How to create checklists on Xbench 3.0

Another useful resource of Xbench 3.0 is the capability to create personalized checklists. Differing from glossaries, which compile terms and their respective translations and definitions, a checklist can be used to flag style instructions and preferences by using set rules defined by the user. 

You can set different rules according to the needs of each project or client to identify words, expressions, additional or missing spaces, HTML tags, and punctuation, among others, in the source or target segment of a bilingual file loaded into Xbench.

When you QA your translated files in Xbench with a selected checklist, the tool will search and flag the segments that are not compliant with the checklist rules so you can fix them in your translation project.

How to create a checklist on Xbench 3.0

1. In “View”, click “Checklist Manager”. In the left panel, select “Project” to start creating your checklist items.
2. Right-click with your mouse over the main dashboard and then in “New” or press Insert on your keyboard to create a new item.
3. On the displayed window, fill in the fields according to what you want to verify.

• Name: a meaningful name for your checklist
• Description: a description of the error that should be checked and a brief explanation.
• Category: useful if you have several checklist items. After creating a category in a checklist, it will always display as an option when creating new items. It’s not possible to create several categories for a single item.
• Source and/or Target: fill it with the “trigger” that should be checked. For instance, if you what the checklist to flag when “x” is translated as “y”, fill “x” in the Source and “y” in the Target boxes.  Fill in the needed checkboxes.
• To save your checklist and reuse it in several projects, right-click with your mouse over “Project” on the left panel and in “Save As”. Save your checklist, preferably in the same folder as your Xbench glossaries or in a subfolder within it.

What to include in an Xbench checklist

When preparing a checklist on Xbench 3.0 for a project or client, prioritize common pitfalls, like the use of banned expressions or terms, or the preferred spelling for certain expressions. It’s also interesting to compile client feedback to make sure it will be implemented in future projects. 

It’s worth noting that you can create checklists to be reused in projects for the same client or subject matter, and personal checklists where you can add common mistakes you make on a regular basis. A rough example would be translating “push” as “puxar”.

Check below a few examples of items you can include in a checklist:

Advanced search

The Xbench has 2 advanced search options you can use to refine how the items you include in your search are flagged: Regular Expression and Microsoft Wildcard. Each one of these options has its own syntaxes to define the search triggers you can check here. 

With these advanced search options, you can create more complex rules, such as identifying repeated characters in a word and finding segments that start or end with a certain word, among other uses. This advanced search is not restricted to the checklists setting, it can be used to make searches in bilingual files using Xbench. 

How to edit a checklist on Xbench 3.0

After you create a checklist on Xbench, it’s easy to edit and include or remove items. Just follow these steps:

1. With the Xbench project, you wish to work on open, open the Checklist Manager.
2. If you wish to link an existing (saved) checklist to a project, right-click with your mouse over “Project” on the left panel and select “Add” to select the desired checklist. You can add several checklists to a single project.
3. If the project already has a checklist linked to it, when you open the Checklist Manager it will be displayed.
4. To edit a checklist item, click twice on the item. The editing window is displayed. Follow the creation steps described earlier.
5. To insert a new item, follow the steps described above.
6. When you’re done, save your checklist (if it’s not linked to the project) or simply save the project (if the checklist is being used only for that single Xbench project).

Did you like this tutorial? Do you know another way to create translation checklists using Xbench or other tools? Tell us in the comments!