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Poll: Which files do you find most difficult to work with?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Marlene Blanshay
Marlene Blanshay  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 01:48
Member (2009)
French to English
+ ...
PDF Oct 15, 2015

I do a lot of PowerPoint presentations and they can be a pain, because there is no track changes. But scanned PDFs are the worst, especially handwriting. I now simply turn down jobs that have scanned PDFS with handwriting or which can't be converted to a word document. It's just too much of a chore and takes too much time. If it's convert-able through OCR, fine...otherwise forget it.

 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:48
English to Spanish
+ ...
Other: any non-text format Oct 15, 2015

I echo the general sentiment about Power Point slides. Experience has forced me to treat them as desktop publishing: typeface resizing, moving blocks of text or images, or resizing images so they don't obscure text, etc.

And don't get me started on MS Publisher, an utterly useless and obsolete Microsoft attempt at desktop publishing for aficionados!

PDF files are in a league of their own: scanned PDFs (which are image files), exported PDF files from desktop publishing a
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I echo the general sentiment about Power Point slides. Experience has forced me to treat them as desktop publishing: typeface resizing, moving blocks of text or images, or resizing images so they don't obscure text, etc.

And don't get me started on MS Publisher, an utterly useless and obsolete Microsoft attempt at desktop publishing for aficionados!

PDF files are in a league of their own: scanned PDFs (which are image files), exported PDF files from desktop publishing applications or form engineering software (AutoCAD anyone?), and so on.

A piece of advice: if you receive a PDF to translate, before you fire up your SDL Trados or other tool, or before you give a quote, do a simple test. In Adobe Acrobat:

  • Go to File>Properties.

  • In Document Properties, select Description and read below next to Application: to identify what program, if any, generated the PDF.


  • What's the point? If the PDF was exported from a MS Office application, chances are it's editable text that can be easily OCRd or processed with a CAT tool with OCR capabilities. If a PDF driver utility generated the PDF, it might still be OCRd.

    For poorly scanned PDF files, my solution is simple: I translate what I can read without effort, the rest I mark illegible.
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    Jeff Whittaker
    Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
    United States
    Local time: 01:48
    Member (2002)
    Spanish to English
    + ...
    Defintely Excel files... Oct 15, 2015

    ...because it's very difficult to type text in those little boxes. At least when you recreate PDF files, you can start with a brand new blank word document and can do your own formatting.

    [Edited at 2015-10-15 19:04 GMT]


     
    DZiW (X)
    DZiW (X)
    Ukraine
    English to Russian
    + ...
    perhaps Oct 16, 2015

    My worst nightmare, arguably, was a 'plain' DOC... full of low resolution scanned pages--handwriting, and a poor quality DJVu (with semi-transparent pages for more joy!) renamed for 'better compatibility' as PDF, let alone a custom encrypted format for a custom Reader, where a bunch of PrintScreen's and OCRing almost got the job done)

    And the latest nuisance for me is multi-language papers with pics/data, which serve as hard borders and delimiters.

    On the other hand, on
    ... See more
    My worst nightmare, arguably, was a 'plain' DOC... full of low resolution scanned pages--handwriting, and a poor quality DJVu (with semi-transparent pages for more joy!) renamed for 'better compatibility' as PDF, let alone a custom encrypted format for a custom Reader, where a bunch of PrintScreen's and OCRing almost got the job done)

    And the latest nuisance for me is multi-language papers with pics/data, which serve as hard borders and delimiters.

    On the other hand, once I was struggling with an arty-crafty multi-column locked* PDF and a few days later my customer very nicely, kindly, and almost timely inquired whether I might prefer a source DOC...
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    neilmac
    neilmac
    Spain
    Local time: 06:48
    Spanish to English
    + ...
    Other Oct 16, 2015

    My main bugbear used to be PDFs, but there are several different software options nowadays that can convert "normal" (i.e. unscanned) PDF files to Word quite well. (I don't accept badly scanned OCR PDFs).

    PowerPoint files can also be a problem, depending on how they have been created and put together. I remember on one occasion thinking I had finished a PPT translation only to find that there were several tiny text boxes "hidden" behind other boxes and graphics, which took almost an
    ... See more
    My main bugbear used to be PDFs, but there are several different software options nowadays that can convert "normal" (i.e. unscanned) PDF files to Word quite well. (I don't accept badly scanned OCR PDFs).

    PowerPoint files can also be a problem, depending on how they have been created and put together. I remember on one occasion thinking I had finished a PPT translation only to find that there were several tiny text boxes "hidden" behind other boxes and graphics, which took almost another whole day to find, reveal and process.

    XL files can also be a nuisance. Basically, if my clients want their files returned quickly, they should deliver them to me in an instantly workable and generally hassle-free format, i.e Word or plain text. Otherwise, things will take longer and may cost them more.
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    Mario Freitas
    Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
    Brazil
    Local time: 02:48
    Member (2014)
    English to Portuguese
    + ...
    PDF (as image) Oct 16, 2015

    This is one more unthought question. PDF files scanned as images are the nightmare of all translators. When the client sends one of those and states "we must be sure the original, final, revised, signed document is being translated" is when you start feeling your face burning in anger, as you know they have an identical DOC file in the same folder, but they won't send it to you.

     
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    Poll: Which files do you find most difficult to work with?






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