What are Project Note Templates?
Any information that you would like to enter repeatedly in a project note, to ensure consistent information, can be placed in a note template. The template text will be automatically inserted into a note when you create a note and select the tag that contains the template you want to use. If you add the template text to the default note tag, it will appear in the default tag. These templates can be used to save time, to make notes more consistent, and can be helpful if you use several types of note tags. I will give some examples below, but you should make templates that are helpful for you.
Please note that only the project administrator can make templates for note tags. If that isn’t you, you can talk to your administrator about what you learn here.
Sample Note Template (without comments):
The following note was made with a template that included empty labels on the left such as BT, Text (RSV) and Category, etc, followed by a colon. The person completing the note filled in the information to the right of the labels.
Sample Note Template (with comments):
How to create a project note template
Templates can be added to any note tag, including the default note tag. You will have to decide as a team how you want to use the templates to keep your notes consistent, and to remind users to include the right information in each note. Your project can have as many templates as note tags that are defined.
To add a template to a note tag, go to Project menu > Project settings > Project properties.
Open the Notes tab of the Project properties:
Click in the Template column for the note tag where you want to add a template:
Type the first line of the template. (Use <Enter> to add additional lines)
Type the rest of the template.
Power Tip: Searching for Hashtags “#”, and collecting Information from Notes
Many consultants find it helpful to know how many of their suggestions were accepted by the team. They feel it is a measure of how well the project is running. If you adopt a convention of hashtags (such as #Accepted, #Rejected, and #Backtranslation_issue), then you will be able to filter the project notes for these and tabulate statistics for a project. For some additional ideas on tabulated statistics on project notes see the video:
One more example template:
Power Tip: Make a Tag and Template for CONNOT Style Notes.
Many translation consultants build a corpus of CONNOT styled notes as they work. CONNOT is derived from CONsultant NOTes and is a format that produces notes that are detailed enough for further study and can be shared with other translation practitioners. It is also used frequently to train new translation consultants (Often referred to as consultants in training or CiTs) Even if a consultant does not plan to submit their notes to the formal collection, some find using this style helps them to more clearly define the translation issues and communicate that information with teams. (For a description of the CONNOT system: See CONNOT: A Coordinated System for Making Consultant Notes, Notes on Translation 6, no. 3 (1992); Update on the CONNOT Project, Notes on Translation Vol. 12 No. 3 (1998): 34–53. These two articles are available on Translator’s Workplace.)
Suggested CONNOT template fields for new translation consultants (CiTs)
Here is an example of this CONNOT template in use in a translation project
Adding a custom tag for CONNOT style notes will make it easier to add a CONNOT style note when needed. If you plan to make research-oriented CONNOT style notes at the same time as making notes for a team, you will have to either tell the team to ignore the CONNOT notes that they may see or place them in a consultant notes project. It is recommended that you use a consultant notes project for notes not intended for the team, because it will be less confusing for them. Paratext has keyboard shortcut keys for inserting project notes (Ctrl+Shift+N) and consultant notes (Ctrl+Shift+I). By using the two keyboard shortcut keys, you can easily place the notes in different places as you work through a text. You will need to have already created a consultant notes project before you can use this method.
Consultant Notes Project
If you are not familiar with consultant notes projects, you can learn more by typing “Introduction to consultant notes projects” in Paratext’s search box.
Copying Custom Note Tags and Note Templates to Other Projects
You can actually use the same custom note tags and templates in different projects, without having to recreate them multiple times. If you would like to set this up, please contact a Paratext Supporter or a Language Technology Specialist and ask them to help you with this.
Conclusion
We have seen how templates can help you write more consistent notes. They also can save time by eliminating the need to type things that are repeated in every note. Templates can help you work with trainees or other consultants in a more efficient way. They can facilitate Biblical research by helping you make complete notes of a consistent style. The CONNOT system was developed for these reasons and if you have interest in that system, then read the cited articles from Notes on Translation.
Now that you have had a taste of what templates can do, you can try them and see if they will help you in your Bible translation ministry.
