Re:AWB
I have some experience with it, but not an expert. To start with: (i) I look at the changes it made and don't save them is those are minor - not to clutter the edit history and someones watchlists; I also don't put some tags; like "orphan" (ii) In "options", "normal settings", I add a set of my personal replacements; then "file" "save settings" and those are saved for another session. (iii) you can copy the output of AWB into another text editor, continue fixing other problems and then save in a usual WP window or copy back to AWB.