Pootle howto: how to use it
About Pootle
Pootle is powerful web software to empower teams to do translation and translation management. This community tool is Free Software, and any team can use it and contribute to the Pootle community. Read more on the
project website.
Registration
Usually everybody can view the files, and only registered users
can edit them and receive credit for their effort, so the
first thing you should do in order to translate is to
register.
You can register following two simple steps, providing you
have a current email address:
1. Fill in your preferred username, password and a
valid e-mail address, choose "Register" and an
activation code will be sent to the e-mail address you've
provided.
2. When you receive the confirmation e-mail, click on the activation
link in the e-mail to activate your Pootle account.
Login and Account Setup
Now that you are a registered user, login to Pootle.
Once you have logged in, you will be presented with your
User Page, which includes links to your selected languages
and projects. Edit your preferences there.
Browsing the Files Tree
Now that your User Page is set up, you can reach the
desired files for translation directly through the links in
it.
Another way to find the file you wish to translate is
from the main page.
The main page displays two categories - Languages and
Projects. Choosing a language will give you the list of
projects available for translation into this language;
choosing a project will give you the list of languages to
which it can be translated.
Once you have chosen both the project and the language,
you'll be presented with the files available for
translation.
Online translating with
Pootle
Each file available for translation can be accessible in
two ways - "Quick Translate" will show only the entries
needing attention, while "Translate All" will show all
the entries in the file, translated or not. In both cases
you'll be presented with a two-column table, with the
strings to be translated on the left, and the current
translation on the right.
The current edited entry will appear as of a text box with
the options "Skip" and "Submit" below it. Naturally you can
enter text in the text box and submit it or skip to the
next entry.
You can also directly access any of the other entries
presented by clicking the link next to the entry.
Other aids from Pootle
You can also download the files to translate offline. The
upload form allows you to upload the files later.
You should also review the quality checks and suggestions
by other team members.