Online Workspace
The Online Workspace is designed to help translators work more efficiently by breaking down text into smaller, manageable segments and providing various tools to improve accuracy and consistency.
It offers various features to speed up the reviewing and editing of the text segments.
Overview
The Online Workspace contains the following areas:
Assistant
The Assistant is - as its name suggests - your virtual assistant, fueled by artificial intelligence. Located in the Sources group of the Navigation Bar, the Assistant button opens a panel on the left side of the screen. You can interact with it to get insights about the text that you select in the segments or ask it any question in general, e.g., if you need to research a concept that appears in the source text.
The Assistant panel consists of
Navigation bar
In the navigation bar, you will find various buttons with different functions arranged in groups.
Help group
The Help Group only features the Help button itself, leading you to termbase.io 's documentation on Slite.
History group – undo | redo
In the History group, you have the following options:
- Undo: Allows you to reverse your most recent action.
- Redo: Allows you to restore an action that was previously undone.
You can always jump one step back or forth according to the sequence of your actions.
Undo/redo actions are specific to segments. To undo or redo an action, select the segment where you want the action to apply, before you click the button. See the video below:
Clipboard group – Copy | Paste | Cut
This group holds the standard clipboard actions for text manipulation.
Select the text you want to cut or copy.
In the Clipboard group, choose Cut or Copy (or press Ctrl+C) based on your needs.
Click the exact location where you want to paste the text in order to place the cursor there.
Select Paste or press Ctrl+V to insert the copied or cut text.
When you copy text, it remains in its original location after being pasted. When you cut text, it is removed from its original location once pasted.
View group – Search & Replace | Filter | Tag display | Whitespaces
The View group helps you efficiently find and replace words and passages , filter segments , and manipulate the visibility of tags and whitespaces .
Search/Replace inside segments
Search for words, phrases, or expressions in the source or target segments and substitute them with the desired version.
In the View group, select Search/Filter to open the Search & Replace boxes or press Ctrl+F.
The Search/Replace function consists of the following:
A Search box, in which you can enter the text you want to search for.
A Replace box, in which you can enter the text with which you wish to replace the searched text.
A Delete button, with which you can clear the Search box.
Two arrow buttons, with which you can switch back and forth between the text passages that match the content of the search box.
A Replace button, with which you can replace the text found text one occurrence at a time.
A Replace all button that lets you change all found items at once.
A Configuration button for search options.
An Add filter button that lets you specify what kind of segments should be searched.
Each time you change a search criteria, you must press Enter to confirm it.
The search is case sensitive by default. If you want the search to be case-insensitive, you need to uncheck that option behind the configuration wheel.
Search options
If you click on the configuration wheel, a small drop-down appears, letting you choose from the following search options:
- Case insensitive: Searches for the search string while ignoring case.
- Use regex (regular expressions): Lets you use regular expressions in the search and replace fields ( PHP 8+ flavoured regex ).
- Source only: Limits the search to the source segments.
- Target only: Limits the search to the target segments.
Replacing text
If you want to replace the text you entered in the search box with a different text:
Select the Replace box.
Please enter the text that will replace the existing text, and then choose one of the following options:
To replace the text in one occurrence at a time, select the occurrence you want to modify, then click Replace.
To replace the text in all occurrences at once, click Replace All.
Before using the Replace all option, ensure the replacement text is grammatically correct in every case.
Filter options
Filtering segments helps with tasks like making sure there are no untranslated segments in a file, finding repeated terms, or locating specific words in different segments.
In the View group click on Search/Filter.
Click on Add Filter located on the right side of the Search & Replace section. The following options will be displayed:
- Not locked: Displays only unlocked segments that are available for editing.
- Not confirmed: Shows only unconfirmed segments.
- Has terminology: Contains words that match with the terms of the termbase.
- Repetitions: First occurrences: Displays only the first occurrences of repeated segments.
- Repetitions: Duplicates: Shows only the repeated segments, excluding the first occurrence of repeated segments.
- Fuzzy match (%): Filters segments based on a specified similarity percentage, comparing them to previously stored translations in the translation memory (TM). Choose a percentage range of fuzzy matching by entering numbers between 0 and 100 into the two boxes.
- MTQE score (%): Filters segments based on the machine translation quality estimation (MTQE) score, displaying results that meet the specified score range. Choose a percentage range of machine translation quality by entering numbers between 0 and 100 into the two boxes.
You can of course combine filters as needed.
Please let us know if a filter you need is missing: hello@termbase.io
Tag display
By default, tags only show their unique tag IDs, which are automatically assigned to each tag pair and placeholder tag in the asset. To view the full content of a tag, simply hover your cursor over it.
With the Tag display option, you can choose between:
Numbered tags (Default)
Shows numbers inside tags to see which source tag corresponds to which target tag. The numbering starts at 1 for the very first tag in the current document. Hovering with the mouse over the tag reveals additional information.
Small tags
This is a compact tag display to enhance the readability of the text.
Titled tags
In addition to the tag numbers, this option displays additional information at tag level.
ID tags
This option shows numbers in the tags as well, but this time they correspond with the ids of the inline-tags in the underlying xliff file.
Whitespaces
Seeing white spaces is useful, for example, when you want to remove extra non-printing characters from your text or check where non-breaking spaces are used.
In the View group, select Whitespaces to make spaces visible.
With the help of the Use regex option of the Search function , you can easily search for segments that e.g. contain double-spaces.
Tags & symbols group – copy or remove tags | add symbols
The Tags & symbols group has options to copy tags from the source to the target segments , remove all tags with one click , and add symbols to your translation.
Copy tag
The source and target segments need to have the same tags to prevent issues when exporting translated files. You can copy tags from the source to the target segment if they are missing or if you removed them earlier.
In your chosen target segment, click where you want to add a tag pair.
In the Tags & Symbols group select Copy tag.
Select the tag pair you want to add from the list displayed.
Place the relevant content inside the newly copied tag pair.
To add paired tags around words, first select the words and then insert the tags all at once in the right spot.
Remove All Tags
If the target segment no longer requires the formatting tags from the corresponding source segment, e.g. if the source used superscript tags that the target segment does nod need, you can remove the formatting from the entire target segment.
Select the segment whose formatting you want to clear.
In the Tags & Symbols group select Remove all Tags.
Remove Individual Tags
To clear the formatting of a specific part of a target segment, place the cursor just before or after the beginning of the tag, then press Delete/ Backspace. Repeat this step for the area before or after the end of the tag.
Moving Tags around (drag/drop)
You can move tags around by dragging and dropping.
Symbols
In termbase.io we include different types of special space characters. They ensure that the translation maintains proper formatting, layout, and consistency with the source content. They are particularly useful when working with languages that require specific spacing or formatting rules.
Place the cursor on the exact place of the target segment where you want to add a special symbol.
In the Tags & Symbols group select Symbols.
Choose one of the following displayed options:
- Non-breaking spaces: These prevent a line break between two words or elements, ensuring they stay together, such as in dates, numbers, or certain names.
- Four-per-em spaces: These spaces are smaller than the six-per-em spaces and are used in more specialized formatting situations, particularly in languages or contexts that require precise spacing.
- Six-per-em spaces: These spaces are slightly larger than a regular space and are typically used for specific typographical purposes, such as in certain punctuation rules.
Format group – bold | italic | underline | superscript | subscript
The Format group has options to change the style of words or characters. To apply a style, highlight the text you want to change and then click the button representing the formatting you need.
Segments group – join & split | copy source | clean | confirm all | go to
The segments group has options to join and split segments, copy a segment's source to its target , delete a target segment's content , confirm all segments and jump to a specific segment .
Join with previous segment
If the segmentation in a file results in source segments that were split inappropriately (possibly due to formatting issues in the source text) and need to be combined, you can use the Join with previous function to adjust the segmentation. This feature allows you to merge the current segment with the previous one, creating a single, continuous segment for better context or to restore a phrase that was unnecessarily divided.
Select the segment you want to join with the previous one.
In the Segments group, click Join with previous.
The current segment will be combined with the previous one (source and target), forming a single continuous segment.
Joining segments helps create a clean translation memory with complete pairs of source and target language sentences instead of just fragments.
Split segment
The Split button allows you to divide a single source segment into multiple smaller segments. This feature is particularly useful when the source segment contains multiple ideas, sentences, or clauses that need to be translated separately.
Select the source segment you want to split.
Position the cursor at the point where you want to divide the segment. Now the split button becomes enabled.
In the Segments group select Split.
The segment will be split into two smaller units, which can be translated independently.
When splitting a segment, the target text duplicates in the new segment.
Copy source to target
If the translation in both the source and target segments is identical, you can simply copy the entire content from the source to the target. Similarly, if a source segment contains extended numbers or characters that are prone to typing errors, copying the entire segment into the target lets you translate around those elements more safely
Select the target segment to which you want to copy the content of the corresponding source segment.
In the Segments group, click Copy source.
If the target segment already has content, the source content will replace it. This includes confirmed segments; the source will overwrite any existing text. So, be sure to check if you really want to replace the target text with the source.
Clear target segment
If needed, you can clear the entire content of a target segment and begin translating from scratch.
Select the target segment you want to clear.
In the Segments group, click Clear.
You can also clear the segment text by selecting all the text (left-clicking on it three times) and pressing Delete or Entf.
Confirm all segments
Click Confirm all in the workspace toolbar to confirm all segments. After clicking this button, a window will pop up in which you need to confirm by clicking the Confirm all segments button.
As a subvendor, you may not see this button as its visibility is depending on the job’s configuration.
Go to segment
With the Go to option, you can directly jump to any given segment in your currently opened file by using its segment number.
Click the Go to button.
Enter the number of the segment you want to visit.
Click Submit.
The view changes to the selected segment, and the cursor goes to the start of that part.
Sources group – Google | Linguee | Assistant | OpenAI | AI Worker
The options of the Sources group allow you to quickly open an external information platform such as Google or Linguee , call up termbase’s AI Assistant , OpenAI text improvement options and the AI Worker window in order to edit its configuration.
If you click the Google button, a browser window will open displaying Google's search engine.
Linguee
If you click the Linguee button, a new window will open with displaying Linguee’s search page .
Assistant
If you click the Assistant button, termbase’s built-in AI Assistant will appear on the left side of the window.
OpenAI
If you click the OpenAI button, a drop-down will appear showing the following text improvement options powered by OpenAI:
- Rewrite
- Shorten
- Plaintext
- More entertaining
- More formal
- Fix spelling
To change the whole segment, place the cursor in that segment; if not, highlight the text you want to change.
Click the OpenAI button.
Select the correct improvement option from the drop-down.
AI Worker
If you click the AI Worker button, the Edit AI Worker window appears. You can select and run different AI Workers with specified Guidelines via this window by choosing them from the two drop-downs.
If you click on the name of the chosen AI Worker, a window will open where you can adjust the AI worker’ behaviour.
When a shared resource (AI worker) is modified by someone with the necessary permissions, the change applies to everyone who has access to that resource. Changing it from within a job will not create a modified copy of the AI worker, but change the original one.
If selected, AI Worker will also apply changes to locked segments.
A yellow frame around a segment indicates that the AI Worker instruction has been queued and we are waiting for it to be processed for this specific segment.
File group – Export | Finish file
Export
You can either export the source file or the target file with the current status of your editing work:
Download Source
With this option, termbase will prepare a download of the source file that was used as input for the current job.
Export Target
With this option, termbase will prepare a download of the translated target file containing the current content as seen in the Online Workspace.
Finishing a file
Once a file is marked as finished, it is considered ready for delivery or review, indicating that all required tasks have been completed. This typically includes:
- translating all segments;
- confirming all segments as complete;
- ensuring no untranslated or pending segments remain;
- Finalizing any edits or revisions.
In the File group of the navigation bar, choose Finish file to mark the file as finished. A confirmation window will appear. It will either tell you:
- about errors in the file, guiding you to the Quality Report to fix them; or
- information on how many segments have been edited or confirmed.
It’s better to fix errors before finishing a file, as some errors can cause issues when converting the bilingual translation file back to its original format.
Information bar
The Information bar is located above the Segment table and shows details about the file you are editing in the Online workspace.
The details are as follows, from left to right:
- Job name and file name;
- number of unsaved segments;
- number of edited segments and the percentage;
- number of confirmed segments and the percentage;
- number of selected segments.
Segment table
The Segment table is where the actual work takes place.
Side-By-Side View
The Online workspace is designed to help you stay focused on your task by displaying segments clearly. It presents the source and target segments side by side in two separate columns, making it easy to compare and translate efficiently.
Click any segment—source, target, or information area—to select it. The cursor will automatically focus on the target field for editing. If a segment is already selected, you can click specific areas to perform additional actions.
Information Presented per Segment
Each segment pair line displays the following information, with items shown only when the corresponding data is available
- Segment ID
- Match Rate
- MTQE Rate
- Repetition Indicator
- Tags
- Key (label)
- Terminology / Terminology Icons
- Autopropagation Indicator
- Character Limit
- Line Limit
- Quality Message Indicators
- Lock Button/Status
- Confirmation Button/Status
- Save Status
- Rework Log / Track Changes
Segment ID
Each segment in the segment table is assigned a unique segment ID (1, 2, 3, etc.), which is displayed to the left of the source segment to help identify and reference it easily.
Match Rate
The match rate indicates how similar the current segment is to a previously translated segment in the translation memory (TM), helping translators decide whether to reuse, adapt, or fully translate the segment.
On the left of each segment, below the segment’s ID, a percentage shows the match rate of the TM match found.
MTQE Rate
The MTQE rate indicates the quality of the machine translation, helping translators decide whether to use it, adapt it, or fully revise it.
On the left of each segment, below the segment’s ID, a value shows the MTQE rate.
This percentage can be provided either by AI workers or the translation engine.
Repetition Indicator
Repetitions are source segments that appear more than once within the same document or project. When a segment is identical to another, the tool marks it as a repetition and can reuse the translation from the first occurrence. A repetition icon indicates this, and it always shows a number (1, 2, 3, etc.) to indicate how many times the segment is repeated.
Tags
Tags represent formatting or structural elements in the source text, such as bold, italics, hyperlinks, line breaks, or variables. They are not translated but must be preserved in the target segment to maintain the original formatting and structure.
Key (Label)
Terminology / Terminology Icons
An orange paper and pen symbol indicates that the segment contains terminology found in one of the connected termbases.
Autopropagation Indicator
Auto-propagation automatically copies the current state of a confirmed translation to all translation units with identical source segments within the same file. An orange auto-propagation icon on the right of the target segment indicates that the segment has been auto-propagated.
When a segment that can be auto-propagated is translated and confirmed, a window appears with the options: Autopropagate, Cancel, and Open settings.
Press Autopropagate to confirm auto-propagation to other segments, Cancel to cancel it, or Open settings to configure auto-propagation options.
The following configuration settings are available:
- Include TransUnits with confirmed target segments: when this option is activated, auto-propagation will affect segments that have already been confirmed.
- Incude TransUnits with edited target segments: when this option is activated, autopropagation will affect segments that have been edited but not yet confirmed.
- Include previous TransUnits (look behind): when this option is activated, autopropagation will also consider segments from previous translation units or segments.
- Include next TransUnits (look ahead): when this option is activated, auto-propagation will also consider segments from subsequent translation units.
- Auto-Confirm (Do not ask for confirmation)
- Highlight terminology:
Character Limit
When an XLIFF or Excel file has a character limit, the maximum number of characters allowed for the target will appear on the right side of the segment, along with the current number of characters in the target segment.
If the character limit is not exceeded, the character count icon and numbers will be shown in black.
If the character limit is exceeded, the character count icon and numbers will be shown in red, and a quality message indicator will be displayed.
Line Limit
Quality Message Indicators
Numbers next to a red dot with a white cross or next to an orange triangle with an exclamation mark – depending on the severity of the issue – indicate the number of quality messages in the segment.
Lock Button / Status
You can lock segments in order to prevent them from being pre-translated or edited. An open, greyed-out lock on the right of the segment indicates that the segment can be edited.
A closed lock indicates that the segment cannot be edited and/or pre-translated.
Confirmation Button / Status
Confirming a segment means marking it as complete and reviewed.
Click the pen icon on the right side of the segment you want to confirm.
After confirming, the icon will change to a checkmark.
Rework Log / Track Changes
The Revision history feature allows you to track changes made to a segment over time.
If you click on the revision indicator button on the right side of a segment, the Rework log window will open, in which you can:
- view previous versions of the translation;
- compare edits to understand modifications;
- See who made changes to a segment and when (if working collaboratively).
As a subvendor, not all changes may be visible to you. This depends on the configuration the creator of a job has set up.
Save Status
The disc icon in the segment shows you whether changes to the segments have been saved yet. During editing, the disc turns orange.
Once the changes have been saved, the disc will turn back black again.
If a problem occurs during saving, the disc will remain red, and a pop-up message will appear to inform the user that the segment was not saved correctly.
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Info Panel
The Info Panel is a dynamic component of the Online workspace that provides quick access to essential information and resources to support your translation workflow.
It works through a side menu of buttons, each representing a specific type of information.
When a button is selected, the corresponding information is displayed in subwindows within the panel. These subwindows are flexible and can be minimized to keep the workspace clear or maximized to focus on specific details. Clicking the icon of an already open subwindow a second time will close it.
The Info Panel provides information and functions that help you easily keep an overview of:
- job details
- guidelines
- reference files
- fuzzy matches
- machine translation providers
- terminology
- quality assurance
- quality report
- live preview of the document in progress
- file analysis
Job Information
Job
The Job subwindow displays general information about the current translation project as language combination and description.
You can make the subwindows bigger to see all the information by dragging the three horizontal dots at the bottom center.
Guideline
A Guideline is a document that provides clear instructions on how a translation should be carried out to meet the client’s expectations. The purpose of the guideline is to ensure consistency across translations, reflect the client’s brand voice, and help translators avoid common mistakes.
It serves as a key reference, especially in projects involving multiple linguists or ongoing work for the same client and typically covers style, tone, terminology, formatting rules, and language-specific preferences.
Click on the button with the four arrows pointing away from each other in order to display the complete guidelines.
Additional Files
Additional files provide supplementary materials alongside the main source content to support the translator’s understanding.
These files can include images, screenshots, diagrams, previous translation versions of the same document, or reference documents that give context to the text, clarify ambiguous content, or explain how the final output will be used.
Accessing these materials helps to ensure accurate and contextually appropriate translations, especially when working with specialized or visual content.
You can upload more files while you work that may help with the next steps in the process or download files that were provided in earlier steps of the workflow:
On the side menu bar click Additional files icon to open the subwindow and display files related to the job.
Click the Add or remove files button to upload new job-related files or delete those that are no longer needed.
Click on the file that you want to open to download it.
Data Lookup
Terminology Recognition
The Terminology subwindow presents relevant terminology from the project’s termbases to ensure consistent language throughout the translation.
When pretranslation is performed with an associated termbase, an icon appears in each segment that contains terms from the termbase.
If pretranslation is done without a termbase and one is added later, the icon will not appear in the segments. However, any relevant terms will still be recognized and displayed in the Terminology subwindow when the corresponding segment is selected.
Add terms to a termbase from the Online Workspace
Terms can be easily added to or updated in a termbase directly from the online workspace. To add a new term:
Highlight the term in both the source and target segments using the cursor.
Click the Add term button located in the Terminology subwindow.
In the pop-up window, select the termbase where the term should be stored.
Edit the source or target term if necessary.
Click Save to finish.
Fuzzy Matches
The Fuzzy Matches subwindow displays previously translated segments from the Translation Memories that are identical or similar to the current segment. Various options can be selected to determine which fuzzy matches are displayed:
- Translation memory fuzzies
- Confirmed job fuzzies
- Unconfirmed job fuzzies
- Confirmed cross job fuzzies (depending on the job configuration)
- Unconfirmed cross job fuzzies (depending on the job configuration)
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To insert a fuzzy match into the target segment, click the orange copy icon next to the Translation Memory suggestion.
Fuzzy matches from the same job are only available for segments confirmed by the person currently working on the job. These suggestions are not visible to other users who later rework the file.
To insert a job fuzzy match from the same file, click the blue copy icon next to it to insert the target segment into the target segment.
Use the Job fuzzies toggle switch to
- either show fuzzy matches with the translation memory;
- or also show fuzzy matches within this jobs from segments that you have already confirmed.
Use the Diff toggle switch to show or hide the differences between the source segment and the translation memory matches.
Concordance search
Allows users to search for specific source words or phrases in the translation memory or in the job they are working on to see how it was translated before. You can select what kind of concordance matches you want to see:
- from the translation memory
- confirmed segments of current job
- unconfirmed segments of current job
Hover over the field on the left of each concordance result in order to display more details about the hit:
Blue job icons show results from the same jobs, while orange TM icons indicate results from the translation memory. To insert a concordance match click the copy icon next to it.
Concordance results from the same job are only available for segments confirmed by the person currently working on the job. These suggestions are not visible to other users who later rework the file.
Machine Translation
The Machine Translation subwindow provides automatic translation suggestions for the current segment.
These suggestions come from the MT engine selected during the project’s pretranslation setup.
This feature is especially helpful when a segment is empty because the pretranslation did not meet the minimum MTQE (Machine Translation Quality Estimation) score. In such cases, the MT suggestions are still displayed here, allowing users to review and copy them into the segment if appropriate by clicking “Copy over”.
Quality Assurance
Comments
The Comments subwindow displays messages and notes shared by project managers, team members, or AI workers.
It serves as a collaborative space to exchange feedback, ask questions, and clarify instructions related to specific segments.
The comments displayed in the Comments subwindow refer to the currently selected segment.
To create a new comment for a specific segment:
Open the Comments subwindow by clicking the comments icon.
Select the segment you want to comment on.
Click the Add comment button within the subwindow.
To edit or delete a comment, use the corresponding icons displayed directly on the comment.
Quality Messages
The Quality messages subwindow refers to a specific segment and lists any potential issues detected, such as formatting errors, missing translations, or terminology mismatches.
These messages are generated based on the Quality rules configured for the project.
If a message is not relevant, it can be removed by clicking the Ignore button on the right side of the message. For words that are spelled correctly but marked as incorrect, you can click the Add to Dictionary button, located to the right of the Ignore button, to save them and prevent further false-positive messages:
Quality report
The Quality report subwindow provides an overview of all errors and warnings for the current file, based on the quality rules defined for the job. The errors and warnings are sorted into categories. Check a category’s box to show the quality messages for that category:
Ignoring quality messages
Next to each error or warning category, there is a button to ignore all quality messages in that category:
If you want to ignore just one quality message, you can do so below after checking the quality category box and showing the related quality messages:
To create or renew the report for a file, click the Quality check button.
To include spellchecking warnings in the report, the Spellcheck button located inside the Quality report subwindow must be clicked, as they are not included by default. To find out which languages the spellchecker supports, visit Spellchecker
The report can be filtered using the toggle switches next to each quality category to show segments with a specific warning, allowing users to focus on the issues most relevant to their review.
The Quality Report does not update automatically when a warning is resolved. It only refreshes when the Quality check button is clicked.
Live preview
The Live preview provides a real-time preview of how the translation will appear in the final format. This feature is currently available for Word and PDF documents.
When a segment is selected in the online workspace, the corresponding segment in the live preview will be highlighted.
Analysis Report
The Analysis report subwindow displays a breakdown of translation units (TUs), word and character counts, TM match percentages, MTQE scores (if supported), and segments without matches.
This information helps to estimate the scope and effort required for the project.
When the TM matches only button is clicked, the report will exclude MTQE scores.
The Analysis report can also be visualized by clicking the corresponding button.
Shortcuts
This section lists the keyboard shortcuts currently available to help you navigate and perform common tasks efficiently during translation. More shortcuts may be added in future updates.
Commit segment to TM and move to next segment
CTRL + ENTERMove to next segment without confirming
CTRL + DOWNMove to previous segment without confirming
CTRL + UPGo to the last confirmed segment
Strg + Alt + ArrowDownCopy Source to Target
CTRL + INSClear target segment
ALT + DELDrop-down list of placeables
Ctrl + CommaShow whitespaces
Ctrl + Shift + 8Copy
Ctrl + CPaste
Ctrl + VCut
Ctrl + XFind
Ctrl + FReplace
Ctrl + HUndo last action
Ctrl + ZRedo last action
Ctrl + Y