Shared blank document for notes

Question

Hi

Is it possible to have a shared blank document for notes? Our teams needs a place to write different decisions, we make during the translation process.

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you create a folder called “shared” (all lower case letters) inside your project folder, whatever files are put in that folder are shared when you send/receive. So you could use this as a way to circulate a document among the whole team. This might not work well if different people edit the document at the same time. If that is what you will be doing, you might be better off making your shared document in a Google drive folder or some other cloud file sharing setup.

Comments

I would add the caveat that you should only put very small files in that folder, like text files rather than Word documents. Otherwise you will quickly overload the send/receive for all users of the project.

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Thank you. I will check it out

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Ok, thanks.

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Hello again,

I found out that I actually don’t know how to create a folder in the project folder.
Where can I do this?

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You use Windows explorer outside of paratext to create the folder and put the text file into it. It will not update automatically but only when you change text in your paratext project. It also is not accessible from inside paratext.

Alternative, you could have a paratext note at the beginning of Matthew or Genesis or in the XXA book, examples of locations easily remembered and found, and always use that note. It depends upon what you want to keep track of and how much text you will create.

Answer 2

I agree that a Google Doc would probably be the easiest to use, but if you really want to keep everything internal to Paratext, instead of creating a text file, it might be easier to add another book to the project, that you use just to document these these kinds of decisions. Then, putting it in a different sync group will allow you to have it open at the same time as you look at other passages.

Another advantage over a simple text file is that you could control editing access too.

Answer 3

If you are recording notes on particular passages, such as exegetical decisions, then I recommend creating a whole new project for recording your notes. Configure it as an Auxiliary project (In the Project Settings dialog). When you create a book you can select the “Create based on” option to fill in all the verse markers based on your main project. Then you can enter notes under their relevant verse.

Answer 4

Ok, thank you everyone. I will look into it. A google document could be the best way to go.

Thanx

Comments

We do a combination of a notes project in Paratext (this we use for exegetical thoughts and their discussion, as it is verse related), with an extra paragraph explaining the chapter structure and specifics on top, and separate Google sheets for the names, the places, and key term discussion between the translators that serve as a base for consultant checks too. This works well for the names and places, the key term file is a bit harder to handle, as we want to keep in all of the background discussion.

Answer 5

I like anon989803’s suggestion. We have done this and it works well. You can distribute the notes via Send/Receive and know that they will always be available (as long as people do include this new project). It would work like a back-translation project. I would set the project’s “short name” to sort alongside the main project, to make it easy to find in the projects list.

Comments

I agree with KimB and anon989803 - separate Auxiliary project, where you can keep notes on specific verses/passages.

Answer 6

We want our teams to record their general editing decisions (their style decisions), like:
–when do we use a colon vs when do we use an emdash, or
–how will we do poetry sections, what SFM will we use, or
–do we use or not use the Oxford comma in in-line lists, or
–do we capitalize High Priest or Holy of Holies or pronouns for God/Jesus, or
–does our language even use semi-colons, or
–will we use Bible measures or modern measures, or
–… ?
This way, when we do a technical edit of the translation, we know what to expect from the translation team’s text.
Our current idea of where to collect this information is in the PT book you can create called “Other.” That way, it is something that can be added to/edited by the team and accessed by the technical staff.
It would not be printed, of course.