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Sections in this article:
What is the Multilingual QC tool?
The Multilingual QC is a powerful tool designed for media localization professionals.
It allows users to load multiple subtitle files and perform in-depth QC, editing and validation across different languages simultaneously, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compliance with industry standards.
It is also a robust tool for subtitlers who need to deliver different files for the same language, for example, a file with the subtitles and a file with forced narratives.
MAIN FEATURES:
- Simultaneous preview and editing of multiple subtitle files in the same project
- Quickly apply changes across multiple language streams
- Ensure all subtitle files are aligned with the audio and shot changes
- Check for formatting and styling discrepancies between different language files
- Import/Export of multiple language files in one go
- Custom QC checks and fixes
The Multilingual QC tool can be used as a standalone tool, if acquired from OOONA’s online shop and, in the future, as an integrated tool, part of the OOONA Manager.
Getting started
Please note that the following sections show you how to set up and start working on projects using the standalone version of the Multilingual QC tool.
In order to properly understand the content of this manual, it is important to explain that the Multilingual QC tool project is a container for other subtitle projects (language files), so we will refer to this container as a “root project” throughout this manual. When we are referring to individual subtitle files or language files imported into this container, we will refer to them as “subprojects”.
Creating a project
After logging in, select the Multilingual QC tool from the list of tools available in your dashboard and click the New project button.
If you are not creating your first project, the Open Project pop-up will provide a list of all past projects, which can also be opened, deleted and downloaded from here.
Enter the project name once the New project dialog opens.
Please note that project name is not a mandatory field. If a project name is not entered in this step, the project will be identified by the creation time and date. This can be changed later.
If this is not your first project, you can select a saved preset as a template for your Project Settings from the drop-down menu, use the last used custom settings or define your own project settings later.
Click the Create button to initiate the project.
Note that, if you were already working on a project and need to create another one, there is no need to go back to the Tools dashboard. You can go to Project > New from within the project you already had open.
Changing Project settings
When creating a project, you can select a saved preset or change a preset you already selected. If you do so when the root project is still empty, meaning, without any subtitle file being imported, these settings, except for language-related values, will be applied to all subtitle files you later import.
To change the Project settings, click on the icon in the toolbar and change the relevant settings.
To know more about each of the available Project settings, read our Project settings article, that goes into a little more detail.
However, you can have different Project settings for each of your subprojects. For that, you will need to change them one by one after importing your subtitle files.
You can select the subproject you want to change the settings of by selecting the corresponding name from the dropdown menu at the right corner of the Project settings dialog.
If you need to change the settings of more than one subproject, you can do so without closing the Project settings dialog. Simply change the settings of a subproject and then select the next one from the dropdown menu. You will see a pop-up asking if you want to save the previous changes made to the subproject settings.
Importing files
The Multilingual QC tool allows you to import several subtitle files at the same time, as long as they have the same file format. This means, you can import five .PAC files at the same time, but not three .PAC files and two .SRT files.
To import files, you can simply drag and drop them into your project. This method also allows you to drag and drop a folder with multiple files in it, including the subtitle files and the media file.
You can also use the Import file option under the Import/Export menu. This method allows you to select multiple files, but does not allow you to select and import a folder.
When all your files are imported, each file will have its own column, with the language the file corresponds to added to the header of the column:
Navigating the subprojects after importing
Once you have all your subprojects in place, you will be able to view them side by side (1), as well as in the timeline (2).
Next to the subtitle table, you will see how many columns are displayed and how many columns your root project has.
In the example below, there are 4 columns out of 9displayed in the subtitle table.
You can add, reduce or navigate the columns using the buttons directly below the number of subprojects.
Using the icons right below the "+" and "-" signs, you will be able to navigate the subprojects you imported.
Adapting the subtitles view
We have introduced new features to help you adapt your subtitles view to your needs.
If you have several subprojects next to each other, you might notice that the text is cut. To change that, you can adjust the font size using the buttons we have added to the toolbar. You can decrease the table font size or increase it depending on the text you have in the subtitles.
User configuration
You can now set up what information you see in your workspace. We have added several new options to customize your user interface so that it matches your needs.
You can go to User Configuration under the Settings menu and click the “User Interface” tab to set up the options available.
To start, you can decide how many columns are shown as default in all the projects you create in the Multilingual QC tool.
Besides that, you can also decide what information to show in the subtitle itself. For example, you might wish to hide the subtitle duration so you can see more information when the screen space is reduced due to the number of subprojects shown in the subtitle table.
To tweak the information shown in the subtitles, check or uncheck the available options:
| Show time input actions |
Never: Never show the icons Always: Always show the icons On focus: Only show in the active subtitle |
| Don’t auto-hide UI elements | If this option is not selected, OOONA Toolkit will automatically hide certain elements, such as duration, tags and validation errors, from the subtitles. |
| Don’t auto-adjust font size |
If this option is not selected, OOONA Toolkit will automatically adjust the font size of the active column, depending on the space available. If this option is selected, you can always adjust the table font size using the icons in the toolbar. |
Lock active subtitle to center of the list |
This option will make sure the active subtitle is always locked to the center of the subtitles list. |
| Hide tags |
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| Hide duration |
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| Hide reading speed |
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| Hide annotations and remarks |
Note that you can activate a floating remarks dialog if you click the Toggle floating remarks dialog available in the toolbar or by going to View > Toggle floating dialogs > Toggle floating remarks. |
| Hide validation errors |
Note that you can activate a floating validation dialog if you click View > Toggle floating dialogs > Toggle floating validation. |
| Show line length above | When this option is selected, the line length of the subtitles is shown in the subtitle header, next to the timecodes. If not, the line length can be seen at the bottom, above the reading speed indicator. |
Timeline
In the timeline, you also have a list of subprojects.
You can navigate them using the arrows on the top or increase the number of subprojects you see by adjusting the timeline vertically.
If, for some reason, you want to see your subprojects in a specific order, you can do so by swapping them.
To do so, click the header of the subproject you wish to switch with another and choose the relevant subproject from the dropdown menu. Once selected, the subprojects will switch positions in the table.
Validation errors
If a subproject has subtitles with validation errors, they will be flagged in the icon next to the subproject name.
Please note that, in the Multilingual QC tool, the Validation errors and both Run fixes and Run checks are subproject based, meaning they will only be visible for the corresponding subproject and will not affect the other subprojects.
To know more about Run fixes and Run checks, read our Automated subtitle checks article.
Getting to know the Multilingual QC menu
The Multilingual QC tool is different from the other OOONA Toolkit tools and, as such, requires a specialized menu in which you can perform specific actions.
Under the Multilingual QC menu, you will find almost all features related to actions that affect subprojects.
1. Renaming a subproject
If you want to rename a subproject, instead of renaming the entire project, click on the Rename subproject option under the Multilingual QC menu.
Choose the new name for the subproject. You will see it reflected in the column header.
The name of the root project remains the same. To change that, select Rename project under the Project menu.
2. Comparing subprojects
The Multilingual QC tool allows you to compare subprojects. To do so, choose Compare subprojects under the Multilingual QC menu and click “Compare subprojects” again.
You will see a dialog where you can choose what differences to compare.
After selecting the relevant options, click the Select projects button to choose which subprojects to compare and click the Run compare button.
The options selected under the previous dialogs will be saved and, after selecting them one time, you can use the Jump to previous/next difference options under the Compare subprojects submenu, without having to go through the dialogs all over again.
3. Merging subprojects
If you need to seamlessly merge two, or more, subprojects, you can do so with the Multilingual QC tool. For example, you may want to merge a subproject with just forced narratives and a subproject with just dialogs.
To do so, click on the Merge subtitles option under the Multilingual QC menu.
A dialog to select the subprojects you want to merge will open and you can choose to either merge both subprojects on the same track or merge one of them on a different track.
After selecting the subprojects to merge, click the Merge button to merge your subprojects.
4. Adding subprojects
Basically, importing a new subtitle file will add it as a subproject, but you can always add an empty subproject, if you need to.
Click the Add subproject option under the Multilingual QC menu.
The Project settings dialog will open and you can choose the same settings as the other subprojects that were imported or choose new ones. Once all project settings are in place, click the Create button.
You will be asked to choose a name for the new empty subproject.
After you click the OK button, the new empty subproject will be added as the last subproject.
5. Removing subprojects
If you want to remove a subproject, you can do so by clicking the Remove subproject option under the Multilingual QC menu and selecting the subproject you want to remove from the main project.
Once done, the column with the removed subproject will disappear, without saving any changes made to it, and you will have to reimport it back into the main project if you wish to make new changes to it.
6. Loading videos to subprojects
You can associate a different video to each subproject and load those videos as you need them.
To do so, go to the Load video from option under the Multilingual QC menu and select the subproject from the list of subprojects available.
After that, upload the video you want for that specific subproject. You will see a check mark next to the subproject that corresponds to the current loaded video. Repeat the process for each of the subprojects you wish to upload a video to.
After all videos are loaded, you can navigate between them by selecting the corresponding subproject from the Load video from option.
7. Copying subtitles from other subprojects
You can copy the current active subtitle to another subproject or even add it to a new subproject, if that is what is needed.
To do so, click the Copy subtitle option under the Multilingual QC menu.
Once the dialog opens, choose if you want to copy the cues, the text or both to another subproject and click the OK button.
In the next dialog, choose one, or more, of the existing subprojects to copy the subtitle to.
If you want to create a new empty subproject, check the “Add new subproject” checkbox and the subtitle will be copied to a new subproject instead of being added to an existing one.
8. Moving subtitles from other subprojects
You can move a subtitle from one subproject to another.
Contrary to the Copy feature above, this feature will delete the subtitle from the original subproject and move it to the newly selected subproject.
Click the Move subtitle option under the Multilingual QC menu.
Once the dialog opens, choose if you want to move the cues, the text or both to another subproject and click the OK button.
In the next dialog, choose one, or more, of the existing subprojects to copy the subtitle to.
If you want to create a new empty subproject, check the “Add new subproject” checkbox and the subtitle will be copied to a new subproject instead of being added to an existing one.
9. Overlaying properties
You can also apply certain properties of a subproject to one or more subprojects. To do so, click Overlay properties under the Multilingual QC menu and choose the properties you wish to overlay in the other subproject or subprojects. Remember that the base project will always be the active one, meaning that the properties overlaid will be the ones from the active project.
After selecting the relevant options, click the OK button and choose the subproject or subprojects you want to overlay the properties to. Once finished, click the OK button to overlay the properties.
10. Synchronizing subprojects
By default, the Multilingual QC will synchronize all subprojects by time.
If, by any chance, you want to change that and synchronize the subprojects by index instead, click the Synchronize by option and then Synchronize by indexes.
Hotkeys specific to Multilingual QC tool
To make life easier for those who use the Multilingual QC tool on a regular basis, we have added several new hotkeys specific to this tool.
You can search for them and add the keyboard shortcuts that best suit your needs by clicking the Hotkeys icon available from the toolbar.
If you just want to see the hotkeys specific to the Multilingual QC tool, you can search for “MultilingualQC” in the search hotkey bar.
| Compare subprojects |
Using this hotkey will open the same dialog you will see when using the Compare subprojects option under the Multilingual QC menu. From there, you can select what properties and which subprojects to compare.
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| Copy subtitle(s) | Using this hotkey will open the same dialog you will see when using the Copy subtitle option under the Multilingual QC menu. From there, you can select what properties to copy and to which subprojects to copy them to. |
| Move focus to the previous column | Using this hotkey allows you to move to the previous subproject. If your active subproject is the first one, using this hotkey will take you to the last subproject. |
| Move focus to the next column | Using this hotkey allows you to move to the next subproject. If your active subproject is the last one, using this hotkey will take you to the first subproject. |
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Move subtitle(s) |
From there, you can select what properties to move and to which subprojects to move them to. |
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Next difference |
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Overlay properties |
From there, you can select what properties to overlay and to which subprojects to overlay them to. |
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Previous difference |
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Toggle apply changes to all projects |
Defines the default background color of new subtitles. |
Apply to all feature
The Apply to all feature allows specific actions to be applied to all subprojects at once.
Below is a list of actions you can perform with the Apply to all feature enabled:
- Adding new subtitles
- Deleting subtitles
- Retiming subtitles
- Merging subtitles
- Splitting subtitles
- Adjusting vertical alignment
- Adjusting horizontal alignment
- Changing subtitle justification
- Adding tags
- Adding a box to subtitles
- Adding remarks
- Adding annotations
- Changing CC Style
- Changing styling (partial styling not included)
Exporting files
To export your subprojects, you can click the Export icon and select the format you want the subprojects to be exported to.
Differently from the other OOONA Tools, after you click Export, you will be able to select which subprojects to export.
A zipped folder will be exported with all the subprojects you selected in the previous dialog.