MetaTexis FAQ

General note

If you encounter a problem which is not covered by the FAQ below, report the problem to the MetaTexis support via the menu function MetaTexis | Tools | Send message to MetaTexis support or by sending an email to the address support@metatexis.com.

If you are not sure whether you have installed the latest version, please install the latest version of MetaTexis available at www.metatexis.com, or, if you have an internet connection, click the menu command MetaTexis | Tools | Check for program update.

Please make sure that you have followed the installation instructions in the manual.

Bad errors or crashes

“MS Word crashes at start-up or does not run properly. MetaTexis behaves strangely and does not run properly.”

General note: In almost 100% of all case you do NOT have to repair or re-install MS Word or MS Office, let alone to re-install or repair the Windows installation! Before you re-install Word/Office or even Windows, contact the MetaTexis support at support@metatexis.com.

The first step in case of general problems is to re-install the full version of MetaTexis. The full version is available at www.metatexis.com.

Make sure that you have installed the correct version of MetaTexis:

- If you run MS Word 2000 you need to install “MetaTexis 2000.exe”.

- If you run MS Word XP you need to install “MetaTexis XP.exe”.

- If you run MS Word 2003 you need to install “MetaTexis 2003.exe”.

Make sure that you have followed the installation instructions in the manual.

Another important reason for problems is the template file “Normal.dot”. This file is used by MS Word to save Macros, menus, toolbars, and shortcuts. Unfortunately, it can be corrupted and produce bad crashes. It usually helps to do the following:

1. Close all Word windows.

1. Look for the file “Normal.dot” on your computer (usually to be found on hard drive C:.

2. Rename this file to “Normal. dot OLD” (or delete it).

3. Restart Word. Word will create a new, clean Normal.dot which does not produce errors anymore.

If you made sure that your system meets the installation requirements, there can still be other problems. Especially, there are some problematic add-ins for MS Word which can cause bad crashes. For example, one version of the Acrobat plug-in for Word used to cause big problems. And the Word add-in of the Japanese dictionary called “Korya Eiwa Ippatsu Hon'yaku”, version 6.0, also caused a breakdown of Word when MetaTexis is active.

To solve the problem, please follow the following steps:

1. Close Word and uninstall MetaTexis (like any other program via the control panel of Windows).

2. Re-start Word and go to the "Tools" menu, click on "Add-ins and templates...". Check whether any of the problematic items are listed. Especially, if you find one of the problematic add-ins mentioned, remove it. Close Word.

3. Re-install MetaTexis and re-start Word.

“MS Word crashes at start-up. An error message like this is displayed: “WINWORD.exe has generated an error and will be closed down by Windows.” In the detailed error description the file “FM20.dll” is mentioned.”

Please re-install the full version of MetaTexis available at www.metatexis.com.

If this does not help, download the file “fm20.zip” at the following location:

http://www.metatexis.org/download/fm20.zip

Unzip this file and save the files included in the directory “c:/Windows/system32” or “c:/WINNT/system32”. If you are asked whether you want to replace the existing files, do so.

“A MetaTexis function is terminated, and an error message reporting an ‘automation error’ is displayed. Thereafter many MetaTexis functions do not run anymore.”

Close all Word windows and restart Word.

Report the error to MetaTexis via the menu function MetaTexis | Tools | Send message to MetaTexis support or by sending an email to the address support@metatexis.com.

“The MetaTexis menu and other menus of other add-ins are not visible, even though I have re-installed MetaTexis”

The template file “Normal.dot” is probably corrupted. This file is used by MS Word to save Macros, menus, toolbars, and shortcuts. Unfortunately, it can be corrupted and produce bad crashed. Do the following:

1. Close Word.

2. Look for the file “Normal.dot” on your computer (usually to be found on hard drive C:.

3. Rename this file to “Normal. dot OLD”.

4. Restart Word. Word will create a new, clean Normal.dot. This will probably fix the problem.

“Can MetaTexis run while other CAT tools like TRADOS and Wordfast are running at the same time? Are they compatible?”

Yes, in principle MetaTexis can run in parallel with other CAT tools.

However, if you use shortcuts, it is recommended that you de-activate either MetaTexis or TRADOS/Wordfast temporarily because some of the shortcuts are identical (if both MetaTexis and TRADOS/Wordfast are active at the same time the behavior of Word can be confusing).

When you use MetaTexis, TRADOS/Wordfast should be de-activated. You can do this via the “General options” dialog of MetaTexis. However, you will automatically warned to this when you load a MetaTexis document.

When you use TRADOS or Wordfast, MetaTexis should not be active temporarily. You can do this via the “Tools” dialog of MetaTexis. Click on "De-activate MetaTexis" and chose to de-activate MetaTexis temporarily.

(If you are only using menu commands or shortcut buttons, or if you customize the MetaTexis shortcuts in a way that there are no intersections with the other cat tools, you do not need to de-activate any cat tool.)

Compatibility

“Does MetaTexis run on MS Word 97?”

Unfortunately, MetaTexis does not run on MS Word 97. MetaTexis uses some special technologies (especially the COM-add-in technology for Microsoft Office) which are not available in Word 97.

Does MetaTexis run on Apple/Macintosh computers?

Unfortunately, MetaTexis does not run on Apple computers. MetaTexis uses some special technologies (especially the COM-add-in technology for Microsoft Office) which are not available on the Mac.

Translation Memories

Though I have set up a translation memory none of the translation units are recognized further down in the document. What am I supposed to do?

You can easily check whether you have connected the active document with a TM or not, and how it will be accessed. Simply click on menu command MetaTexis | Translation memory (TM) | Automation options. If any TM is connected to the document it is displayed in a grey text box Main translation memory in the upper frame of the dialog. (If this is not true, go to the document options and select or create a main TM).

Now look at the automation settings for the TM in the Automation options dialog. To have leverage effects in a document both automation options need to be checked (automatic saving and automatic searching). Then click on OK.

As a final step you have to save the segments already translated in the main TM by clicking on menu command MetaTexis | Translation memory (TM) | Save all translated segments in main TM.

No check whether the language setting of your document are correct. If this is so, go to the Database center (click menu command MetaTexis | Translation memory (TM) | Display main TM) and check whether the language settings for the TUs in the TM are correct. The languages in the TM must be the same as the languages of the document currently translated.

After you have done this, you should be able to see leverage effects (if there are any!).

Can TRADOS documents and TMs be exported and imported?

(1) MetaTexis can import and export TRADOS documents. (If there are no footnotes, there are no problems. If there are footnotes, one needs to take care. The problem is, that TRADOS deals with footnotes in a strange way.)

(2) MetaTexis NET/Office can directly use the TRADOS Workbench as a database engine. MetaTexis Pro and Lite cannot use TRADOS databases directly. However, MetaTexis can import TRADOS and TMX databases, and it can export TMX databases which can be imported by TRADOS.