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Ecco! - The Translator's Friend, version 2

CAT (computer-assisted translation) tool with Integrated Terminology Management and Translation Memory features

Program Features - Editor:
* Parallel-text editor: synchronized scrolling through Source and Translation.
* Search in Source/Translation and see corresponding Translation/Source.
* AutoScan: existing translations of the current sentence looked up automatically as you move to each new sentence. If there is only one, the translation is inserted automatically; if more than one, you are presented with a picklist.
* Copy codes (tabs, paragraph marks, footnote and field code placeholders) either manually (using a menu command) or automatically (when you move to the next untranslated line).
* Optional automatic cleanup of superfluous spaces (space-before-punctuation, double spaces) - also useful in combination with automatic addition of spaces (see below).
* SpeedCopy key to copy all or part of current Source sentence to Translation.
* Easy-to-use text expansion macros (like Word's AutoCorrect, but smarter: more symbols recognized as end-of-word delimiters). For example, type "devt", then an end-of-word delimiter, and Ecco can expand it into "development".
* Shift case facility: caps, heading (with optional exclusion list, e.g. 'and', 'to'), initial capital, lower case.
* Optional StickySelect: prevents overwriting of highlighted text (the Windows default is to delete highlighted text if a non-cursor key is pressed; if you set this option, highlighted text is only deleted if you press Delete). This only applies in the Source and Translation fields; dialogues operate in normal Windows fashion.
* Ecco is great for repetitive texts - but it's also great for non-repetitive texts. Using the Dictionaries, you never need type a particular translation of a word or phrase more than once: after you add it to a dictionary it will be available under a shortcut key every time that word/phrase occurs in the source text.

Program Features - Dictionaries:
* Terms in your own custom dictionaries looked up automatically as each sentence is parsed.
* Separate custom dictionary for each language-subject combination, e.g. German-English Legal, German-English General, French-English Chemical.
* You can choose the order in which Terms are displayed: (a) by position in Source text; (b) by length (longest terms first); (c) in dictionary order (this keeps all the terms from each particular dictionary together).
* Multiple translations for each term.
* Each translation of a particular term can have a separate comment.
* One-keystroke insertion of found term in text (two keystrokes if there are multiple terms: one to select group, one to select term).
* Optional addition of space after each term inserted in text (and cleanup of superfluous spaces - see above).
* Fast addition of terms to dictionaries.
* Dictionary entries can be edited from Ecco.
* Manual dictionary search.

Program Features - Search functions:
* Smart Search-&-Replace: the program checks the case of the current Find string (caps, initial caps, lowercase) and replaces accordingly. If the found string is all caps, the program asks you what case you want (try search-and-replacing RAC with Royal Automobile Association in Word, for example, and see what happens!).
* Find (and Search-&-Replace) picks up highlighted text from Source and Translation and automatically sets "Search in:" to Source or Translation, depending on which has focus. (For example, if you are on the Translation side and you highlight the text "logistics", when you press F7 the Search dialogue pops up with "logistics" in the Find field and "Search in:" set to Translation.)
* Search-&-Replace: as you type in the Find field, the same text appears, highlighted, in the Replace field (useful when making only small changes!).
* Search-&-Replace has buttons to shift the case of the Replace string. For example, to change the case of a phrase throughout your text, you just (a) highlight the text, (b) press F8 Search-&-Replace (c) click the appropriate button (Caps, Heading, Lower Case) (d) click OK.

Program Features - Security:
* Optional Autosave at regular intervals.
* One-click Backup to floppy drive (or other drive, if desired).
* Backup of previous version saved when you save manually.

Program Features - Utilities:
* AutoTransfer system works in tandem with MS Word to import the translation into the original source document, thus preserving most (often all) formatting.
* Jotter to save notes on your project (queries, comments etc.).
* One-click copying of selected Source or Translation text to the Jottings file for your project.
* Export a tab-separated file of your project (source+translation; this can easily be converted to a table in a word processor, spreadsheet or database program). This is useful, for example, if you are working together on a project with another translator who does not have Ecco: you can send the file containing the table to the other translator. He or she can see your source and translation side by side, line by line, just as in Ecco.

****** New features and improvements in Version 2 ******
* Memory AutoScan: select existing Ecco projects and use them as translation memory for your current project
* Search Memory.
* Search Disk Archive (all Ecco projects on disk - runs in the background).
* Import non-Ecco projects into your Archive of translation memories.
* Automatic Update of translation if you make changes to the Word file after finishing your work in Ecco.
* File|Move/Rename utility: moves/renames whole Ecco project (including Word etc. files if desired) and updates Memory references in other projects automatically
* Automatic number substitution in AutoScan: if AutoScan finds a match where the numbers are different, it automatically inserts the new numbers when you accept the translation
* Fuzzy matching for AutoScan: now finds fuzzy matches in your translation memory (current project + any Archive files selected)
* PreScan: runs in the background so that you can get on with some other work, either in Ecco or elsewhere. Once Ecco has PreScanned the file, fuzzy matching is very fast.
* "Strict" (non-fuzzy) matching enhanced and speeded up
* Edit Dictionary Entry dialogue improved
* Translate HTML direct (no need to run the file through a word processor before or after)
* Option to split sentences at colons, semicolons
* Table cells, notes, headers etc. can now be split into sentences automatically, increasing the chances of matching.
* Terms Recognition (Dictionary LookUp) speeded up - at least twice as fast now!
* Duplicate Indicator (shows when a source+translation match a previous source+translation) - useful when checking your translation.
* Literal translation (all terms found, in Source sequence).
 
Export/Import functions
* Export project as TMX (eg to Trados TW)
* Import TMX (eg from Trados TW)
* Export Dictionaries to MultiTerm 
N.B. The Export/Import functions do not support languages which use non-Western scripts, e.g. Cyrillic, Greek.

System requirements:
* Windows 95 (or higher) or Windows NT
* 800 x 600 colour monitor recommended
* Disk space required for program files: 1.7MB
* Min. 16MB RAM, 32MB preferred
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The developer is a hard-working translator (is there any other kind?!), who has developed Ecco independently to meet his own needs over the last few years. Ecco is thus very much productivity and quality-oriented!
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© PrimaTrans Software, 2000
Web site: http://members.xoom.com/PrimaTrans/index.htm
E-mail: please use the form on http://members.xoom.com/PrimaTrans/support.htm