The editor: blocks & sentences
The editor is where translation becomes yours. It’s built so you can change a single sentence and leave everything else exactly as it was.
On this page
What are blocks and versions?
A block is a paragraph or heading; documents split into blocks at ingest. Each translation of a block is a version — re-translating produces a new one and keeps the old, with one version active at a time. That’s your safety net: anything you change can be rolled back from the block’s version history.
How do I edit a single sentence?
Click any sentence to edit it inline, or regenerate just that sentence with an optional direction — “make this more formal,” “match the rhythm of the previous line.” You can also pick from alternatives for a sentence; see Translation variants.
Both are free. Words are spent when a block is translated — editing by hand, regenerating a sentence, and asking for alternatives cost nothing, so you can keep refining until it reads right.
How do I reuse a translation I already approved?
The sidebar Memory panel surfaces past translations for the block you’re on, so you can reuse your established wording instead of starting over. In the editor, memory is on by default — the Memory button on the block toolbar or in the batch dialog lets you skip it or tune it per run. Set defaults per document, or workspace-wide, from the Translation memory settings page. See translation memory.
How do I search inside a document?
The sidebar has a Search tab, also reachable with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+F. It searches the document you have open by exact text rather than by meaning, so it answers instantly and costs nothing. Pick which side to look at (source, translation, or both), turn on Match case when you need it, and click any result to jump to that block. The panel stays open while you move around.
A glossary term’s find-uses button opens the same tab in term mode: it matches the term and every variant form you gave it, counts each form separately, and flags blocks where the source term is present but the translation is missing the target term. That makes it a free way to spot-check terminology before running the AI glossary audit. See Glossaries.
Does editing or reworking a sentence cost words?
No. Words are spent only when a block is translated — that is the only thing that spends them. Editing by hand, reworking a sentence, asking for alternatives, leaving comments, and exporting are all free, so refining a translation until it reads right never costs you more. See Plans, words & the free tier.
Why does clicking Translate on a single block open a whole-page dialog?
Because the document has no translations yet. On a completely untranslated document, a block’s Translate opens the page-translation dialog instead of translating just that block — the first pass works best with full document context and shared terminology. Nothing runs or bills until you confirm. Once the document has any translation at all, per-block Translate works normally, and Regenerate is never gated.
Can I fix a typo in the source text, not just the translation?
Yes — the source is editable, and there is no fixed “original.” If the document has other language versions, editing one version’s source makes a Re-sync source button appear; clicking it brings every other version into line with the one you are on, and their changed blocks come back untranslated so you can re-translate just those. See Translating into several languages.
What happens if a teammate is editing the same block as me?
You see it as taken. Transept locks a block while someone is editing it, alongside live cursors, live comments, and threads that resolve in real time — so two people never quietly overwrite each other. See real-time collaboration.
Still stuck? Ask Literess in the app, or write to [email protected].