Everyday workflows
Updated 10 September 2026 for development version 1.0.0. These instructions describe implemented features. The three end-to-end demonstrations below have not been recorded on the current app; historical screenshots are not proof of a current run. No cloud-provider comparison or human quality score is claimed. See release notes.
Get ready before starting
Use an Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 15 or later. Store availability and the launch date are not confirmed here; use a verified distribution link when one is announced. Free has 10 completed materials per local day. Documents and Parallel need Pro or an active trial. Start the optional seven-day trial deliberately after the selected engine is ready; it does not start just because you open the app.
Choose a translation engine and language pair. Apple Translate may require macOS language packs. For a local AI engine, download the model, wait for validation and load it. A configured model is not the same as a downloaded or loaded one. Check the app’s readiness message and the model’s role: a translation model need not support glossary correction. A smaller model may fit where a larger one cannot; no physical 8 GB performance claim has been verified. See models.
An on-device engine keeps inference on this Mac. A loopback server is also on this Mac; a LAN server is on another computer. Your own API key sends the request directly to that provider, with separate billing. Offline mode blocks new app-managed model downloads and cloud/LAN translations; it is not a firewall and does not control Apple-managed downloads, purchases or other apps. Inspect the selected engine and any glossary helper, not just the main model.
Task 1 — a batch of texts and images
Use synthetic material without personal data: text A, “The invoice is not paid. Send 12 copies to Acme.”; text B, “Keep the delivery address unchanged.”; and an image containing “Invoice 12 is not paid.”. Keep these same inputs when trying another engine. These are input fixtures, not invented translation results.
- Create a project for the batch. Choose a normal project if you want encrypted saved work, or a private session if you do not want content persisted.
- Add the texts through the input queue. Import images from files or a folder; inspect the preview, natural filename order, selected items and optional subfolders. Folder import takes a snapshot; it does not monitor future changes. Supported documents can join the same queue, subject to Pro/trial.
- Choose the source/target languages and inspect OCR and translation readiness. Images need recognition first. Scanner only produces text without translation and still counts as one completed Free material.
- Start the queue, inspect each result, then pause/resume or remove an item as needed. A shared engine/configuration problem pauses work; a bad individual item can be inspected and retried. Work runs one job at a time across projects.
- For a cloud comparison, duplicate the same fixtures into a separate project, explicitly choose/configure that provider and confirm the destination. API usage costs are separate; no paid requests were made for this guide.
One completed text or image is one material. Errors and cancellations do not consume a completed-material allowance. Free live writing starts with an explicit Translate; subsequent edits share that session, while a new paste or changed target starts another material. The app shows the local reset time.
Task 2 — compare the same paragraph
Use text A above, with the same source and target in both engines. Configure both engines, then open Compare. Check whether each destination is this Mac, another computer or an API provider. Compare shows two engines translating into one target language; Parallel is the separate Pro/trial mode for up to six target languages.
Read both complete outputs before choosing Use. Both sides together are one Free material. If one side fails, accepting the complete good side commits the material once; retrying the same material does not charge twice. Cancelling an incomplete Compare before accepting its partial result does not use a material. Changing the source or target starts a new material. Copying or reading an existing result remains available after a limit or trial ends.
With a glossary enabled, inspect missing terms and structural warnings. Base translation and glossary correction are separate versions. You may keep the base version or retry only the correction with a suitable helper, without repeating base translation. The current separate correction helper runs locally. An API translation engine sends the source and supported glossary instructions to its provider. Heuristic checks can flag missing terms, changed numbers or negation; they are not proof that meaning is correct. Explicitly confirm any new term you save.
Task 3 — a document before and after
Create a Markdown file with the heading “Invoice”, the sentence “Do not change {customer_id}.” and a table with Item/Count columns and Subscription/12 as its row. Keep the source unchanged, add it to the file queue and choose the output format. This task requires Pro or an active trial. Inspect the result beside the source, especially numbers, names, negation and glossary entries; save/export the chosen version as a separate file. For layout-bearing DOCX/PPTX/EPUB, open the exported copy in its normal reader too.
In a normal project, completed stages and verified working files can survive restart. Restored work starts paused, never automatically: choose Resume. The smallest interrupted stage may run again. An unreadable project is opened read-only rather than overwritten; keep the original data and resolve the displayed error. Relink an unavailable external document or retain a managed copy when offered. A private session does not provide durable content recovery. Older snapshots that never stored a base file cannot reconstruct it without translating again.
A failed accounting save keeps a completed candidate; retry saves/accounting without translating it again. Switching the selected base/corrected file changes the actual exported file, not only a label.
Input and output matrix
| Input | Output | What to inspect |
|---|---|---|
| TXT | TXT or Markdown text | Text content; large text is processed in chunks |
| Markdown | Markdown or TXT | Code/URLs are protected where supported; review formatting |
| RTF | TXT or Markdown text | Text extraction, without layout round-trip |
| ODT (development implementation) | New ODT copy; legacy jobs retain TXT/Markdown | Body paragraphs, headings and string table cells; inline nodes, styles and package members retained. Fields, notes, graphics and headers preserved without translation. Unit roundtrip verified; LibreOffice visual review remains unverified |
| ODP (development implementation) | New ODP copy | Slide text and optional speaker notes; nodes, styles, graphics and other package members retained. Unit roundtrip verified; manual LibreOffice review and real-model translation: NOT RUN |
| TXT or Markdown text | Text extraction; pages without a text layer use local OCR. No reconstructed PDF output | |
| DOCX | DOCX copy | Supported document parts and run formatting, best effort; review tables, headers/footers, notes and layout in Word |
| PPTX | PPTX copy | Slide text; speaker notes only when enabled. Review the presentation in PowerPoint |
| DRM-free EPUB | EPUB copy | Supported package/text structure, best effort; review in an EPUB reader. DRM-protected books are declined |
| SRT (development implementation) | New SRT file | UTF-8, optional BOM, LF/CRLF; source numbering, timestamps, supported tags and line count retained. Unit roundtrip verified; playback in a real player remains unverified |
| Images | Recognized text, optionally translated text | OCR accuracy; no image-layout translation export |
| CSV / TSV (development implementation) | New file with selected encoding/separator | Explicit column and header selection; original quoting, empty cells, numbers and identifiers preserved where protected. Generated formula-like values receive a leading apostrophe. Unit roundtrip verified; external spreadsheet review remains unverified |
| XLSX (development implementation) | New XLSX copy | Explicit sheet/column/header selection; text cells only. Formulas, types, styles, shared strings and unselected cells preserved within the tested subset. Unit roundtrip verified; Excel/LibreOffice visual review remains unverified |
| CSV / TSV / XLSX glossary | Glossary entries | Separate glossary import: map source, target and optional notes |
File translation inputs are TXT, MD, RTF, ODT, ODP, PDF, DOCX, PPTX, EPUB, SRT, CSV, TSV and XLSX. Outputs are TXT, MD, ODT, ODP, DOCX, PPTX, EPUB, SRT, CSV, TSV and XLSX; package outputs remain tied to the matching package input, not arbitrary format conversion. XML well-formedness does not establish visual or semantic fidelity. SmartArt, image text inside Office packages, field instructions and unsupported elements are not promised as translated.
SRT currently accepts at most 5 MiB and 10,000 cues, with 8192 UTF-8 payload bytes per cue and a source-dependent growth budget. Supported tags are balanced b, i, u and font with restricted color values. Invalid structure or changed line count is rejected; long lines and fast reading produce a warning without shortening text. Export to a new file and review playback before use.
ODT translates individual text nodes: a style or link boundary can split a sentence, so review translation quality and layout. Generated whitespace reflow is rejected. Supported UTF-8 XML packages are limited to 32 MiB compressed, 64 MiB expanded and 16 MiB per member; encrypted or malformed packages are declined. Save a new copy and inspect it in your document reader before use.
Projects, privacy and recovery
Name projects, save language/engine defaults, search/select or archive them. Switching projects does not start a second model worker. Normal projects save encrypted content and work state; a private session is separate and retains no durable content. Deleting or archiving a project is not the same as deleting an external source file. Exported files and clipboard copies are outside encrypted storage. Follow the actual saved/error/read-only indicator before quitting.
To recover: reopen the project, inspect paused jobs and the error, restore missing input access if necessary, then explicitly resume. A damaged or unavailable usage ledger can pause new Free work; it does not erase existing results. Repair/retry the storage error instead of deleting the ledger to reset usage. Existing verified Pro has a continuation path during usage-storage faults.
Glossary, models and API costs
Create terms for each language pair or import CSV, TSV or XLSX; review column mapping before saving. Glossaries can be exported as CSV, TSV or XLSX. Base generation may use supported glossary instructions. Optional correction is a separate pass with its own model capability/readiness, versions and warnings. Check the selected text/file before export. No 98–99% success claim or guaranteed terminology accuracy is made.
An app purchase includes no API credits. A consumer ChatGPT or DeepL subscription is not an API account. Check provider configuration, key, model, permission to send the material and provider charges before using it. This release does not advertise a shipped Safari extension, public MCP integration, dedicated DeepL connector or selected-text replacement workflow. Those require their own release evidence.
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ODP: “Translate presentation speaker notes (PPTX and ODP)” is frozen when a job is admitted. Disabled notes remain unchanged. Limit: 1,000 slides; package and text-node limits match ODT. Translation follows text-node boundaries; fields, embedded objects and text inside graphics are not promised translated.