The term filtering, in Adapt It, refers to hiding of certain types of information so that it is not visible in the adaptation process. Filtered material is not normally necessary to the adaptation process, but provides additional information about the source text. Filtered information may be retrieved when needed. When Adapt It inputs a standard format text file, it applies certain filtering rules to the information in the file. Thus, some information is visible and some is hidden.
Adapt It always filters some text associated with certain standard format markers because this text never appropriate for adaptation. These markers include the \bt markers associated with back translation, the \free markers associated with free translation, and the \note markers associated with Adapt It Notes, consultant or advisor notes, etc.
Other markers are never filtered. Most of these markers directly control or explain the text. They include \c and \v which are associated with chapter numbers and verse numbers. Other markers direct the formatting of the text such as \p and \q associated with marking paragraphs and quotations.
Still other markers can be filtered according to the preference of the user. These include markers such as the \f and \f* footnote bracketing markers, the \s section heading markers and many others. You have to decide if you want to see this material as part of the adaptation process. It is likely that you may want to filter these markers when you are just beginning the adaptation process. Footnotes, for example might confuse the translator if made visible too early. Later on, when beginning to prepare for publication, you may want to make the footnotes visible and then adapt them.
You can set the filtering status of many standard format markers at any time using the Filtering tab of the Preferences dialog which is accessed from the Edit menu. See Filtering tab for more information.
Adapt It always knows about where filtered material occurs in the text even if it is not visible. This is because filtered material is not actually removed, but merely hidden. Thus, Adapt It can always retrieve filtered material when needed.
By default, Adapt It propagates or passes along filtered material when exporting documents as standard format text files. (See Propagation of filtered information for more information.) The only exception is when you intentionally remove filtered material from the export using Adapt It's Export Filter/Options button.
Adapt It advanced topics overview