Merging of cells in editor view is not working

Question

I'm desperately trying to activate the merging of cells in an idml-file... so far without any success. 
 I've been trying to use it with other file formats, but the outcome is just the same: Studio doesn't want me to merge cells. 
 The splitting works fine, though. 
 Anyboy encountered the same issue and found a solution?? 
 Thanks :)

Alison Field · Accepted Answer

Hi Mélanie, 
 
With .idml files (from InDesign) in Studio it is rare to be able to merge segments if they are split mid-sentence. That which will have split them is the means of division that was used to achieve the layout required in InDesign. It's the same with .inx (which used to be the only format that could be translated with SDL Trados). 
 
Up to a point, if the InDesign file was created by someone who knows how to achieve the layout without inserting breaks or returns, which is entirely possible, this situation would not arise. 
 
The solution is to ask the client to remove breaks and hard returns from their sentences BEFORE conversion to .idml. They probably won't want to do it because if they don't know how to use their settings properly to achieve the layout they want, they will have to reinsert the breaks or returns that caused the problem in the first place. 
 
Sorry I can't be of more help but this situation is likely to be due to the limitations of InDesign and its user, rather than Studio. 
 
What other file formats have you had this problem with? The chances are, unless you're trying to merge paragraphs which is not possible (and IMHO that is usually a good thing), the splits will have been created one way or another by the client in the source/pre-translation file... 
 
All the best, 
Ali

Jerzy Czopik · Answer

Use the Edit source ability in Studio to cut&paste the segments together. In segments, where you CUT the text, insert something like @@@ or xxx or similar. For the target segment, insert double space, then put the segment status to "Sign-off rejected" and lock the segment. This way you can have a perfect translation (and a good maintaned TM) with a target document containing empty lines with a double space inside. You can easily remove this by search&replace in InDesign itself.

Trados Studio > 1. Trados Studio

Merging of cells in editor view is not working