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Auto-Propagation

Auto-Propagation is a feature of Lilt Translate that saves linguists time by automatically using a segment's target text to fill and replace the target text of other segments with matching source content. If you set or change the translation of a specific phrase in a document, Auto-Propagation will set or change other instances of that phrase throughout the rest of the document.

Auto-Propagation functions by:

  • affecting only the current document
  • changing segments with matching context (overwriting any existing content)
  • confirming the changed segments after propagation changes are made

Auto-Propagation functionality

Auto-Propagation is always applied to unconfirmed segments, whether or not the segment target text has content. When a segment is confirmed, Auto-Propagation copies the confirmed target text to all unconfirmed matching segments in the document and marks those segments as confirmed.

You can enable or disable Auto-Propagation to confirmed segments through the Settings tab by selecting/deselecting the following options:

  • Forward Auto-Propagation: When enabled, in addition to Auto-Propagation being applied to unconfirmed segments, Auto-Propagation will also be applied to confirmed matching segments after the updated segment. This will overwrite any target text in the matching segments.
  • Backward Auto-Propagation: When enabled, in addition to Auto-Propagation being applied to unconfirmed segments, Auto-Propagation will also be applied to confirmed matching segments before the updated segment. This will overwrite any target text in the matching segments.

Use cases for Forward and Backward Auto-Propagation:

  • By default, Forward and Backward Auto-Propagation are both enabled. This is a useful way to make sure translations are consistent across a document, because if you make a change to a segment, all segments with matching source text will update their target text to match.
  • If you want to ensure you do not overwrite content in confirmed segments, turn off both Forward and Backward Auto-Propagation.
  • Enabling only Forward Auto-Propagation is a good way to speed up translation (by automatically populating segments you haven't reached yet), while making sure to not overwrite content in matching segments you have already processed.
  • It is not common to only enable Backward Auto-Propagation.

Note that in Review mode, with Forward or Backward Auto-Propagation enabled, changes to accepted segments will overwrite segments that are not part of the review sample.

Auto-Propagation vs TM Leveraging

Auto-Propagation differs from TM Leveraging in the following ways:


TM LeveragingAuto-Propagation
ScopeAll documents sharing a Data SourceCurrent document open in Lilt Translate
Populates empty, unconfirmed segmentsYesYes
Populates filled, unconfirmed segmentsNoYes
Confirms the segment after populatingNo/Yes1Yes
Overwrites target textNoYes
Overwrites confirmed segmentsNoNo/Yes2
Displays match annotation after populatingYesNo

1 If Auto-confirm exact matches & repetitions is enabled in the Project Settings, segments populated by TM Leveraging will be marked as confirmed; otherwise, they will be left unconfirmed.

2 If Forward Auto-Propagation or Backward Auto-Propagation are enabled, in addition to Auto-Propagation being applied to unconfirmed segments, Auto-Propagation will also be applied to confirmed matching segments.

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