A CAT tool is a software application that helps translators store, retrieve, and reuse content through translation memories, terminology databases, alignment features, and quality-check routines. In localization production documents, CAT tools are the central environment for file preparation, segmentation, TM leverage, terminology checks, and delivery of translated files, and their configuration shapes how work is assigned and measured.
CAT tool settings appear in project kits, file-preparation instructions, and QA reports because filters, tag handling, and TM matches change how text is presented to linguists. Production teams reference CAT tool versions, file formats, and user roles when managing translation memories, termbases, and final export steps in large multilingual projects.
Teams may assume that CAT tools translate content automatically, confusing them with machine translation, or they may ignore tool-specific filter and tag issues until final export. That leads to corrupted files, broken placeholders, missed matches, and expensive rework after the translation phase has ended, all of which can inflate cost and turnaround time.
For creative and consumer content the failure mode is flatness, not inaccuracy — and flatness passes an accuracy check. Terms here also carry technical constraints (reading speed, character budgets) that are part of the brief.
Angel Translation locks terms like this into a project terminology base before expert review begins, so the same source term resolves to the same target term across every document in a submission — and stays consistent in the next revision. See the 8-step AI + expert workflow.
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