Loss of Formatting in Target Segments.

Question

I use Trados Studio 2019 Freelance. Up to now I have always been able to place underlines/italics in the target segments when translating XLIFF files despite there not being corresponding formatting in the source text. In the latest update these formatting commands no longer work as normal. I appreciate a number of similar comments were made about Studio 2017 recently but what is the general view as to the solution please? All help is much appreciated and thank you very much in advance. Robert

Jerzy Czopik · Answer

As stated in other places, certain formats do not allow to add any formatting. So for example XML or XLIFF. 
 CAT tools are NOT formatting tools. As translator we are expected to recreate the source document including its original formatting, but NOT to add any formatting there. Imagine you would have created a nicely formatted document. Then someone else would change your formatting without asking you for permission. Would you like your document to be changed that way? 
 So the solution is NOT to add any extra formatting to the target, as from my 30 years of experience in this business no one is expecting you to make this. Document formatting has certain purpose and the layouter know what they do. So changing/adding their formatting is damaging the documents. 
 What is the purpose for adding formatting in your opinion?

Paul Filkin · Answer

Robert Calkin 
 Can you share a sample file? That may help to provide a complete answer as to why you cannot do this. 
 The basic reason why it's not possible relates to the underlying file format. For example, if the original source file, prior to it being an XLIFF, was a TXT file there is no point being able to add formatting because when you open the target file as a TXT file the formatting will all be lost. This same logic applies to many file formats that do not support the formatting you'd like to add.

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Loss of Formatting in Target Segments.