Tags represent non-translatable text; some CAT tools refer to them as placeholders. Non-translatable text can represent variables, special formatting, formal names, code, etc.
Tags must be copied from source to target to ensure formatting and variables are preserved correctly in the exported target file.
Important
Issues with tags are a common cause of export errors, especially for file types such as spreadsheets (MS Excel based) and .XML. Always ensure tags and formatting are correct before exporting files by running quality assurance checks.
Expand tags with Ctrl+Shift+E from the web editor, Ctrl+Shift+T from the desktop editor, or from the menu.
There are four types of tags:
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Unpaired/single tags
Represent, as an example, the position of a footnote in a segment or a joined segment.
Insert unpaired tags by clicking on a required location in the text and click F8.
Unpaired tags are singular.
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Custom tags
To insert a custom tag or custom paired tag into the target:
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From the menu, select Tags , Create Custom Tag or Create Custom Paired Tag.
The custom tag is displayed as grey instead of blue.
Custom tags can only be added to file formats supporting tags in the completed file (such as HTML).
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Joined Tags
Joined segments tags are a special type of unpaired tag. The joining point is indicated with the
{j}tag. -
Paired tags
Represent formatting that spans across a section of text. As an example, a section of text in a segment may have a different font or a section of text may be highlighted.
Paired tags have an opening and a closing.
Insert paired tags by selecting the text to be tagged and click F8.
Tags are not included in the word count when calculating an analysis. Each join tag is replaced with one space.
Incorrect tagging can lead to improper translations. If tags are missing in the target, Phrase attempts to auto-complete when the completed target file is being generated. If missing or incorrect, add tags manually to the target and in as close a position and order as possible when compared to the source.
Tags in source
If tags are removed from a source, QA can not correctly check it against the target. A error is presented on file export with no QA tag warnings.
If this occurs, follow these steps:
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Export the job to a bilingual .TMX file.
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Import the .TMX file into a temporary TM.
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Re-import the original file.
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Pre-translate the new job using the temporary TM.
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Check the pre-translation results, and run QA against the new job with enabled.
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If successful, the temporary TM can be populated by confirming the segments and it can be imported into the main TM.
Inserting tags to targets
Tags are inserted through either the Edit menu or keyboard shortcuts F8 or CTRL+ALT+# to specifically number the tag and Ctrl+, to insert by section.
Editing Tag Content
To edit target tag content, follow these steps:
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Press CTRL+SHIFT+E in the web editor, Ctrl+Shift+T in the desktop editor or from the menu, select Tags , Expand Tags.
Tag content is presented.
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Click a tag to be edited in the web editor, click a tag and press F2 in the desktop editor.
Edited tags are displayed in yellow to indicate differences from a source tag.
Quality Assurance
The quality assurance feature can be used to ensure tagging is in place and accurate.
If a project has been set up to check tags by the Project manager, missing or incorrect tags will prevent the export of a valid translated document.
As tags are used to mark parts of a text with different formatting most of these format changes are obvious. Common tags are different fonts, font sizes, or colors. Some tags, such as style changes, are minor and may not be as visible.
If a file type has options for how tags are imported, they are defined in file import settings when creating a job.
Imported files containing many unseen tags may generate the error due to too much metadata. This easily occurs with the import of complex file types such as .PDF that have been converted to text formats.
When importing text files it is suggested:
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If converting a .PDF file using an OCR program, save as plain or unformatted text. Open the file in a text editor to apply required formatting such as adjusting fonts, font size, colors, columns, spacing, etc.
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There are a number of tools available for cleaning text files of extra code. CodeZapper is recommended.
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Use the option when importing text files. This option attempts to remove all tags considered unnecessary from the source text imported for translation. This is an automated process and may remove required formatting. If using this option, compare the completed file with the original document to ensure required formatting is in place.
Imported slides may show many formatting tags in the editor. The formatting tags could have been applied during the conversion from the original format (e.g. PDF) to preserve the original appearance as much as possible: wide and narrow text spacing, subscripts and superscripts, different text colors, varying font sizes, etc.
In such case, re-saving the file as .PPT or using online tag cleaner tools is recommended.