CatScribe Docs

#Editing Without Breaking Formatting

Translation review should improve the text without damaging the structure around it. This is especially important for EPUB, DOCX, PDF, and subtitle files where markup, styles, or timing may be part of the content.

#Editing Principles

  • Change the words, not the document structure, unless you mean to.
  • Preserve placeholders, tags, links, and special punctuation.
  • Keep paragraph boundaries when they carry layout meaning.
  • Review exported files in the app that will display them.
  • Fix repeated formatting issues at the source when possible.

#Common Protected Elements

Watch for elements that should usually remain intact:

Element Example
HTML or subtitle tags <i>text</i>
Placeholders {name}, %s, {{count}}
Links https://example.com
Footnote markers [1], *, †
Speaker labels JOHN:
Timestamps 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,000

#Safe Editing Workflow

  1. Review the source and target side by side.
  2. Edit only the translated text first.
  3. Keep tags and placeholders in the same logical position.
  4. Re-run only the affected segment if an AI refinement step damages formatting.
  5. Export a small sample and inspect it before processing the full project.

#Example: Preserve Tags

Source:

<i>Open the door.</i>

Good target:

<i>Abra a porta.</i>

Risky target:

<i>Abra a porta.

The risky version is missing the closing tag. That can cause styling problems later in the file.

#Example: Avoid Merged Words

Merged words can appear when source text extraction loses spacing or when a line break is removed incorrectly.

If you see text such as:

umabertura

Check whether it should be:

uma abertura

Then review nearby segments for similar spacing problems before exporting.