Adding Variables to a Studio TM to Increase Leverage

By adding variables to a SDL Trados Studio TM, we can customize our TM to recognize and automatically replace words, alphanumeric combinations and numbers that would otherwise need to be replaced manually.

In the example below, the only difference between these pairs of segments is X20™ and X40™.

Once the X20™ segments have been translated, a regular TM finds no matches or only fuzzy matches for the X40™ segments:

But by adding X20™ and X40™ to the TM Variables, these items will be recognized as non-translatable elements, and will therefore be replaced automatically.

To achieve this, we go into Project Settings > Language Pairs > All Language Pairs > Translation Memory and Automated Translation, select our main TM, and click on Settings:

Then go to Language Resources and select Variable List from the list on the right-hand side, then click Edit:

Add both X20™ and X40™ to the list and click OK:

Close all the open dialog boxes and go back to the file, where we now get this:

Note: For this to work, each of the segments that had been previously confirmed in this example had to be confirmed again, so that the segment variables could be processed with the newly modified TM and the variables could be recognized and automatically replaced. From here on, any new segments entered into the TM that have either X20™ or X40™ will be automatically processed with the new variables.

Any number of variables can be added to a TM. This also works for things like product names and numbers with hyphens, such as 1375-2, 1379-5, for example, that Studio would not normally recognize as numbers.

Variables can be added or deleted from a TM at any time.

A new OpenExchange app for Studio 2014 called Variables Manager now makes it easy to add long lists of variables quickly to a TM through a simple copy-paste operation.

Adding a Soft Return Segmentation Rule to SDL Trados Studio 2014

In a previous post, I discussed how to add a Tab segmentation rule to Studio.

That is pretty straightforward, as the Tab is one of the segmentation options offered in the list of Break characters.

But what if we want to add a new segmentation rule for soft returns? No such option in the dropdown menu, so we need to use a Regex expression. The steps are detailed below.

In order to get to the Segmentation Rules window, we first need to do the following:

Go into Project Settings, All Language Pairs, then Translation Memory Settings:

In the window that opens, select Language Resources on the left, and then Segmentation Rules on the right, then click on Edit:

This brings up one more box. For this example, since I want Studio to create a new segment every time it finds a soft return, I need to choose Add:

To create a segmentation rule for soft returns, add a name in the description field, choose "Anything" in the "Before break" dropdown menu and "Anything" in the "After break" dropdown menu. Since a soft return is not one of the options in the "Break characters" menu, we need to go to the Advanced View by clicking the button to the right of the Description.

 After clicking on Advanced View, we see this:

This is where we add the Regex expression for a soft return, which should look exactly like this (feel free to copy from below and paste into Studio):

.[\n]+

Disclaimer: My knowledge of Regex is extremely limited; I got this expression from one of Paul Filkin's posts in a forum and simply typed it in. Thank you, Paul!

After this, click OK several times to close all the open dialog boxes, and that's it, from now on, in files processed with this TM, a new segment will be created whenever Studio encounters a soft return.

Editing TUs in SDL Trados Studio

This short video shows the process of confirming and editing TUs in Studio, and the resulting effect on fuzzy matches.

"Multiple Placeholder Tags with the Same ID" Error When Adding a Bilingual Doc File to a Studio Project

Problem: Adding a bilingual doc file to an existing Studio project and then choosing the batch task Prepare Without Project TM causes Studio to throw an error citing multiple placeholder tags with the same ID, causing the Convert to Translatable Format task to fail.

For some reason, if the file is open under a Single Document workflow (instead of being added to an existing project), Studio is able to open and process the file correctly. So if this is more convenient (for example, if it's just one file, a single TM, etc.), then this would be the fastest solution: treat the file as a Single Document instead of adding it to a project. (Note that you may still get the error when attempting to save the file, but the target file will still be produced.)

However, since using a Single Document workflow is not always practical, a solution to this issue is described below.

(Apparent) cause: I have been able to narrow down the cause for this problem to the use of page number fields in Word documents that cause this error. The screenshot below shows the only content of the file I used for this test.

Solution: What has worked for me has been temporarily replacing the page number fields in the bilingual doc file, adding the file to my project, working on the file in Studio, exporting as target, and then, in the target bilingual doc, adding back the page number files. So the steps are:

1. Replace the number fields with random letters:

2. Save the file in Word, add it to the Studio project, and process normally.

3. Translate the file in Studio. When the relevant TU is processed, Studio will give a tag verification error because I only removed the page number and number of pages fields in the target segment, but the tags remained for the source segment:

Fortunately, this doesn't prevent me from saving the target file.

4. Restore the page number fields in the target file.

Upon opening the target file, we can see that the "X" and "Y" are still where the page number fields should be:

A simple copy-paste operation in Word restores the page number fields:

And that's it. This needs to be done for each individual file in the project that throws this error.

Quick and Painless Conversion to Bilingual Doc Format with SDL LegIt!

I have posted before about the steps to create a bilingual (or unclean) DOC file.

To use this process, a user needed to have Trados Workbench installed. This was a source of confusion and frustration for many translators, especially for adopters of Studio who never used "the old Trados" and therefore were not familiar with Workbench or didn't have a working Trados 2007 license.

But it looks like thanks to a great little SDL Open Exchange app called LegIt!, Trados Workbench will soon be but a distant memory, at least for this particular process.

Note that SDL LegIt! requires SDL Trados Studio 2014.

The app is extremely simple to use: all it takes is 4 clicks.

1st click:  Choose whether your want to Convert to TTX or Convert to Bilingual Doc

2nd click:  Select your TM
                  Notes:
                  * Only TMs in TMW format can be selected here
                  * The source and target languages are automatically populated from the TM
                  * You can still segment a file with no TM (skip this 2nd click). When no TM is selected, you
                     will have to select the source and target languages manually.

3rd click:  Select your document(s)
                  Notes:
                  * Only DOC (Word 97-2003 Document) files can be bilingual. If your document has a
                     DOCX extension and you have selected "Convert to Bilingual Doc" the conversion will
                     fail and the file will be converted to TTX instead. Go to MS Word and save as DOC first
                     for successful conversion.

4th click:  Convert
                   Notes:
                  * If you forget to do the 1st click and check Convert to Bilingual Doc (or Convert to TTX),
                     nothing will happen when you click Convert, and you won't get an error message, so make
                     sure you have checked either box before clicking the Convert button.

As a final note, keep in mind that this process overwrites your original Word files. However, for each converted file, a .BAK file is added to your original file location. By changing the file extension to .DOC, you will once again have your original, unsegmented source file.

SDL Trados Studio 2014: A First Look at My 5 Favorite Features

When you first open SDL Trados Studio 2014, the first thing you see is how different it looks from Studio 2011. But the question I kept asking myself was: Will this make a difference for me in terms of productivity? Will it make the many hours I spend working with Studio every day easier?

In this review I will describe only a few of my favorite Studio 2014 features, which I've had the opportunity to use on a daily basis for several weeks now.

1. The Ribbon

I must confess I initially had some mixed feelings about the ribbon in Studio 2014.

It looked pretty and made some rarely-used features more visible, but its implementation also took away some left-hand-only shortcuts I've been using for years (as an example, Alt+E, which I used for Copy Source to Target, is now reserved for the Help tab and cannot be reclaimed as a custom shortcut). I wasn't sure I would be able to get over that. But I did.

And I'm glad I gave it some time before giving up. After some initial discomfort, I quickly got used to the "new" way of doing things. And now, when I occasionally open Studio 2011, I don't feel I can go back. But it's not only a matter of aesthetics.

With the aid of the ribbon, I have been rediscovering Studio! There are some things in there that I remember seeing in Studio 2011 but not using very often. However, now that they're more visible, it's easier to remember to use them. An example of this is the Clear Formatting feature under the Home tab.

Another advantage of the ribbon that I have quickly become used to, is the quick launch arrows under relevant groups. In the example below, clicking on the quick launch arrow opens the Termbase settings for the active project:

I've spent some time going through the ribbon under each tab to see what else I could find, and it has been worth it.

One of my favorite tabs in the ribbon is the Help tab, which provides easy and quick access to tutorials, my SDL account, and other resources.

By the way, a feature I use heavily is now right there on the ribbon: adapting font sizes. It's under the View tab, and I use it now even more than I did before.

2. QuickMerge

I just love this and use it practically every day. What does it do? It opens multiple files as a single file. How does it work? All you have to do is go the Files view (this assumes your files are part of a project), select the files you want to "merge", and either hit Enter on your keyboard or right-click and select Open for Translation (or Open for Review), or click the Open for Translation button on the ribbon.

The files will open as a merged file in the Editor view, except they will not be really merged, this is only a virtual merge that will be active while you work on the files in the Editor.

3. The default position of the Termbase Viewer

With a wide-view monitor, I find it very useful to get the Termbase viewer by default in a vertical position on the left of my translation units, below the Translation Results window.

Let me add that it has been pointed out to me that I could have done the same thing in Studio 2011, but to be honest, I never even tried to move the termbase viewer from its default position, so I missed out on this. So, like I said, I'm rediscovering Studio!

4. Automatic Concordance Search

Trados 2007 users will rejoice when they hear this. This much-missed feature is back in Studio 2014. Now, if the TM lookup returns no results, Studio 2014 will run a concordance search automatically, which has done wonders to refresh my memory and has saved me a lot of time and a lot of manual concordance searches.

First, make sure the option is active. Go to File - Options (the new pathway to the Options dialog box, similar to where you find MS Word Options).

In the Options dialog box, select Editor, then Concordance Search Window, and you will see a new option: Perform search if the TM lookup returns no results. Make sure the box is checked.

And that's it. The next time you have a translation unit with no matches, Studio 2014 will launch a quick concordance search and you will see the results on the Translation Results window.

5. Adding Files to Projects from the Target Language View

This was a minor annoyance in Studio 2011, I often tried to add files to projects from the target language view and was prompted to switch to the source language view to do so. With Studio 2014, this is no longer necessary, I can add files from the target language view.

There are many other improvements (speed comes to mind, Studio 2014 is really fast) and features that I'm sure will be discussed at great length as more and more colleagues start using Studio 2014. This is just a brief first look at some of my favorite features, which I hope to be able to follow up soon with other observations.

Overall, my experience with Studio 2014 has been a very positive one, and I hope the same will be true for many other translators.

Studio 2014: Termbase Needs to be Reorganized, but How?

Studio 2014 is here! That means that many of us will be opening Projects created in Studio 2011, and it is likely that we will get an error message with some of our termbases, indicating that the termbase needs to be reorganized.

The process itself is quick and painless, but the error message Studio 2014 throws can be confusing, as it makes mention of a Termbase Management view that we will not find in Studio 2014 at all.

First of all, let us remember that Studio 2014 and Multiterm 2014 are two separate programs. If both are properly installed, we will see the two different icons on our desktop:

This is the error we get in Studio 2014 with some termbases created in Multiterm 2011.

Notice the reference to the "Termbase Management view". Once again, this is not in Studio 2014, but in Multiterm 2014, which means you have to open Multiterm 2014 (the green icon on your desktop*), where you will see the image below:

*If there is no Multiterm 2014 green icon on your desktop or anywhere in your computer, you may need to head back to your account in SDL, download and install Multiterm 2014.

Once you open Multiterm 2014, you will see the Termbase Management view on the bottom left, under the Home tab. But before you can reorganize the termbase, you need to open it. To do so, click on the File tab, and then select Open Termbase:

It is likely that while trying to open the termbase, Multiterm 2014 will throw the same error you saw earlier in Studio:

Click OK to dismiss the error message, and make sure you select the Termbase Management view on the bottom left, which should take you to this view:

Here you will see the Reorganize button on the ribbon, click on it and follow the wizard.

The reorganization process is pretty fast, so you should be done in only a few minutes, or seconds, as was the case with this small termbase.

Once the process is complete, you can go back to Studio 2014, where no further steps are needed, once you move to a segment that contains one of the terms in your newly-reorganized termbase, the term will be recognized as usual.

Termbases that throw this error only need to be reorganized once, and the reorganization procedure will not affect their functionality in Studio 2011.