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Poll: How many custom macros do you use?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 8, 2007

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How many custom macros do you use?".

This poll was originally submitted by Cecilia Falk

View the poll here

A forum topic will appear each time
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How many custom macros do you use?".

This poll was originally submitted by Cecilia Falk

View the poll here

A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629
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John Cutler
John Cutler  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
Ok, I give. What is it? May 8, 2007

I’m going to sit here ever so quietly and wait to be enlightened…

 
Noni Gilbert Riley
Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 08:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
Honesty is the best policy May 8, 2007

Full marks to John. I tried to sneak a look at the discussion for enlightenment, but only found out that I am in good company. Perhaps by another name?
Noni


 
Jennifer Forbes
Jennifer Forbes  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:14
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Me too May 8, 2007

John Cutler wrote:

I’m going to sit here ever so quietly and wait to be enlightened…


Come on, someone, please tell - what is it?
Is it, perhaps, a self-created standardised document such as I use for my invoices, for example?
Regards,
Jenny.


 
Marion van Venrooij-Rooijmans
Marion van Venrooij-Rooijmans
Netherlands
Local time: 08:14
English to Dutch
Go here May 8, 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro

and read all about it. Or open MS Word and use Help to search for 'Macro'.

By the way, I only use predefined macros. I know how to create one myself, but I haven't had a reason to do so yet.

[Edited at 2007-05-08 14:36]


 
Cecilia Falk
Cecilia Falk  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:14
English to Swedish
What is a macro? May 8, 2007

Hello,
Since I am the one who suggested this poll, I suppose I should give a brief clarification.

"A macro is a way to automate a task that you perform repeatedly or on a regular basis. It is a series of commands and actions that can be stored and run whenever you need to perform the task. You can record or build a macro, and then play the macro to automatically repeat the series of commands or actions."

(The defin
... See more
Hello,
Since I am the one who suggested this poll, I suppose I should give a brief clarification.

"A macro is a way to automate a task that you perform repeatedly or on a regular basis. It is a series of commands and actions that can be stored and run whenever you need to perform the task. You can record or build a macro, and then play the macro to automatically repeat the series of commands or actions."

(The definition is taken from http://www.macros.com/whatmac.htm).

Trados, for example, is based on a set of macros written for Microsoft Word. Every time you open a segment, etc, a macro is "doing the job".

You can also create your own macros in Word by either recording tasks or (more advanced) by writing the code for the macro in the Visual Basic Editor, or a combination of both.

I use numerous macros that I have created over the years in Word. I am in no way a programmer, and I often still create the macros in Word 95 (using Word Basic that I once tried to study more in-depth), and then import them into my current version of Word.

Some of the macros I have created have only been used once in a specific project. Years ago I for example had to open about 100 of RTF files and change one line of text to another font or size or something, and then I created a macro that did this automatically while I could sit back and have a cup of coffee while files were being opened and closed at the speed of light on the screen.

Some of the macros I have wanted to create have been to complicated for me, so then I have assigned the actual programming part to people I know who are good programmers.

Apart from the two advanced macros that I have had custom made for me and that I use every day, I also use simpler ones all the time, for example one macro that colour codes text from one specified word or number or paragraph sign or whatever to another specified character. I use this for all sorts of things, for example when I update my web pages (which I still do in text mode in Word) – I then colour code all the html code for easier overview.

I also use macros when I perform alignments of texts. With the help of macros the aligning goes much faster this way than using for example WinAlign.

I have collected macros from free macro libraries on the Internet for years, and studied them and used snippets of code from them to create custom macros.

It would be interesting to hear what kind of macros other translators use.

Here are a few links to pages were macros can be downloaded:

MS Word macros for translators
http://web.ticino.com/multilingual/ms_word_macros_for_translators.htm

Useful Word Macros
(mostly for DVX users)
http://www.necco.ca/dv/word_macros.htm

GITS - Word Macros for Translators
http://ginstrom.com/software/wordmacros/

These are just a few examples, I am sure there are many more.

Best regards,
Cecilia
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Saskia Steur (X)
Saskia Steur (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:14
English to Dutch
+ ...
Great stuff May 8, 2007

Thanks a lot Cecilia, those links contain some great stuff.
I know what macros are, used to create them in WordPerfect for years before I was a translator, but my interest in them has been rekindled by your poll and information.

Thanks a lot,
Saskia


 
Nicholas Stedman
Nicholas Stedman  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 08:14
French to English
decimals macro May 8, 2007

I use an excellent little macro for changing commas into decimal points and spaces between series of 000 into commas.
1,26 becomes 1.26 and 1 000 becomes 1,000
This saves time in nearly every Fr- En technical translation


 
Claudia Aguero
Claudia Aguero  Identity Verified
Costa Rica
Local time: 01:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
How to create macros May 8, 2007

One I tried to create and use macros but I gave up after several attempts.
Do these sites show us how to create a macro? I'd love to try them´.

Thanks,


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 08:14
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Set language and hide/reveal hidden text in Trados May 8, 2007

Setting the language to UK English in Word drives me mad.

It's the penalty, of course, for thinking we invented it, we own it, but after I've been past Ireland, Jamaica and the Caribbean (why not Scotland while we're about it?) and a dozen others, you get to UK, with only South Africa, Trinidad, US and Zanzibar further down the list! (UK is called Storbritannien on my computer.)

Don't misunderstand me. I love them all. But you don't get the slightest hint of an Irish l
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Setting the language to UK English in Word drives me mad.

It's the penalty, of course, for thinking we invented it, we own it, but after I've been past Ireland, Jamaica and the Caribbean (why not Scotland while we're about it?) and a dozen others, you get to UK, with only South Africa, Trinidad, US and Zanzibar further down the list! (UK is called Storbritannien on my computer.)

Don't misunderstand me. I love them all. But you don't get the slightest hint of an Irish lullaby or a calypso to cheer you on your way before you get cramp in your wrist from holding the mouse down...

So I have one macro to set the whole document to UK and another to set a highlighted section of text to UK and leave the rest in whatever other language it may be.

Then I have two more that hide or reveal the codes when I work with Trados. They save a lot of mouse-work too.

It's a good thing we're not counting the custom additions to Autocorrect that tidy up the worst of my typos!
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Clarisa Moraña
Clarisa Moraña  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:14
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Trados cleanup macro May 8, 2007

That's the only macro I use, the one for cleaning up Word files translated with Trados:tw4winClean. It is very useful when the function "clean" at workbench doesn't work.
Besides that macro, that came with Trados, I should answer that I don't know how to create a macro and that I don't know what else I could do with a macro.

I've never understood the explanations for creating a macro. They are not clear at all. Yeah, they say that "they are very useful for routine tasks",
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That's the only macro I use, the one for cleaning up Word files translated with Trados:tw4winClean. It is very useful when the function "clean" at workbench doesn't work.
Besides that macro, that came with Trados, I should answer that I don't know how to create a macro and that I don't know what else I could do with a macro.

I've never understood the explanations for creating a macro. They are not clear at all. Yeah, they say that "they are very useful for routine tasks", but I've never managed to create one.

Regards

Clarisa
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Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:14
Member
English to French
That of NR_Stedman and some others May 8, 2007

I don't know how to write code so I use the Record a macro feature in Word.
I created:
- one to replace commas with non-breakable spaces and decimal points with decimal commas (useful in tables)
- one to select all the text and set the spellcheck language to French
- one to clean a Trados bilingual file (without opening Trados, but the TM is not updated)
- one to replace straight ' into curly ’ (Dragon doesn't put the curly ones by default)
- one to replace
... See more
I don't know how to write code so I use the Record a macro feature in Word.
I created:
- one to replace commas with non-breakable spaces and decimal points with decimal commas (useful in tables)
- one to select all the text and set the spellcheck language to French
- one to clean a Trados bilingual file (without opening Trados, but the TM is not updated)
- one to replace straight ' into curly ’ (Dragon doesn't put the curly ones by default)
- one to replace double spaces with single spaces

I think that's it.
I discovered Word macros 3-4 years ago and thought it was difficult to learn, but in fact with the record feature, it is easy to stick on a toolbar a button that spares 6 or 7 mouse clicks and the associated flying distance.
However I still haven't found out where they are recorded and if I can somehow back them up or share them.

Happy code-writing,
Philippe
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Cecilia Falk
Cecilia Falk  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:14
English to Swedish
More links to useful macro pages May 8, 2007

Hello again,
Here are a few more links regarding macros:

The Electric Editors’ macro library
http://www.electriceditors.net/macros/index.php

Denis Pleic Translation Tools
http://www.open.hr/~dpleic/tools.html

Machine translation macro
... See more
Hello again,
Here are a few more links regarding macros:

The Electric Editors’ macro library
http://www.electriceditors.net/macros/index.php

Denis Pleic Translation Tools
http://www.open.hr/~dpleic/tools.html

Machine translation macros for translators
http://web.ticino.com/multilingual/machine_translation_macros_for_translators.htm

Microsoft Word macros for boxed text
http://www.vivtek.com/blog/t/microsoft_word_macros_for_boxed_text.html

PASSOLO Macros
http://www.passolo.com/support/downloadmacros.stm

Recording Macros
http://www.your-translations.com/word_macro1.php
(a small tutorial)

Word Macros -- Working With Word Macros
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorial/Working-With-Word-Macros/5629
(another tutorial)

Word and Excel Macros Tutorial
https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=4429

Best regards,
Cecilia
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Noni Gilbert Riley
Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 08:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
Decimal points and commas May 8, 2007

NR_Stedman wrote:

I use an excellent little macro for changing commas into decimal points and spaces between series of 000 into commas.
1,26 becomes 1.26 and 1 000 becomes 1,000
This saves time in nearly every Fr- En technical translation


This sounds extremely useful - I am always trying to persuade clients to do this for themselves, because I feel awful charging for it, but am not prepared not to.

Wd love to know the name of the macro if it is commercially available - or are normal human beings capable of creating it?!


 
Cecilia Falk
Cecilia Falk  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:14
English to Swedish
More on decimal points and commas May 8, 2007

Very useful would be an automated way to do this in TagEditor, where (AFAIK) you can't use any macros?

Best regards,
Cecilia


 
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