Text Editing

Rich text editor with formatting, search/replace, and Word document import/export

Overview

BallonTranslator provides a comprehensive text editing system with WYSIWYG rich text formatting, search/replace functionality, and document import/export capabilities.

Switch to Text Edit Mode by pressing T or clicking the text edit button in the bottom toolbar.

Text Editing Interface

The text editing panel on the right side displays:

• Source Text Editor: Original detected/OCR’d text (top)
• Translation Editor: Translated text (bottom)
• Font Formatting Panel: Rich text formatting controls

Creating Text Blocks

Add new text blocks manually using the text block creation tool:

1. Activate Text Block Mode

   Press W or click the text block button in the bottom toolbar.

2. Draw Text Block

   Right-click and drag on the canvas to create a rectangular text block.

3. Edit Text

   The new text block appears in the right panel. Type or paste your text.

Text blocks can be moved by dragging, resized using the corner handles, and rotated using the rotation handle.

Text Formatting

Basic Formatting

Apply common text styles using keyboard shortcuts or the formatting toolbar:

Format	Shortcut	Description
Bold	Ctrl+B	Make text bold
Italic	Ctrl+I	Italicize text
Underline	Ctrl+U	Underline text

Font Properties

The formatting panel provides extensive control over text appearance:

Font Family

• Choose from system fonts or custom-loaded fonts
• Filter to show only custom fonts (configurable)

Font Size

• Adjust text size in points
• Auto-sizing attempts to fit text within balloon

Colors

• Text Color: Main text fill color
• Stroke Color: Text outline/stroke color
• Stroke Width: Thickness of text outline

Effects

• Opacity: Text transparency (0-100%)
• Shadow: Add drop shadow to text
  • Shadow offset X/Y
  • Shadow blur radius
  • Shadow color

Alignment and Orientation

Alignment

• Left align
• Center align
• Right align

Writing Direction

• Horizontal
• Vertical

Line Spacing

• Adjust spacing between lines
• Important for fitting text in balloons

Advanced Formatting Features

Font Style Presets

Save and reuse text formatting:

1. Create Style

   Format text with your desired properties (font, color, size, etc.).

2. Save as Preset

   Click the Save Style button and name your preset.

3. Apply Preset

   Select text blocks and choose a preset from the style dropdown to apply all formatting at once.

Font style presets can be imported/exported as JSON files, allowing you to share formatting across projects.

Batch Formatting

Apply formatting to multiple text blocks simultaneously:

1. Select Multiple Blocks

   • Ctrl+A: Select all text blocks on current page
   • Ctrl+Click: Add/remove individual blocks from selection
   • Shift+Click: Select a range of blocks
2. Apply Formatting

   Changes made in the formatting panel apply to all selected blocks.

3. Auto Layout

   Right-click and select Auto layout to automatically adjust text positioning and sizing for selected blocks.

Search and Replace

Page Search

Search and replace text on the current page:

1. Open Search

   Press Ctrl+F to open the page search widget.

2. Enter Search Term

   Type your search term. Matches highlight automatically.

3. Configure Options

   • Whole Word: Match complete words only
   • Case Sensitive: Respect letter case
   • Regex: Use regular expressions
   • Search Range: Source text, translated text, or both
4. Replace

   Enter replacement text and click:

   • Replace One: Replace current match
   • Replace All: Replace all matches on page

Global Search

Search across all pages in the project:

1. Open Global Search

   Press Ctrl+G or click the global search icon in the left sidebar.

2. Search All Pages

   Enter search term. Results display with page names and line numbers.

3. Navigate Results

   Click any result to jump to that page and text block.

4. Global Replace

   Use Replace All to replace text across all pages in the project.

Global replace operations cannot be undone across multiple pages. Always save before performing large-scale replacements.

OCR Selected Text

Re-run OCR on specific text blocks:

1. Select Text Blocks

   Click or Ctrl+click to select one or more text blocks.

2. Right-Click Menu

   Right-click and choose:

   • OCR: Run OCR only
   • OCR and translate: Run OCR + translation
   • OCR, translate and inpaint: Full pipeline for selected blocks

Document Import/Export

Export to Word Document

Export translated text to Microsoft Word format:

1. Open Export Menu

   File → Export → Export as Doc

2. Choose Options

   Select what to export:

   • Source text only
   • Translated text only
   • Both source and translation
3. Save Document

   Choose save location. Text from all pages exports to a single .docx file.

Import from Word Document

Import translated text from Word documents:

1. Open Import Menu

   File → Import → Import from Doc

2. Select Document

   Choose the .docx file containing translations.

3. Map Content

   The import dialog helps map document content to text blocks.

Text structure (page order, block order) must match the exported document for successful import.

Export as Text/Markdown

Export plain text or markdown:

• File → Export → Export Source Text (.txt/.md)
• File → Export → Export Translation (.txt/.md)

Text Editor Features

Source Text Editor

• View and edit OCR-detected text
• Corrections sync to the text block on canvas
• Undo/redo supported

Translation Editor

• Edit machine-translated text
• Manual translation input
• Real-time preview on canvas
• Rich text formatting applies to canvas rendering

Selection Menu

When you select text in the editor:

• Search on Internet: Search selected text using configured search engine
• Look up in SalaDict: Integration with SalaDict browser extension for dictionary lookups

Configuring SalaDict

To enable SalaDict integration:

1. Install the SalaDict browser extension
2. Open Settings → Editor → SalaDict Shortcut
3. Set your SalaDict activation shortcut (default: Alt+W)
4. Select text in BallonTranslator to trigger dictionary lookup

See the SalaDict setup guide for detailed instructions.

Text Block Operations

Context Menu

Right-click on a text block for quick actions:

• Copy (Ctrl+C): Copy text block
• Paste (Ctrl+V): Paste text block
• Delete (Ctrl+D): Delete text block
• Copy source text (Ctrl+Shift+C): Copy only source text
• Paste source text (Ctrl+Shift+V): Paste source text
• Delete and Recover (Ctrl+Shift+D): Delete and restore removed text from original image
• Apply font formatting: Apply current format panel settings
• Auto layout: Automatically adjust position and size
• Reset Angle: Reset rotation to 0°
• Squeeze: Compress text to fit balloon
• Translate: Run translation on selected blocks
• Inpaint: Run inpainting on selected blocks

Moving and Resizing

Move Text Blocks

• Click and drag to move
• Arrow keys for precise positioning

Resize Text Blocks

• Drag corner handles to resize
• Shift+drag to maintain aspect ratio

Rotate Text Blocks

• Drag the rotation handle
• Or right-click → Reset Angle to reset

Navigation and View Controls

Switch Between Text Blocks

• Alt+Arrow Keys or Alt+WASD: Navigate between text blocks
• PageUp/PageDown: While editing a text block, switch to previous/next block

Fold/Unfold Editors

Collapse editors to see more text blocks:

• Click the Fold button in the format panel
• Editors change to single-line mode

Show/Hide Editors

Toggle visibility of source and translation editors:

• Source Text Toggle: Show/hide source editor
• Translation Toggle: Show/hide translation editor

Hiding unused editors provides more space for the formatting panel and canvas.

Keyboard Substitution

Automate text replacement during OCR and translation:

1. Access Substitution Settings

   From the Run menu or toolbar:

   • OCR Keyword Substitution: Replace text after OCR
   • Pre-MT Keyword Substitution: Replace before translation
   • MT Keyword Substitution: Replace after translation
2. Add Rules

   Define find/replace pairs:

   • Source term → Replacement term
   • Supports regular expressions
3. Save and Apply

   Rules apply automatically during the selected stage of processing.

Keyword substitution is useful for:

• Fixing common OCR errors
• Standardizing terminology
• Handling character names consistently

Next Steps

Keyboard Shortcuts

View the complete list of keyboard shortcuts

Automated Translation

Learn about the automated translation pipeline