Creating .pot Files in PoEdit for Translators

This post carries on from a previous post on GETTEXT. It assumes that you have downloaded and installed PoEdit and that you have set up GETTEXT strings in your files.

What's a .pot File?

.pot files allow you to create a template for translators in order to create their own .po files, which can then be sent back to you or if you have an application that you allow users to download, they can be used on their own versions.

.pot files have the same file format as .po files, except that they don't contain any translated strings.

Therefore you create them exactly as you would a .po file from the source (your site files).

1. Fire up PoEdit and open up File | Preferences... to get the dialog below. On the Editor tab, have a look at the settings, and you may wish to set them as the following:
   
2. Now, create a new catalogue, File | New catalogue.... Fill in the main properties:
   
   Then, enter the paths to check for GETTEXT strings:
   
   Once you click, OK, save the file with a .pot extension:
   

Now you're set up with a .pot file. You can now distribute the .pot file itself. Translators can create their own .po files from the File | New catalogue from POT file...