Troubleshooting

Something not working? Find the problem below. If your exact error message is here, it explains what it means and what to do.

Shortcuts and selection

Selection translation does nothing

Selection Translation ⌥D reads the text you have highlighted through the Accessibility permission. Some apps do not expose their selection to it: Electron apps (many chat and note apps are built this way), terminals, and a few browsers. In those, nothing happens.

You have several fallbacks that do not depend on reading the selection:

• Clipboard Translation ⌥C. Copy the text yourself with ⌘C, then press ⌥C. This needs no permission.
• Translate on double copy. Turn it on in Settings ▸ Shortcuts ▸ Quick Actions, then press ⌘C twice quickly. It works in every app, including Electron apps and terminals.
• PopClip or Raycast, which also need no Accessibility permission.

Silent Selection Translation ⇧⌥D pastes its result rather than writing it, so it works in more places than plain Selection Translation, including many of the apps above.

A shortcut does nothing

Another app probably owns that key combination. Only one app can hold a given global shortcut, and TransOne cannot detect the conflict for you. Record a different combination in Settings ▸ Shortcuts. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Translate on double copy misses

Your two ⌘C presses were too close together. Presses closer than about 0.2 seconds apart are read as a single copy, and nothing happens. Press ⌘C slightly slower, leaving a small gap between the two.

Translate on double copy fires when it should not

A clipboard manager or a sync tool is writing to the clipboard right after you copy, which looks like a second ⌘C. Turn the gesture off in Settings ▸ Shortcuts ▸ Quick Actions and use Clipboard Translation ⌥C instead.

Screenshots and permissions

A screenshot feature still says the permission is missing

The Screen Recording permission only takes effect after TransOne is quit and reopened. Granting it is not enough on its own. The guide card that appears has a Quit & Reopen button; use it, and the screenshot features will work.

Accessibility stopped working after an update

After TransOne updates, macOS sometimes drops the updated app from the Accessibility list, so the permission you granted before goes quiet. Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Accessibility and switch TransOne back on. If that does not help, remove TransOne from the list with the minus button and add it again. This is macOS behavior, not something TransOne controls. See Permissions.

The menu bar icon is missing

TransOne has no Dock icon and no main window, so if its menu bar icon is gone it can look like the app has vanished. Usually the menu bar is just too crowded and macOS has hidden it. Hold ⌘ and drag the menu bar icons to rearrange them and make room. You can also change or restore the icon in Settings ▸ General.

Engines and keys

Each message below is shown by an engine when a translation fails.

"Authentication failed. Check the API key in Preferences."

The engine rejected your credentials. The API key (or ID and secret) is wrong, expired, or for a different service. Open Preferences from the menu bar icon, go to Settings ▸ Translation Services, and re-enter the key for that engine. See Translation engines.

"Rate limited by the service. Wait a moment and try again."

You sent requests faster than the engine allows. Wait a little and try again. Free endpoints, such as Google Translate (Free), are more likely to do this.

"Network error. Check your connection."

TransOne could not reach the engine. Check that your Mac is online. If you use a proxy, check its settings in Settings ▸ General ▸ Proxy.

"The request timed out. Try again."

The engine did not answer in time. This is usually a passing network hiccup or a busy service. Try again.

"The service returned an empty translation."

The engine replied but sent nothing back. Try again, or switch to another engine for that text.

"Couldn't tell which language this is. Choose a source language and try again."

Auto-detect could not decide what language the text is, often because it is very short or mixes languages. In the translation window, set the source language by hand in the language bar and try again.

"The language pack for X isn't installed yet."

This is the System (On-Device) engine. Apple downloads a language pack per language pair, on demand. The translation window shows a Download button when a pack is missing; click it and wait for the download to finish.

"On-device translation isn't available for this language pair."

Apple's on-device translator does not support that particular pair of languages. Use a different engine for it. See Translation engines.

"Authorization may have expired. Update the token in settings."

This comes from Wordbook sync. The token for Eudic or MaiMemo is no longer valid. Open Settings ▸ Translation Settings, go to the wordbook section, and enter a fresh token, then press Verify.

On-device translation says it needs macOS 15, or offers a Download button

The System (On-Device) engine is Apple's, and it requires macOS 15 or later. On macOS 14 that one engine is unavailable, while every other engine still works. If you are on macOS 15 and it offers a Download button instead, the language pack for that pair simply is not on your Mac yet; click Download. To use a newer macOS, update from System Settings ▸ General ▸ Software Update.

Ollama or LM Studio cannot be reached

These engines talk to a server running on your own Mac. Make sure the app is running and its local server is started, and that the Base URL and Model in TransOne match what the app is serving. The defaults are http://localhost:11434/v1 for Ollama and http://localhost:1234/v1 for LM Studio. See Local and offline models.

Translation quality and languages

The translation looks wrong or too literal

Different engines are better at different pairs of languages. Turn on more than one engine in Settings ▸ Translation Services and compare their results side by side, then keep the one you trust for that kind of text. See Translation engines.

It translated into the wrong language

The target language is picked from your settings for that text. Open the translation window and set the target by hand in the language bar for a one-off, or change your defaults in Settings ▸ Translation Settings.

Purchase and trial

The trial ended

When the 7-day free trial ends, only the translation window is locked, and it shows an Upgrade card. Preferences and read-aloud keep working. To unlock it, buy the one-time upgrade in Settings ▸ Upgrade. If you already own TransOne on another Mac with the same Apple Account, use Restore Purchase instead.

Still stuck

Email [email protected]. To get a fast answer, include:

• your macOS version;
• your TransOne version, from Settings ▸ About;
• the engine you were using;
• what you did, and what happened.