Excel into itd to be translated with SDL Edit - how to specify non-translatable cells? Thread poster: Jalapeno
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Jalapeno
Local time: 20:17
English to German
Hi everyone,
I have an Excel file to be translated that I would like to translate using SDL Edit.
The Excel file has one column with the text to be translated (column A) and another column next to it with notes on the text (column B).
Column A is to be translated, column B isn't. However, I'd like column B to show up as untranslatable text in the itd file so that I can see the notes in SDL Edit.
I know there's a way to do this, as one of my re... See more Hi everyone,
I have an Excel file to be translated that I would like to translate using SDL Edit.
The Excel file has one column with the text to be translated (column A) and another column next to it with notes on the text (column B).
Column A is to be translated, column B isn't. However, I'd like column B to show up as untranslatable text in the itd file so that I can see the notes in SDL Edit.
I know there's a way to do this, as one of my regular clients always sends me itd files (made from Excel files) where there are grey lines that are not to be translated but are only there as a reference. Unfortunately, I have no idea how he does it ...
Can anyone tell me how to do this? I'm quite new to SDLX, having always worked with Trados before.
Thanks in advance,
Johannes ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Two possibilities | Sep 10, 2008 |
Hi Johannes,
I know there's a way to do this, as one of my regular clients always sends me itd files (made from Excel files) where there are grey lines that are not to be translated but are only there as a reference. Unfortunately, I have no idea how he does it ...
Actually, I think you are talking about locked segments. Depending on the file size, this might not be a very practical approach. If you want to create a file like this, import the entire xls file into the itd file (make sure that in Project Wizard you select the 'Translate by row' option in the import filter for xls files). Afterwards you will need to manually lock the segments that you do not want to translate. To do so, press Ctrl + L (you can skip the dialog asking you to specify a password) in each segment that you don't want to touch. Since this can only be done manually I don't think it will help much, you might just as well not lock the segments and ignore them while you translate the file.
There is one other possibility to have all the text in the itd file: You can import the comments from Column B as tooltips. To do so, you will need to convert the xls file to a tab-delimited txt file first and use the filter for Generic Delimited files in Project Wizard. - You will find more information on this in the SDLX documentation (on pages A-4 and A-5 of the SDLX Project User and Administrator Guide.pdf). Once you have translated the file, you will need to convert the itd back to txt and the txt to xls. - This, of course, will only work, if the text in the xls file isn't formatted in any way because otherwise you will lose all the formatting. Also, the tooltips can only contain a limited number of characters, which means this approach won't be of much use if your Column B contains a lot of text.
Alternatively, you can, of course, always create an itd file that only contains Column A of your xls file. In order to do this, just hide Column B in the original file before you convert it into an itd file. It some cases the simplest solution is to proceed this way and use the xls file for reference.
I hope this helps.
Best regards,
Claudia
| | | | Jalapeno
Local time: 20:17
English to German
TOPIC STARTER
Hi Claudia,
thanks for your quick reply, which was very helpful, even though it sort of confirmed my worst fears that there's no simple and elegant way to do this ...
As you already guessed, your first option isn't viable as it would be too much work to manually lock the segments.
I'll keep your second option in mind for future projects, but for this project it also isn't really viable, as Col... See more Hi Claudia,
thanks for your quick reply, which was very helpful, even though it sort of confirmed my worst fears that there's no simple and elegant way to do this ...
As you already guessed, your first option isn't viable as it would be too much work to manually lock the segments.
I'll keep your second option in mind for future projects, but for this project it also isn't really viable, as Column B contains quite a lot of text in some instances.
I guess the easiest way for this project is to simply use your third option - using the xls file as a reference.
Thanks a lot, Claudia, and if anyone else has any more ideas - let's hear them.
Johannes ▲ Collapse
| | | | Brandis (X)
Local time: 20:17
English to German
+ ...
| one solution here.. | Sep 11, 2008 |
Hi! copy column A in the same format into word, translate clean, copy and paste back in excel. Else you will end up parsing all unwanted columns in excel sheet that can cost substantial amount of time. BR Brandis
[Edited at 2008-09-11 04:32]
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