In the next article we are going to take a look at PoEdit. This is a free translation editing application that is available for Gnu / Linux, Windows and MacOS. Users can use its free version, but a pro version with more features available is also available. The free version is released under an open source MIT license. It supports gettext (PO files) Y XLIFF. With this app, WordPress and Drupal websites, themes, and plugins can be translated into other languages.
PoEdit is a translation tool, but not to be confused with a translator. This tool does not translate as a program dedicated to this purpose would, but it will be helpful in the task of translating a text from one language to another. It is going to present us with strings of characters in a language, and we are the ones who must translate them into the desired language.
This program is a simple translation editor for PO and XLIFF files. It also serves as a graphical user interface for more GNU Gettext utilities. gettext is a GNU text translation or internationalization library. This is used in many free CMS translations, as well as in many other applications.
General characteristics of PoEdit
- Poedit provides translators and developers a powerful and intuitive editor for gettext. It helps save time on translation tasks with a lightweight, easy-to-use interface.
- The files that PoEdit handles are template files, ending with the .pot extension, translation files ending with the .po extension, and .mo files. The latter are created automatically if we specify it in the PoEdit configuration.
- This application can validate the translation files and track the progress.
- We will be able to save time with pre-translation, machine translation and accurate suggestions that the program is going to offer us. Although the online suggestions are limited to 10 in the free version.
- The translation strings we carry out are stored locally and are used to help us translate similar strings in the future, showing up as suggestions.
- PoEdit has a integrated support for crowdin, which is a management platform used for translation.
- This program comes with automatic detection of translation problems, automatic syntax checking and validation of translation files.
These are just some of the features of this program. It can consult all of them in detail from the project website.
How to install PoEdit 3 on Ubuntu
Ubuntu users can install Poedit 3 in different ways in our operating system.
With snap
The first installation option will be through your snap pack. To install it we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and use install command:
sudo snap install poedit
Then we can execute the following command to allow PoEdit to access files / media:
sudo snap connect poedit:removable-media
And this other we will use to save credential for Crowdin integration:
snap connect poedit:password-manager-service
When the installation is finished, we only have start the program Either looking for the launcher in our system or using the command:
poedit
uninstall
For remove this program from our team, we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and execute the command in it:
sudo snap remove poedit
With Flatpak
Before starting, if you use Ubuntu 20.04 and you still do not have this technology enabled on your system, you can follow the guide that a colleague wrote about it.
After that, we will have to run in the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) the PoEdit install command like flatpak pack:
flatpak install flathub net.poedit.Poedit
At the end of the installation, we can run the program typing in the terminal:
flatpak run net.poedit.Poedit
uninstall
For remove this program installed as Flatpak package, you just have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and run in it:
flatpak uninstall net.poedit.Poedit
PoEdit is software used to translate .PO files, such as WordPress plugins and templates, into your preferred language. This program is useful detecting possible translation problems (as misprints or incorrect plurals) and checking the syntax of the file (wrong or missing variables). It will also provide translation suggestions based on a history that it will generate as we translate..
Information about this program or its use can be found in the project website or in GitHub repository.