The main window

From top to bottom:

The toolbar

• Source and target language. Each language is listed with its code, such as Russian (ru); the source list starts with Auto (detect the language). The window opens with the default languages from Settings > General; a change here holds until you quit, or until you change the defaults. /l in the input box does the same from the keyboard (commands).
• ⇄ swaps the two languages. It is disabled while the source is Auto.
• The provider button names the translation provider in use, such as google ▼. Its menu switches providers for this run; see below.
• ⚠ appears when a provider in use lacks a required option (an API key, a server address). Click it to open Settings on the Providers tab.
• ⚙ opens Settings.

The transcript

Every translation is added to the transcript, newest at the bottom. Each entry shows your phrase and its translation, each behind a prompt, as in tagent-cli: the phrase’s names the language pair ([auto → ru]:), the translation’s the provider that made it ([deepl]:; for a dictionary entry the dictionary provider). So every entry still says which provider answered after you switch providers. A single word shows a dictionary entry: the main translation, the parts of speech, and the synonyms in brackets. Parts of speech, synonyms, a spelling-correction notice and errors each get their own color.

The transcript’s header names the providers in use for each job.

• The prompt is the speak button. Click [auto → ru 🔊]: before a phrase to hear it, in its source language (detected if auto); click [deepl 🔊]: before the translation to hear the translation, in the target language. For a dictionary entry, only the main translation is read. With the prompt turned off (Settings > View), a block starts with just 🔊. The prompt is tinted while it plays; click it again to stop, or press the speech hotkey again, or Esc in any application (Windows and Linux with X11; on Wayland only in Tagent’s window; while the hotkeys are active). Only one entry plays at a time: the others can’t be clicked meanwhile. With text-to-speech off (Settings > General), the 🔊 disappears from the prompts. The popup’s prompts speak the same way.
• Right-click an entry’s phrase or translation to copy it as plain text, without the prompt. A brief flash of its border confirms the copy. With “Show menu on right-click” (Settings > General), right-click opens a Copy menu instead.

The transcript is cleared when you quit. Text in it can’t be selected with the mouse; copy with right-click.

The input box

Type or paste text and press Enter, or click Translate. Shift+Enter starts a new line. The label before the box shows the selected language pair, [auto → ru]:. Drag the bar above the box to make it taller. Whenever the window opens (at startup, from the tray or from a second start), the keyboard focus is in the box, so you can type or paste right away.

📋 puts the clipboard’s content into the box, ready to translate.

A line starting with / can be a command: /l de sets the languages, /p deepl the provider, /help lists them all. See Commands in the input box.

Ctrl+V, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+A and Ctrl+Z work in any keyboard layout, Russian or Greek included: a key counts as the Latin letter at its place on a US keyboard.

Switching providers

The provider button’s menu has a section for each job: Translation, Dictionary and Speech. Each lists the built-in providers and your profiles; a ⚠ marks one that lacks a required option, and a job that is turned off in Settings shows (off).

A pick holds for this run only: the header marks it (this session), and Settings keeps showing, and saving, your defaults. The pick ends when you quit, pick the default again, or change that default in Settings. Providers… at the bottom of the menu opens Settings > Providers. /p in the input box lists and picks the same entries from the keyboard (commands).

See How providers work.

Closing the window

The window’s close button hides it to the tray; Tagent keeps running, and the hotkeys keep working. Quit in the tray menu exits. Without a tray, see Tray and startup. See Tray and startup.