Did you know you can use a batch task to export translations from Trados Studio 2011 or 2014 into MS Word for review? After the review you can import the tracked changes and comments from Word back into Studio.
I have a Trados 4.5 licence with a USB dongle, and as Trados is the only thing I need my Windows PC for and as I much prefer working with a Mac I tried with VPC using Windows 2000 on My 1Gb PowerMac G4 with 1Gb of RAM and it does work quite well, slower than on the PC but very acceptable. The My SDL Trados app is an online information service, designed for anyone interested in having SDL news and SDL Trados Studio information at their fingertips. My SDL Trados enables you to quickly and confidently access SDL Trados Studio product information, stay up to date with the latest hints and tips and locate help and guidance.
As Studio is a Windows application, it will not run directly on MacOS. However, a Mac is able to also act as a Windows machine. There are two ways you can achieve this: Install Bootcamp, which is delivered by default with every Mac.
Of course, you can also use the SDL XLIFF Converter for this task – see the end of this post for more details.
The process is:
- Translate the document
- Use the Export for External Review batch task to generate a Word document from the SDL XLIFF file
- Have the reviewer edit this Word document
- Use the Update from External Review batch task to reimport the document to Trados Studio
Here’s how to do it:
1. Translate the original document in Trados Studio 2011 or 2014.
2. On the File menu, point to Batch Tasks and click Export for External Review.
3. The Batch Processing dialog box displays. Click Next.
4. On the Settings screen, select either the top-down or side-by-side layout type (I chose side-by-side), and check that the other settings are as you require.
5. Click Finish. Studio creates a project subfolder called External Review, which contains a subfolder for your target language. This contains a Word document with the same name as your original file plus the extension .review.docx.
The text in the generated document is in the form of a table. It includes both the source and target text, plus any comments.
6. Ask the reviewer to review the Word document, tracking changes and adding any comments.
7. When you receive the reviewed file, on the File menu in Studio, point to Batch Tasks and click Update from External Review.
The Batch Processing dialog box displays. Click Next.
8. On the Update from an External Review Document screen, click Add and then click Specific Bilingual Review Document. (Alternatively, you can import bilingual review documents from a folder.)
Select the file to import. This must have the .review.docx extension.
9. Select the status for the updated segments, and select the Create a backup of the project before updating check box if required. Then click Finish.
Trados Studio 2019 Machine Translation
10. The changes are imported into the SDL XLIFF file. When you open the file for review in Studio, you will see the tracked changes and comments.
SDL XLIFF Converter
Previously, you had to use the SDL XLIFF Converter to import and export from Studio for review in Word, which I covered in a previous post. You can still use the SDL XLIFF Converter to do this, and to do clever things with Excel – see What can you do with the SDLXLIFF Converter? by @paulfilkin for more information, as well as this post where it’s used to keep track of comments.
By Jayne Fox BSc MITI, German-English translator.
For German-English medical translation – and translation of corporate communications.
Trados Studio Machine Translation
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