When to use asset alignment
Depending on how translations were managed prior to the use of WorldServer, translation data may not have been stored or exported in a transferable format. While some systems leverage or support a common exchange format, such as TMX, other products may store data in a proprietary manner. If this is the case, the only accessible form of the translated content may be the actual translated documents. This process is valuable as a last resort. While it is not as effective as working from a TMX file, it can greatly decrease the translation costs when compared to having to start from ground zero.
Note that the alignment process is most effective with structured content with boundaries defined consistently by common markup. If the markup matches between the source and target, and the segments are not rearranged, the results may be more promising. Conversely, the alignment may not be reliable for plain text data, particularly if segments are rearranged on the target side and if the sentences do not map one-to-one between the source and target assets.