Can normalization setting be changed without losing all project history

Question

I’m asking this question on this thread because it involves settings.xml
also. After much work in a Paratext 8 project we’ve discovered that the
Paratext Property setting of Normalization to Composed is reordering
diacritics unacceptably. They are typed in the correct order and then
Paratext is changing them. While the problem does not even show up in
Paratext, at typesetting, Indesign treats the two different orders
differently and the change Paratext introduces makes the diacritics collide
significantly. It would be really great if we could fix this by just
changing the normalization setting in settings.xml rather than creating an
entirely new project and losing our history. We don’t mind having to
manually reorder the diacritics once afterwards but we cannot allow
Paratext to keep reordering them incorrectly. We need to turn normalization
totally off.

Is editing settings.xml a useable solution and if so, what setting would we
use? I have another project with normalization set to none in Paratext and
the settings.xml file just does not list normalization as an feature. That
indicates just commenting out the line or deleting it but I’d like
confirmation before taking any action that could harm the project.

Blessings,

Shegnada J.

Language Technology & Publishing Coordinator, SIL Nigeria

Complex Script Layout Specialist, GPS Dallas

Skype: Shegnada.james.

([Phone Removed]

Answer 1

Generally, the best way to change the normalization of a project is to use Tools > Advanced > Convert Project. If you don’t go that route, parts of Paratext might have issues (e.g. biblical terms may not match correctly, interlinear may not find matching words, etc.).

However, because all of your data is currently normalized and you want to switch to non-normalized, it will probably work just fine to delete the line in the settings.xml file. I would strongly suggest you mark a point in project history and then do a S/R before trying, though, to make sure that there is a way to go back if something goes wrong.