Running WordFast Translation Memory Software on Linux

Introduction

Wordfast is a translation memory tool that is compatible with Trados and other high-end CAT tools, and can allow the translator to work on files in MSWord, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and tagged file formats such as HTML. For more information about what translation memory software is and what it can do, visit Wordfast's home page.

In addition to being extremely reasonably priced as compared to other powerful CAT tools, Wordfast is currently the most mature CAT tool that is compatible with the Linux operating system when running Microsoft Office under CrossOver Office. I set up these pages based on my own experience running Wordfast on Linux in hopes that they will be helpful to other users. Please send me your own comments and I will post them here. All of my own comments are written from the perspective of a semi-technically skilled user, not that of a developer or programmer, so feel free to contribute other perspectives! If after reading this introduction you are already lost and need more information about translation, CAT tools, Linux, etc, feel free to e-mail me and I will try to help you. I have also found that no question is too basic for the very helpful and forgiving members of Wordfast's Yahoo! group (join via Wordfast's website).

The Basics

If you already own a Linux computer, your first step toward running Wordfast is to purchase CrossOver Office, available from CodeWeavers Software at http://www.codeweavers.com/site/products/. At this writing (August, 2004), a copy of CrossOver Office Standard costs $39.95 including 6 months of technical support and is available by download only. Downloading and installing CrossOver is *very* easy and does not require high-level technical skills. However, not all versions of MSWord/Office are supported. Check the CodeWeavers website before you purchase CrossOver. It is theoretically possible to use upgrade versions of MSWord/Office, but in practice it can be hard to get CrossOver to find the setup media of the "old" version.

Once you have CrossOver Office installed, you will be able to install a copy of Microsoft Office purchased from a source of your choice. By searching discount software sites, I was able to purchase a copy of MSOffice XP in June, 2004 for about $220.00. Once MSOffice is successfully running under CrossOver, you are ready to install Wordfast.

The Crossover Office Filesystem

Before trying to install Wordfast, it's crucial to have an understanding of how and where CrossOver stores your "Windows" files. In layperson's terms, CrossOver creates a fake C drive within your home directory, where all of the files you create using Windows applications are stored. In the screen shot below, MSWord is running under CrossOver office. Note the C drive (fake_window) and the Y drive (home). This looks great until you need to find your Windows files from your "regular" home directory, where they are hidden inside a mazelike nest of folders.

If you use KDE as a window manager and need to find your fake C drive files (such as wordfast.dot templates that need to be deleted), go to View>Show hidden files, then open the .cxoffice and dotwine folders as shown below, to reveal your "fake windows" folder.

The template wordfast.dot should then be located in fake_windows/Windows/Application Data/Microsoft/Word/STARTUP

Installing WordFast

Before installing Wordfast on Linux, take a moment to remind yourself of the wise words of free/open source software afficionados who have gone before you. The successful OSS/FS user always tries twice. If you want it to "just work" on the first try without having to understand why or how, run "that other operating system."

Wordfast has two installation modes, automatic and manual. If you are running MSOffice under CrossOver, it is advisable to do a manual installation. In my case, even though the automatic install appeared to work, it didn't actually; the wordfast.dot template appeared to be corrupted, and when I clicked the button that should open the Wordfast toolbar, the button disappeared. Save yourself this headache and install manually. When correctly installed, you should be able to launch MSWord directly and get a blank document that looks like this (MSWord running under CrossOver, Wordfast toolbar opened, document to be translated)

Then hit Alt-down arrow, or click the down arrow on the WF toolbar, and your document will be segmented and ready to translate.

Configuring and Using WordFast

In theory, once Wordfast is successfully installed under CrossOver, Wordfast doesn't "know" that you're tricking it into running on Linux. In practice, there are some functions that, in my experience, take some tweaking. Chief among these is configuring Wordfast for the first use, requiring the user to set up a new translation memory, as described in the Wordfast Manual.

When I tried to set up a new TM, Wordfast returned the error message "(filename).txt is not a valid translation memory" and then the setup dialog displayed the message "header missing or damaged." Although I tried to set up a new TM many times, using every tactic I could imagine (filename in all caps, filename in all lowercase, different file extensions, etc.), I couldn't get it to work. Here's the fix, which my husband, a Unix sysadmin, figured out in about 30 seconds. The issue (rephrased in layperson's terms by me) is that while DOS puts a carriage-return line-feed at the end of a filename, Unix only puts a carriage-return, and therefore Wordfast will not recognize your TM as a valid file.

To cure this on a case-by-case basis, go ahead and create the file in Wordfast, ignoring the fact that Wordfast tells you it's not a valid filename. Then, from a command line, cd into the directory where your TM is located, then type:

echo "\n" >filename

replacing "filename" with the name of the "invalid" TM you created, for example

echo "\n" >arcenciel.txt

This has worked for me ever since; it's sort of a pain to have to do this every time, but it hasn't failed yet!

If you've gotten this far, you're ready to move on to Tips on Specific Functions.