InDesign file with WordFast?
Thread poster: Caroline Giguère
Caroline Giguère
Caroline Giguère  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 04:45
English to French
+ ...
Jun 25, 2020

Hello,
I just had a request to work on an IDML file. I have not done this before, but I see that Wordfast does take IDML files. Can I count on a good end product, with right formatting and all using WordFast? I also don't have InDesign, so can't really check it or fix it. I know they have a special offer where you can try it for free for a month or so, but I have used that already some time ago, and don't want to pay for it at this time.
Thank you for any insights on this,
Car
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Hello,
I just had a request to work on an IDML file. I have not done this before, but I see that Wordfast does take IDML files. Can I count on a good end product, with right formatting and all using WordFast? I also don't have InDesign, so can't really check it or fix it. I know they have a special offer where you can try it for free for a month or so, but I have used that already some time ago, and don't want to pay for it at this time.
Thank you for any insights on this,
Caroline
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Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 09:45
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Same for me! Jun 26, 2020

I normally use Wordfast Classic, but when I was asked to deal with an InDesign file, I downloaded Wordfast Pro.
I was disappointed to see that it is of course vastly more complex — and dare I say much less intuitive — than my beloved WFC; I realized I was going to have quite a steep learining curve, and as the job was small but urgent, I declined; I would have liked to have at least found out how to open the IDML file, and as you say, what the end result is like.
I do have a cust
... See more
I normally use Wordfast Classic, but when I was asked to deal with an InDesign file, I downloaded Wordfast Pro.
I was disappointed to see that it is of course vastly more complex — and dare I say much less intuitive — than my beloved WFC; I realized I was going to have quite a steep learining curve, and as the job was small but urgent, I declined; I would have liked to have at least found out how to open the IDML file, and as you say, what the end result is like.
I do have a customer who uses IDML, so when I have a few hours to spare, I shall try getting to grips with WFP, and use one of their test files they sent me to see what the result is.
If anyone has any "get me started" tips, I'd be most grateful, as well as reports on the success or not of the process in terms of the output IDML file?
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Carla Guerreiro
 
Joakim Braun
Joakim Braun  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 09:45
German to Swedish
+ ...
No Jun 26, 2020

If you need to deliver a high-quality, professional-looking, ready-for-print Indesign file, you need to learn (and have) Indesign. Which is at least as complex as the most complex translation software. You can't just wing it, you need to actually learn it.

Except for very simple, repetitive layouts you absolutely can't depend on some translation tool giving you professional layout results through round-tripping IDML. That's a recipe for disaster. IDML was never intended for transla
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If you need to deliver a high-quality, professional-looking, ready-for-print Indesign file, you need to learn (and have) Indesign. Which is at least as complex as the most complex translation software. You can't just wing it, you need to actually learn it.

Except for very simple, repetitive layouts you absolutely can't depend on some translation tool giving you professional layout results through round-tripping IDML. That's a recipe for disaster. IDML was never intended for translation, it's just a backwards-compatibility file format that happens to work with CAT.

If you prefer to keep away from Indesign, make sure the customer understands the situation and is willing to undertake extensive revision.

(I'm a professional magazine designer, Indesign is home territory.)

[Bearbeitet am 2020-06-26 10:37 GMT]
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Jorge Payan
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 09:45
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Caroline Jun 26, 2020

Joakim Braun wrote:
Except for very simple, repetitive layouts you absolutely can't depend on some translation tool giving you professional layout results through round-tripping IDML. ... IDML was never intended for translation, it's just a backwards-compatibility file format that happens to work with CAT.


From this comment I deduce that translating an IDML file in any CAT tool would be problematic for the same reasons. However, in this regard I would like to point out a difference between WFP3 and WFP5 that may be relevant: WFP3 tries to shrink and/or exclude tags in order to make the translation environment cleaner. This is usually not a problem, as long as you realise that checking the final file in its final format is a normal part of the translation process. WFP5, on the other hand, err on the side of caution and retain a lot more leading and trailing tags and individual tags, so there are more tags, but you have more control over the end-product. If your client is aware of the dangers of translating IDML files, then either WFP3 or WFP5 would do the trick, but I agree with Joakim in that it's better to be able to check and correct the final file in its intended program.

W.r.t. to something that Tony wrote: both WFP3 and WFP5 have a "bilingual review" feature whereby the translation table is exported to DOC, and then imported from DOC again, and this DOC file can be dealt with in practically any other CAT tool. And you don't need a paid version of WFP3 or WFP5 for this -- a free demo version works just fine.

Both WFP3 and WFP5 claims to support "InDesign" but does not specify the actual file format, so I just wildly assume they both support IDML.


 
Joakim Braun
Joakim Braun  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 09:45
German to Swedish
+ ...
Yes, it's a general problem Jun 26, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:

From this comment I deduce that translating an IDML file in any CAT tool would be problematic for the same reasons.



Yes, of course. Text overflow/reflow, automatic hyphenation, text wrap and manual kerning are just a few examples of things that will inevitably go wrong when the text changes (or tags are removed/altered).


 
Caroline Giguère
Caroline Giguère  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 04:45
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all, I'm going ahead with it! Jun 26, 2020

First thank you all for your responses, it definitely made me a little cautious about taking this on.

I wrote to the agency stating the concerns I had with the quality of the end result, adding I don't have any experience with ID, and was told that the client is the one who will at the end go over the formatting to make sure it all looks good. I just have to submit my IDML file and they'll do the rest. Sounds alright to me!

Caroline


 
John Di Rico
John Di Rico  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:45
Member (2006)
French to English
Bilingual export workaround Jun 29, 2020

Tony M wrote:

…I shall try getting to grips with WFP, and use one of their test files they sent me to see what the result is.
If anyone has any "get me started" tips, I'd be most grateful,…


There is a workflow that allows you to use Wordfast Pro 5 to extract the content in exotic file formats like InDesign (Quick Tools > Bilingual Export tab > Choose export type "Bilingual Review Export - WFC (allows import)"), translate using Wordfast Classic, then use WFP5 to create the final file in its original format (Quick Tools > Bilingual Import tab).

However, I would test this a few times on simple files to make sure it works without problems before embarking on a paid job with time constraints in case anything goes wrong.

Oh, and only now reading Samuel's post that pointed to this feature.


 
John Di Rico
John Di Rico  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:45
Member (2006)
French to English
Live Preview of InDesign Jun 29, 2020

While we're on the topic of InDesign, I have been asking the WFP5 development team to include Live Preview for InDesign files for several years now. This would save a lot of time on back and forth that is inevitable when a translator does not own an InDesign license. You send the translated IDML file, they send back a target-only PDF, you correct in the TXLF, send it to your client, they generate a new PDF, and hopefully that is the end of it, but there will likely be a couple more rounds.
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While we're on the topic of InDesign, I have been asking the WFP5 development team to include Live Preview for InDesign files for several years now. This would save a lot of time on back and forth that is inevitable when a translator does not own an InDesign license. You send the translated IDML file, they send back a target-only PDF, you correct in the TXLF, send it to your client, they generate a new PDF, and hopefully that is the end of it, but there will likely be a couple more rounds.
However, if the translator could see a Live Preview of the InDesign file, they could fix several mistakes from the outset and that are generally hard to spot when you don't see the file in its final form.
If you want to be able to see a Live Preview of InDesign files directly in Wordfast Pro 5, please submit a feedback report (click on the WF icon in WFP5, then Feedback). Maybe if more users need this, they will prioritize it higher.
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Philippe Locquet
Antje Harder
 
Roy Rezentes
Roy Rezentes
United States
What's the process for saving .idml file out of Wordfast? Sep 3, 2020

Hello,

I'm a graphic designer working with a translator that uses Wordfast Pro 5. We have 21 English language workbooks in Adobe InDesign that he will be translating to Spanish. On our first test run, he was able to open the .idml file I provided and complete the translation. However, it appears that he can only save a .txlf file out of Wordfast.

Can anyone point us to a tutorial or user guide that shows the process of saving a .idml file out of Wordfast?

T
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Hello,

I'm a graphic designer working with a translator that uses Wordfast Pro 5. We have 21 English language workbooks in Adobe InDesign that he will be translating to Spanish. On our first test run, he was able to open the .idml file I provided and complete the translation. However, it appears that he can only save a .txlf file out of Wordfast.

Can anyone point us to a tutorial or user guide that shows the process of saving a .idml file out of Wordfast?

Thank you,
Roy
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John Di Rico
John Di Rico  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:45
Member (2006)
French to English
Save File as Translated Sep 4, 2020

Hello,
They are using the wrong process. Do not use the "Save as..." icon, but instead the "Save File as Translated". Even better, use the Cleanup icon from the Current Project view to batch create target files and update the TM(s).
Best,
John


 
Roy Rezentes
Roy Rezentes
United States
Thank you Sep 10, 2020

John Di Rico wrote:

Hello,
They are using the wrong process. Do not use the "Save as..." icon, but instead the "Save File as Translated". Even better, use the Cleanup icon from the Current Project view to batch create target files and update the TM(s).
Best,
John


Thank you, John. I will relay this info to the translator.


 


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InDesign file with WordFast?







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