There are many CAT tools available today and it’s always worthwhile to write about a promising one. Smartcat is a browser-based, computer-assisted translation tool worth showcasing. We’ll give you a quick rundown of its main features which will undoubtedly intrigue you enough to give it a go.

Smartcat is a great platform for finding, hiring and paying freelancers, but we’ll focus more on the features Smartcat offers to project managers and translators.

Project Manager’s Point of View

• Translation of a wide range of file formats

Smartcat supports pretty much any file format you can come up with. It can be used to translate anything from Microsoft Office file formats to technical writing and localization file formats such as DITA XML or CSV, but also import packages such as SDLPPX / SDLRPX and create return packages. Also, it can be used to translate images in formats such as JPG, however this requires prior file conversion with Smartcat’s OCR software. This is not a free feature, but it is always possible to convert the file beforehand using online conversion tools or an OCR application such as ABBYY FineReader.

• Translation project statistics

If you need quick statistics on your translation project, Smartcat’s got your back. When creating a project, it will calculate all the statistics you may need. This means word count, character count (both with and without spaces), number of segments, pages, repetitions, etc. Everything you need in one place.

• Translation memory and glossary

It’s possible to create and upload translation memories as well as glossaries and use them for projects. This is an extremely useful feature when it comes to using proper terminology in a certain project and keeping your translations consistent.

• Splitting a translation project and allocating workflow stages

Smartcat allows project managers to allocate certain parts of a project to specific translators. This is great when working on a big project with a short deadline. That allows several people to work on their own part of the project at the same time and complete the project faster. However, since all translators have a translation style of their own, it is of vital importance to have a single editor for the whole text. Smartcat offers three workflow stages: translation, editing and proofreading. This allows employment of several translators, and then of one editor to go over the whole text once the translation stage ends.

Translator’s Point of View

• Clean user interface

Smartcat has a user-friendly interface that is aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. All quick icons are displayed in the toolbar above the text, the source and target texts are displayed one next to another, all translation memory and glossary info is displayed on the right, and segment filtering is just one click away.

• Jump to a segment

Have you ever worked on a large translation project and just knew there was an unconfirmed segment somewhere, but you couldn’t seem to find it? Just press F9 and Smartcat will find it for you. Also, if you’ve made notes on several segments you want to get back to later on, you can jump to the segment you need by entering the segment number.

• Search source and target texts

This feature is particularly useful when translating from a language with several cases, such as Croatian. Translation memories are sensitive to cases, so this can be an issue when searching for a term you need. That’s why you can enter a part of a word or phrase in the source text box, and all the segments containing it will be filtered.

• Replace text

When you realize you’ve been using a wrong key term throughout the text after getting more than half of the translation done, don’t despair. Smartcat allows you to find all key terms in the target text and replace them with the terms you initially overlooked with a single click.

• Comments

If there’s something you want to leave a note on regarding a certain segment or document, you can use the comment feature. This is a great way for you to explain to the person editing or proofreading your translation why you’ve preferred one term over the other, leave links to relevant sources, etc. It’s also a great way for the editor or proofreader to explain why something in your translation was altered and what to look out for in the future.

There are many other useful features as well, such as changing case, limiting segment length, undoing/redoing last actions, inserting special characters, and concordance searching. There’s also the progress bar that will always be there to show you how many words you’ve got left.

There you have it. This browser-based, computer-assisted translation tool has a bunch of useful features that will meet all your needs. The best thing; it won't cost you a dime. So, if you ever wanted to get yourself a translation tool, but did not want the additional expense, this is your chance to try out a great translation tool for free.