CatScribe Docs

#App Screens & Navigation

CatScribe Translate uses a sidebar with three groups — Translate, Workspace, and App — plus a global top bar. Use this page when you know what you want to do but are not sure where it lives.

Screen What it does
Translations The job history and library. A table of every job with filename, status badge, language pair, provider, output format, and a live progress bar. Per-job actions: open output folder, preview, Generate Document (regenerate the output file), open the CAT editor, and delete. This is also where Pause, Resume, Retry Failed, and Retry All live. The sidebar item shows a notification dot while jobs are processing, ready, or in error.
Glossaries Terminology management with five sub-tabs: Local (the full desktop glossary manager), plus My Glossaries, Public Library, Favorites, and Attached (cloud-backed tabs that show a connect prompt until cloud is available). See Glossaries.
Providers Local AI model management. Note the naming quirk: the sidebar says Providers, but the screen itself is titled AI Models. It shows your hardware profile, Ollama and LM Studio status, a downloadable model catalog, and installed models with disk usage. Details below.
Screen What it does
Settings One long, searchable settings page — details below.
Support A ticket form (Bug report / Feature request / Feedback) with title, description, steps to reproduce, and an optional diagnostics attachment. Also opens the AI Help Chat when enabled.
About Version info, a "what is a CAT tool" explainer, links to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and credits for the open-source projects CatScribe builds on (LibreTranslate, Argos Translate, Marian NMT, Ollama, LM Studio, COMET, BLEU).

#The CAT Editor (Not In The Sidebar)

The CAT Editor opens as a full-screen overlay from File Translation, the Translations screen ("Open CAT editor"), or a Home recent item. It is also deep-linkable per job and chunk, so closing it returns you to where you came from.

#Top Bar

The top bar is global chrome, always visible:

  • Current category and screen title, plus the sidebar collapse control ("Collapse sidebar" / "Expand sidebar").
  • A guide button that restarts the onboarding tour.
  • Interface language selector — the UI language lives here, not in Settings.
  • Notification center and a "Download status" button with an active-download count badge.
  • Theme toggle (light/dark) and an eye-saver toggle.
  • The Simple / Advanced mode button — see Simple vs Advanced Mode.

Some sidebar items can be temporarily disabled while local runtimes start up; they show the tooltip "This feature needs a runtime that is not available yet". Settings, Support, About, Translations, and Glossaries are always available.

#The Providers / AI Models Screen

This screen manages local AI models used for translation enhancement:

  • Your Hardware Profile — detected RAM, GPU ("✓ Detected" / "Not Available"), and Models Disk Usage. CatScribe assigns a tier: High-End Hardware (GPU plus 16 GB+ RAM), Mid-Range Hardware (12 GB+ RAM), or Low-End Hardware.
  • Recommended Models for Your Hardware — a per-tier Ollama model catalog with size, use case, and RECOMMENDED / INSTALLED badges. Click Download to install; downloads show live progress and can be cancelled.
  • Installed Models — everything currently on disk, with uninstall for Ollama models. LM Studio models are listed but managed inside LM Studio ("Manage this model in LM Studio.").
  • Explainer cards: "What is Ollama?" and "LM Studio integration" — "CatScribe can detect local LM Studio models and use them in the same AI model selectors used for Ollama."

Ollama and LM Studio are external programs that CatScribe integrates with; Ollama has an in-app auto-installer, LM Studio is installed manually. See Translation Engines.

#First Launch And Onboarding

On first run, a First Launch Setup wizard walks through: UI language and theme → privacy consent (usage analytics, crash reports, diagnostic logs — all optional) → "Choose Translation Engine". The engine step offers two cards:

  • "Argos Translate" — "Open-source translation with Python. Installed automatically on first launch." (badge Recommended)
  • "MarianMT / NLLB" — "Fast, high-quality neural translation. Built into the app—no extra services to install."

Your choice here sets the Preferred Offline Provider — it defines which engine "Offline Translation" resolves to later. You can also pick initial language packs and optional dependencies during setup. A 15-step guided tour is available any time from the top bar.

#Common Tasks

Task Start here
Translate a first file First Translation
Translate a book Translating Books
Translate subtitles Translating Subtitles
Preserve document formatting Editing Without Breaking Formatting
Fix terminology drift Glossaries
Speed up or unblock a translation Performance Guidelines and Troubleshooting