This field allows you to specify the

default folder for your ApSIC Xbench projects.

74

Using ApSIC Xbench

Manage Cloud Settings. This button allows you to set which

Xbench settings, such as URLs or colors, should be replicated to the
cloud so that they are also available in other computers from which
you sign in to your Xbench account.

The Text Editor tab lets you configure command-line arguments for a
text editor when using the Edit Source feature for search or QA results
for a glossary in .txt format. This includes Tab-delimited Files, Trados
Exported Memories, Wordfast Memories, and Wordfast Glossaries.
When properly configured, this allows you to open the file directly at the
line from which the segment selected with Edit Source comes from.

If you choose to define a Text Editor, you need to assign values to the
following fields:

Path to Executable. This is the path to the .exe file for the text
Editor. You can use the button with the ellipsis (...) to navigate to the
.exe file.

Command-line Parameters. This field allows you to construct the

command-line that should be passed to the editor. You can use
several variables that will be replaced with values by ApSIC Xbench:

$Filename: The file name, including its path of the file.

$Line: The line number of the segment in the text file. This line
refers to where the target text is located.

$Column: The column in the line where the target text is located.

$Segment: The segment number in the text file.

For example, to configure TextPad 4 for line positioning, you must

select there the Text Pad executable and specify the following in
Command-Line Parameters: $filename($line,$column). Similarly, to
configure Notepad++, you must select its executable and specify the
following in Command-Line Parameters: $filename -n$line. Other
text editors will require different values for this field. Please check
your text editor's documentation for the suitable values.

Chapter 19 Working with ApSIC Xbench Settings

75

The TMX Editor tab lets you configure command-line arguments for a
TMX editor when using the Edit Source feature for search or QA results
for a glossary in .tmx format. When properly configured, this allows you
to open the file directly at the line from which the segment selected with
Edit Source comes from.

If you choose to define a TMX Editor, you need to assign values to the
following fields:

Path to Executable. This is the path to the .exe file for the text
Editor. You can use the button with the ellipsis (...) to navigate to the
.exe file.

Command-line Parameters. These fields allows you to construct the

command-line that should be passed to the editor. You can use
several variables that will be replaced with values by ApSIC Xbench:

$Filename: The file name, including its path of the file.

$Line: The line number of the segment in the text file. This line
refers to where the target text is located.

$Column: The column in the line where the target text is located.

$Segment: The segment number in the text file.

For example, to configure OKAPI Olifant for segment positioning,

you must select there the Olifant executable and specify the following
in Command-Line Parameters: $Filename row=$Segment col=trg
edit=yes. Other TMX editors might have different values for this
field. Please check your TMX editor's documentation for the suitable
values.

76

Using ApSIC Xbench

The Studio Plugin tab lets you configure settings that modify the
behavior of the ApSIC Xbench Plugin for SDL Trados Studio.

The settings available on this tab are:

Add first local termbase. When checked, the plugin will add the
first local termbase defined for the SDL Trados Studio project to the
Xbench QA project created from the plugin. The termbase will be
assigned high priority in the Xbench project.

Add first local translation memory. When checked, the plugin will
add the first local termbase defined for the SDL Trados Studio project
to the Xbench QA project created from the plugin. The translation
memory will be assigned low priority in the Xbench project.

Use this Xbench project template. When checked, it will instruct

the plugin to add Studio files to the Xbench .xbp project indicated in
the field below. Use the ellipsis button (...) to open a Windows
Explorer to select the .xbp file.

The Transifex tab lets you configure the Transifex user that will be used
to retrieve project information from Transifex and your default target
language.

Chapter 19 Working with ApSIC Xbench Settings

77

The items available on this tab are:

User name. The Transifex user name.

Password. The password of the Transifex user.

Test Login. Click this button to check if the Transifex credentials are
correctly typed.

Default target language. Type here your default target language in

Transifex projects. If you press the ellipsis (...) button, a list of valid
target languages will be shown.

79

CHAPTER 20

ApSIC Xbench Quick Tips

This chapter focuses on the most important features of ApSIC Xbench
and aims to be a quick view of what ApSIC Xbench can do.
We strongly recommend reading this chapter to get the most out of
ApSIC Xbench with the minimum learning effort.

ApSIC Xbench is not an indexer. It reads the contents of the files

each time you load a project and tries to respond to terminology
queries very fast. Therefore, loading all of the Microsoft glossaries
for a major language can take several minutes and will require a
significant amount of memory. If you plan to load huge amounts of
reference in the range of tens of millions of words, it is strongly
recommended to have at least 1 GB of memory. If you don't have a
very powerful machine, we do not recommend loading all Microsoft
glossaries but a more focused selection with the subject areas that
pertain to your current translation project.

Once loaded, ApSIC Xbench stays active in the background until it is

explicitly shut down. When ApSIC Xbench is active, a pink gem
appears in the system tray. To unload ApSIC Xbench from memory,
you must shut it down. For example, you can shut it down by rightclicking on the icon in the system tray and then choosing Shut Down
Xbench.

While ApSIC Xbench is active, it can be called from any Windows

application with the Ctrl+Alt+Insert key sequence. If there is text
marked in the application, ApSIC Xbench searches automatically the
text marked. The actual keystrokes are configurable.

In addition to the Microsoft software glossaries, ApSIC Xbench

supports many input formats from a number of CAT applications,
including Trados, memoQ, Wordfast, Memsource, Matecat, SDLX,
Transit, and other industry-standard formats such as TMX, TBX, or
XLIFF. You can combine the different formats into one Xbench
Project by assigning priorities to each source to define the terminology
decision process of your specific translation project. You can save
each ApSIC Xbench project for later reuse.

You can copy the target text of the currently selected item into the
clipboard by pressing Enter in the main window. The Enter key closes
the window copying the text so that it is ready for pasting in the
application where you edit your translation using Shift+Insert. This is
very useful when translating the documentation of a software
application whose software strings are loaded into an ApSIC Xbench
project.

QA checks can be run using the QA tab. QA checks are run only
against files defined as ongoing translation. A very powerful QA
feature are checklists, which allow you to run in batch a number of
predefined checks using the powerful ApSIC Xbench search
capabilities.

80

Using ApSIC Xbench

After getting some familiarity with the basic capability of the product, we
do encourage you to read the documentation with more detail to learn
about many useful features that exist in the product.

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CHAPTER 21

Where to Obtain the

Microsoft and Apple
Software Glossaries
Obtaining Microsoft
Glossaries
Although Microsoft software glossaries in .csv format were previously
publicly available from Microsoft FTP site, at the time of this publication,
they are only available though a MSDN subscription available for a fee.
Each language has a separate .zip file that contains all the individual
glossaries for the Microsoft products localized into that language. The
size of each language file can range from 1 to more than 100 megabytes,
which depends on the number of products that are localized by Microsoft
into a particular language.

Obtaining Apple
Glossaries
At the time of this publication, the Apple Mac OS X software glossaries
are available from the following source if you have an Apple ID:

http://developer.apple.com/internationalization/downloads/

The glossaries for each language are in Macintosh Disk Image format
(extension .dmg). In order to load the Mac OS glossaries into ApSIC
Xbench, the .ad or *.lg files contained in these disk images must be
extracted. To do so, you can use the UltraISO software
(http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/index.html).

83

Internet
ApSIC Xbench allows you to define Internet links that can be used to
search the term in the Internet. ApSIC Xbench features a simple
embedded browser, but by pressing Ctrl+B, you can open your system
default Internet browser at the page you are currently browsing in ApSIC
Xbench.

85

CHAPTER 22

Searching the Internet

ApSIC Xbench features an Internet tab that provides an integration path
with some information and terminology sources available in the Internet.
The following illustration shows a search in Google done within ApSIC
Xbench.

ApSIC Xbench has a few predefined shortcuts, but the user can change or
define new links as required. Defined shortcuts are accessible using one
of the following methods:
Move to the Internet tab, select the desired source in the Website field,
type the search string in the Text to search field and press Enter.
When ApSIC Xbench is the current application, press Alt+n, where n can
be any number from 0 to 9. The 0 corresponds to the 10th entry in the list.
The current term in the Source field of the Project tab or in the Text to
search field of the Internet tab will be used for the search. The number
corresponds to the sequence number of the shortcut in Tools->Settings>Internet.
From any Windows application, highlight the term searched, and press
the key combination Ctrl+Insert followed by Ctrl+Alt+n, where the number
n must be typed in the numeric keypad with Num Lock set.

86

Using ApSIC Xbench

Defining Internet
Shortcuts
Internet shortcuts are defined in Internet->Define Links. The shortcuts
are very easy to define. Just follow these steps:
1

Open the list of shortcuts in Internet->Define Links. To create a

new entry, you just have to move down the keyboard cursor beyond
the last entry with the arrow keys.

2 Perform a search in the website source that you want to check. For
example, do a search in Google of a term, for example xbench.
3 Copy the URL into the clipboard, for example, your URL may look
like this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=xbench
4 Paste the URL into one entry of the window and replace the term you
searched with a %s as shown below. In future queries that use this
query string, ApSIC Xbench will replace the %s sequence with the
search string.
5 Assign a name to your shortcut by moving the cursor to the Name
column and typing the name there. This name will appear in the
Website field of the Internet tab and also in the Internet pull-down
menu.
6 If you wish to move the current entry down in the list (this has the
effect of changing the hotkey number) you can click on the Up and
Down buttons located on the bottom of the window.

Chapter 22 Searching the Internet

87

If you run into an interesting link when you browse a page using the
Internet tab of ApSIC Xbench, you can quickly add it to the list of pages
by using the Internet->Capture URL menu item.
If you have the tool bar turned on, a number of tool bar buttons appear
that help you to browse Internet pages. One of these buttons allows you
to open Internet Explorer with the same page you are looking at. This can
also be done with Internet ->Open Browser or with the Ctrl+B hotkey.

89

Bugs and Suggestions

91

CHAPTER 23

Reporting Bugs and

Suggestions
Your feedback on any errors in the program is most welcome. We are
also open to suggestions as to how we can improve areas that you find
confusing.
Please send your bug report or suggestion to
http://www.xbench.net/index.php/support/submit-bug.
Any information you send to us will be kept confidential and it will be
used solely to resolve the issue.