Karl Berry Olaf Bachmann and many others. When xgettext originally creates a PO file, unless told otherwise, it initializes the msgid field with the untranslated string, and leaves the msgstr string to be empty. Such entries, having an empty translation, are said to be untranslated entries. Later, when the programmer slightly modifies some string right in the program, this change is later reflected in the PO file by the appearance of a new untranslated entry for the modified string. The usual commands moving from entry to entry consider untranslated entries on the same level as active entries.
Some commands are more specifically related to untranslated entry processing.
M-e Find the previous untranslated entry. If none is found, the search is extended and wraps around in the PO file buffer. See section 5.4 Modifying Translations . Also, when time comes to quit working on a PO file buffer with the q command, the translator is asked for confirmation, if some untranslated string still exists.