Hello Adrian Komiński ,

Just out of interest (and hopefully to attract other users) which version of MS Office are you using?

I' m wondering if the probnblems you are experiencing have anything to do withnthe specific MSI/Click to Run installers?

It says "Office 365 MSO" here. It's the only version I have so I can't really respond to the second question.

Hello Adrian Komiński ,

Maybe the following article sheds light on the issue

https://gateway.rws.com/csm?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0039180

and the difference between the MSI and Click to Run Installers.

Could you please confirm if there is a copy of Office in existence currently which is 100% compatible and problem-free (ceteris paribus) with Studio?

And besides, what does this have to do with the HTML preview failing? I seriously gave up believing in the Word one ever working again, after what I heard from the staff here.

Am I not to expect an answer?

Hello Adrian Komiński ,

My apologies for not replying earlier. 

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I have tried the HTML preview (very simple document i know) but this works fine for me

Maybe you could share a file with me and I will see if I can reproduce what you are experiencing.

Ok, I'll try to remember, thanks. And I will provide you with a test file when I have some free time in the upcoming days. But I'm hoping for a video recording evidencing that the feature actually works correctly, without super lags, unexpected behaviour and such.

Also, it's not entirely clear to me which version of Office I am actually running and how I can check this to be 100% sure. Is "MSO" the same as "MSI"?

Update: it doesn't make sense providing specific files, because HTML preview (not to mention MS Word) doesn't work with ANY file on my end.

Steven, I expect you as an SDL rep (or anyone else) to post a video showing a working HTML preview of a moderately complex .docx containing formatted text and images - let's say this one (just a random example off the web):

https://tinyurl.com/y69gzh3k

Otherwise I'm going to have to assume that you guys have simply failed at delivering a very important feature of the software and won't even admit it. This would be a huge shame on your part, and I won't hesitate announcing this on ProZ and in other industry sites to warn people against buying your software.

If you suceed at obtaining a working HTML preview with the above file, then please inform us which MS Word version EXACTLY you are running (with screenshots/on the video, preferrably).

Also, the screenshot you posted doesn't seem to have anything to do with HTML preview, or maybe I'm missing something.

Update: it doesn't make sense providing specific files, because HTML preview (not to mention MS Word) doesn't work with ANY file on my end.

Steven, I expect you as an SDL rep (or anyone else) to post a video showing a working HTML preview of a moderately complex .docx containing formatted text and images - let's say this one (just a random example off the web):

https://tinyurl.com/y69gzh3k

Otherwise I'm going to have to assume that you guys have simply failed at delivering a very important feature of the software and won't even admit it. This would be a huge shame on your part, and I won't hesitate announcing this on ProZ and in other industry sites to warn people against buying your software.

If you suceed at obtaining a working HTML preview with the above file, then please inform us which MS Word version EXACTLY you are running (with screenshots/on the video, preferrably).

Also, the screenshot you posted doesn't seem to have anything to do with HTML preview, or maybe I'm missing something.

Adrian Komiński

Adrian Komiński said:

Steven, I expect you as an SDL rep (or anyone else) to post a video showing a working HTML preview of a moderately complex .docx containing formatted text and images - let's say this one (just a random example off the web)

Ok, so it seems to be working somehow, with the following reservations:

1. 1:38 - highlight in Embedded preview disappears by itself after a while, rendering the feature useless. A translator needs to know where he is in the document exactly to know the grammatical and substantive context (that's the core feature of preview anyway) - otherwise using the integrated preview doesn't make much sense other than providing a minor convenience of not having to open the file separately.

2. From your video it seems there is no indication/highlight or other method of following the currently edited sentence in HTML preview whatsoever. Is this supposed to be like that? If so, then, again, the preview is pretty much useless, sorry. I'm not acting out, I'm not venting my frustration by saying this (ok, I am in a way) - it's just a fact and I'm pretty sure anyone actually working in translations will agree.

3. I know I'm being fussy, but I wish you showed us how you are confirming (not just propagating from MT) the segments one by one, at a moderately quick pace (like an efficient translator would do). Because I remember from the times when the feature worked on my PC that the Editor would behave really unpredictably then.

And plus, please tell me the exact version of MS Word installed on your PC and its source. 

Adrian Komiński said:

And plus, please tell me the exact version of MS Word installed on your PC and its source. 

It's source?  Microsoft!

No Paul, by exact version I mean version indication of the type kindly posted by Jesús Prieto.

And I mean source/channel of purchase. Because I too purchased the product directly from Microsoft, and it seems to be the wrong version, for some reason.

Also, do you have anything to say regarding my above remarks? Like why does the highlight disappear suddenly in 1:38? And if it's a known issue, why was it omitted in the latest Release Notes for SR 2?

Microsoft Word 2016 MSO (16.0.4266.1001) 32-bit.

I'm not using the click-to-run as it's missing too many things for a smoother integration... not just the embedded preview.

I already answered all your questions in the video itself. The preview isn't particularly good if you need a realtime update as you translate with highlighting all performing really quickly.  It definitely needs improving. I know Iszabela Turi is looking at this so just drawing her attention to this thread.

Ok, so HOW can we obtain this exact version of Word? Because the way I bought my Word seemed to be the only available one.

But then again, your video showed (in 1:38) that the preview behaves unreliably regardless of the version (speed isn't the main issue here - I could honestly live with a little lag), so what difference does this really make. The question is whether you guys consider this to be "field for improvement" or just outright bug that requires fixing ASAP. Highlight shouldn't disappear by itself, on this I believe we agree. If it does, and if you consider it to acceptable at this point in time (not even justifying a note in Release Notes), then how can I treat you as a serious company? What is the purpose of releasing unusable junk of a software behaving like that?

Also, you didn't confirm that it's normal for HTML preview not to highlight the current segment. In fact I'm pretty sure this feature was available in the past. Am I correct to assume that HTML preview has nothing to do with Office versions?

Is there anyone out there from SDL, other than Paul preferably, willing to honestly and substantively answer the above unanswered questions? Because at this point your attitude of ignoring and, what's even worse: misleading* customers truly deserves industry/media attention, and I feel morally compelled to warn others against making the mistake I made when buying your software.

*by claiming there is a version of Office 2016 that is 100% compatible and has the required "hooks" to work like any normal preview should (save for the lag, which is survivable), AND by having claimed in the past that, while Word preview is gone, HTML one is still good, so no worries