How to apply bilingual Excel file type to an excel file?

Question

Dear Studio 2017 users, 
 I am having a difficult time trying to use bilingual Excel file type for an .xls file. I tried opening the .xls file directly using open single document for translation. I also tried creating a project for it. Both methods used the regular excel file type, which of course is not what I wanted. Can someone tell me how to set it up so that the bilingual Excel file type will get the priority when importing this Excel file in Studio? 
 Also, the file has lots of cells highlighted in red that the client wants me to skip. When I looked at the imported Excel file (using the regular excel file type), I did not see any cells highlighted in red. Does this mean that even if I successfully used the Bilingual Excel file type, I would lose this highlighting formatting after the file is imported in Studio? 
 Thank you in advance for answering my questions! 
 Chunyi

Paul · Accepted Answer

Yes. Only XLSX is supported.

Paul · Answer

Hi Chunyi Chen , 
 
Studio will always use the first filetype that matches the file you are opening. So if you look at your filetype options you will see that the Bilingual Excel filetype is probably at the bottom of your Excel filetypes. So you have a couple of options: 
 
1. Move the Bilingual filetype so it's above the monolingual filetypes and therefore it gets selected first, or 
2. Uncheck the monololingual filetypes so they are not selected at all, or (and this would be my preferred solution) 
3. Create a Project Template for handling Bilingual Excel files. In that template disable the monolingual filetypes. 
 
Regards 
 
Paul

Paul · Answer

Unknown said: Now the next question is whether Studio can retain the highlighted red cells in red after the file was imported. 
 Yes. But it's easy enough to check... have you tried it? 
 Unknown said: One final question: is it possible to highlight the cells where changes/edits were made? 
 No. But you could use SDLXLIFF Compare to create a report that showed the segments that were changed and this might be helpful. 
 Regards 
 Paul

Paul · Answer

Hi Silvia Gallico , 
 
Yes, and the answer is in this thread. Make sure you review all the responses and read the thread. 
 
Basically you need to make sure that the Bilingual Excel filetype is being used for your file, and this means disabling the other excel filetypes, or moving the Bilingual Excel filetype to the top of the list in your Filetype options before you open the Excel file for translation. 
 
Regards 
 
Paul

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How to apply bilingual Excel file type to an excel file?