Not Considering

Based on the conversation, it's best to set this to "Not Considering" as it is not realistic nor desirable to do a conversion between IDML to Word and back or then to PDF. It's best to stick to the same file format throughout the translation process and then output PDF as required at the end.

Export the translation of a Indesign File from Trados Studio in Word format

I receive Indesign files, in idml format, I upload them to SDL Trados Studio, and once translated I need to export them in Word format so that I can make the final editing, and then send it to the client. I do not have the Indesign software, therefore I can't open the export file if it is in idml-format.  

Mariña Tatter Schacht
  • in reply to Burim Bektesi

    Hi Burim, yes, I normally do the layout for them, it is a direct internal customer of the Group I work in, and they usually sent me Word, PPT, PDF or excel files, this is an exception, and they want a PDF as a final product in order to share it directly within their department. A word export from Trados would have been the easy way for me, but as this doesn’t seem to be an efficient /viable option, I will have to ask others to do a PDF export, do the revision and then have them introduce the modifications in Indesign and export it to PDF. Thank you for your feedback.

  • in reply to Alessia Nasini

    Hi Alessia, thank you for your feedback. It is a direct internal customer of the Group I work in. Normally they sent me Word, PPT, PDF or excel files, this is an exception, and they want a PDF as a final product in order to share it directly within their department.  In order to avoid having to ask other departments to do the DTP (which I normally do) I was looking for options like a conversion from idml to word.

    But in the end I will have to ask for the export into PDF, do the corrections there as you suggested, and then ask them to modify it in idml/ InDesign and generate the PDF as the final product.  

    If I was using Indesign /idml often, I would purchase a license, that would be the most professional option, but it’s not worth it for an occasional request. Thank you and best regards,  

  • in reply to Mariña Tatter Schacht

    Hi Mariña, 

    are you really supposed to to the layout for these translations? We are an LSP and if we have to do layout work we have to do it in the programme the file originally comes from. In this case (if we don't do the layout) the customers would import the idml back to InDesign, do the layout adaption and send you a pdf file for checking.

  • in reply to Adam Warren

    Hi Adam, thank you for sharing your experience with converting PDF files in Trados. 

    I do have the idml file that the client send me, and as Trados doesn’t convert idml to word, I will have to do the finetuning with the client, as I don’t have InDesign, but the colleagues in the community gave me interesting tipps like the free - https://www.scribus.net/,  to export idm files and do basic DTP work on the exported PDF file.

    Best regards

  • Hi Mariña, 

    I just want to add my two cents.

    If your customer is an agency and they have sent an IDML, they expect an IDML back since this is what the customer expects from them.

    If your customer is a direct customer, they've sent an IDML and you return a Word file resulting from an OCR conversion from the PDF, your translation is by no means a final product to them, since they (or their graphic agency if they outsource typesetting) will have to copy-paste your translation back into the IDML.

    The only use case where I could accept (or better said tollerate) such a format for the translation is a courtesy translation (but even then, why would the customer have bother exporting the IDML? I would think that they would send a PDF and that's it) that is not going to be published or diffused in any way.

    Whatever the case, if you receive an IDML the best practice is to translate the IDML referring to the PDF as you go, and deliver the IDML. I would offer a post-typesetting check on the PDF, entering the comments with marking tools directly in the PDF so that it would be straight-forward for the DTP expert to implement them.

    Regards,

    Alessia