OmegaT Files and Directories
OmegaT works with three types of files.
- Translation project files: They constitute a translation project.
Loosing them may affect the project's integrity and your ability to
complete a job. Project files are the most important files in OmegaT. They
are the files you will deal with on a daily basis while translating.
- User setting files: They are created when OmegaT's behavior is modified
by user accessible preference settings. Loosing them will usually result in
having OmegaT work with "factory" settings. This can sometimes cause a
little trouble when you are in the middle of a translation.
- Application files: They are included in the package you download, most
of them are necessary to have OmegaT function properly. If for some reason
such files are lost, just download and/or reinstall OmegaT to restore them
all.
Translation project files
An OmegaT translation project consists of a number of files and
directories.
Translation project
files location
When you create a translation project, OmegaT automatically creates a list
of directories that will later serve as files repositories, as well as a
number of files that will be used to set some project preferences and to keep
the project translation memory. By default, a translation project directories
are all grouped under the main project folder. Alternate locations for the
directories can be chosen at project creation or during the translation. This
way it is possible to select existing directories or create directories in
locations that reflect your work flow habits. To change the location of
directories after a project has been created, open Project →
Properties... and do the necessary changes.
Translation project files
list
In a file dialog opened by OmegaT, a translation project will look like a
file with an OmegaT icon associated to it. From a file browser, however, the
same translation project looks like just any other folder.

Selecting the item with the OmegaT icon is enough to open the project A
translation project Example_Project created with the default settings
will be created as a new subfolder with the following structure:

Initially all the subfolders of a project will be empty.
Omegat
- The subfolder omegat will eventually contain several files, the
most important among them being the translation memory file
project_save.tmx (...). The
file project_save.tmx is the working translation memory for the
project. With the autosave function activated, it will be automatically
updated when you quit. It is the translation memory used to create the
translated files. A number of TMX files with names of the form
project_save.tmx.<date and time>.bak (...) will later on be added to
this subfolder. They serve as a backup for the project TM and are being
added each time you reopen a project, thus reflecting its contents before
the current session has changed it.
- The stats.txt file (...)
contains the statistics about the current project and can be opened in a
spreadsheet application to display segment and word count information. The
information it contains is more detailed that what is displayed in the
Project Files window. The ignored_words.txt and
learned_words.txt files, if they exist, will be used by
the spell checker.
Source
- The source subfolder is the space for the files to be translated. You
can specify a new subfolder and add the files to it the project later as
well in the project list window. Note that the structure of the source
subfolder is completely in your hands. If the files to be translated are
parts of a tree structure, you just need to specify the top subfolder and
OmegaT will copy it all, while keeping the tree structure intact.
Target
- When Project → Create Translated Documents is
selected while a project is opened, all the files in
/source/, translated or not, will be reproduced here with
the same folder hierarchy to reflect the current state of the translation.
Practically speaking, OmegaT merges the translation information saved in
/omegat/project_save.tmx with the source documents to
produce the /target/ contents.
Tm
- Translation memories from previous translations can be put into this
subfolder. They have to be in the tmx format. Use available tools to
transform from other formats. Note that project_save.tmx is the translation
memory, mediating between your source and the eventual target. However, the
ancillary TM files are available for finding most convenient candidates for
untranslated segments.
omegat.project
- OmegaT automatically creates this file when the project is created. It
contains the project parameters. The
parameters included in this file can be modified from the Project
properties window.
- project_name-omegat.tmx (...)
project_name-level1.tmx
project_name-level2.tmx
- These files contain the source and target segments corresponding to the
contents of the /source/ folder at the time of their creation (usually when
the translated files have been created).
User files
User files location
User files are stored in a separate location where they can be accessed by
any version of OmegaT. The location depends on the platform you use:
Windows
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- 2000 and XP: Documents and Settings\<User
Name>\Application Data\OmegaT
- Vista: Users\<User
Name>\AppData\Roaming\OmegaT
- Other: <Something>\OmegaT
(<Something> corresponds to the location of the "home" folder
as determined by Java.)
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- Linux/Solaris/FreeBSD
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- <User Home>/.omegat (.omegat is a
directory, the dot preceding its name makes it invisible unless you
type
ls -a or an equivalent command.)
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- MacOSX
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- <User
Home>/Library/Preferences/OmegaT
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- Other
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- <User Home>
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User files list
- log.txt
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- This file records Java error messages while OmegaT is running.
When you think OmegaT is behaving erratically it is important to
include this file or the relevant part in any trouble report.
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- omegat.prefs
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- An xml file with all the GUI accessible option settings, as well
as window position data.
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- filters.conf
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- An xml file with all the data set by the file filters preferences.
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- segmentation.conf
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- An xml file with all the data set by the sentence segmentation preferences.
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Application files
OmegaT comes as a package you can download from SourceForge. In this
chapter we will consider the platform independent package
that contains the application in a standard Java form. Other packages include
a Linux .tar
package, a Windows installer -with or without a
Java Runtime Environment, a MacOSX installer and a source code package for
developers. This platform independent package can be used on
any platform with a running Java 1.5 runtime environment,
including the platforms for which there is a specific package. The platform
independent package comes as a compressed file that you need to decompress in
the folder of your choice for install. Decompression is usually done by
double clicking on the downloaded package. Once decompressed, a folder
containing the following contents will be created:
File/
subfolder
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Contents
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/docs/ |
- All the user manual files are in this folder. You can open them
in an internet browser to have access to external links.
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- /images/
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- Icons and logo graphics are included here.
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- /lib/
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- Java files are included here. They are necessary to the well
functioning of OmegaT.
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- join.html
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- This is a normal html file that once opened in your internet
browser will redirect you to the OmegaT user group hosted on Yahoo
Groups. Joining is not necessary but will give you access to some
extra services like access to some files and irregular polls, besides
for being able to join in OmegaT related discussions. The group
archives are public and consultation does not require subscription to
the group.
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- changes.txt
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- A relatively detailed list of modifications between this version
and the preceding versions.
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- license.txt
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- The GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. This license allows you to do
certain things with OmegaT, including modifying and distributing it.
If you are interested in modifying or distributing OmegaT, take a
good look at this document and make sure you are aware of all its
implications before doing anything. In case you are in doubt, don't
hesitate to ask project members directly either by sending them a
mail from the Source Forge page or by sending a public mail to the
user group.
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- doc-license.txt
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- The GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. This license covers the
documentation. See above.
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- readme.txt
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- This file is very important and you should make sure you read it
before starting OmegaT. It includes general information about OmegaT,
where to find more information, how to contribute etc. It is
translated to a number of languages.
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- OmegaT
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- A text file that containing two lines:
#!/bin/bash
java -jar OmegaT.jar $*
You may find this file useful if you make it executable (chmod
+x OmegaT ) from the command line after
making sure you are in the /OmegaT_2.0/ directory. From
now on you'll be able to start OmegaT by calling this file from the
command line.
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- OmegaT.bat
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- A batch file, used to launch OmegaT from the Windows command line. It
contains just the following line:
java -jar OmegaT.jar %*
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- OmegaT.jar
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- The main OmegaT application. To launch OmegaT you have to either
call this file from the command line or launch it from your file
manager (usually by double-clicking it).
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