Bilingual output format with RyS Bilingual Document Generator and Legacy Converter

Question

Dear Community! 
 In this thread I would like to address the bilingual file generation issue AGAIN . 
 1. The only option available in Trados so far is "Export for Revision": 
 
 It offers a side-by-side or line-by-line bilingual views, requiring some minor editing in case of plain texts:

The issue becomes less comfortable when it comes to something a little bit complex, for ex., like this: 
 
 When we export, we get these: 
 a) tables lost, if any: 
 
 b) info repetition in case we choose the line-by-line option 
 
 So, OK for revising documents, but not suitable when this format is requested by the client (quite often in our case). 
 2.We searched "externally" and bought the RyS Bilingual Document Generator plugin license ( https://appstore.rws.com/Plugin/131 ). However, there is a problem: the colouring option does not work, i.e. when you define a colour, your output (or input) text should appear blue or other, for example. I wrote to the developer and he said it MUST work. But it does not. Does anyone have this problem? 
 Another issue is the text contained in the word text boxes: these are not shown after the generation of the bilingual file! I suspect both problems have to do with the configuration of Word on my PC. Maybe someone has information or has had this incompatibility problem before. 
 3. We also tested the free Legacy Converter ( https://appstore.rws.com/Plugin/56 ), but the result is confusing: 
 
 The output is in one language only....though the settings are quite simple... 
 Hope, someone can update the issue on the generation of bilingual files (most threads are 5-7 years old, there must have been changes and improvements since then). 
 Thanks in advance!

Paul · Answer

Yulia Kovalskaya 
 I would persevere with Rys I think this is the only way you'll get what you really want. But in the meantime, on this: 
 Yulia Kovalskaya said: 3. We also tested the free Legacy Converter ( https://appstore.rws.com/Plugin/56 ), but the result is confusing: 
 
 The output is in one language only....though the settings are quite simple... 
 Perhaps you're not familiar with these old RTF files from the earlier Trados days. So if you don't show the hidden chars in Word you get this: 
 
 But if you do, you see this: 
 
 The old Trados used to work this way by opening and closing the section for translation so you edited the files inside Word. However, this isn't going to help you achieve what you want because the Legacy Converter is converting the SDLXLIFF to RTF (BilingualDOC). It is not the original formatted file. 
 If you want that then you need to convert the original source before you translate it in Trados Studio. You can use the Trados legit! app for that which will, as long as you downgrade your DOCX to DOC first, convert your source file to a bilingual DOC: 
 
 So now the new Bilingual DOC looks like this: 
 
 To handle this in Trados Studio you'll need to install the Compatibility Pack from the appstore first so you have this filetype available: 
 
 This will open as a Bilingual DOC like this: 
 
 Translate it, save the target and now you have this: 
 
 The values in-between the source and target are all 0 in my example as I used MT. But if you had a TM with different matches you'd probably something like this: 
 
 So a 100% and 90% match respectively. Then if you needed the translated file you'd "Cleanup" the file which would remove all the markup and leave it with a translated file only. This article from nearly 10-years ago explains a little better: 
 https://multifarious.filkin.com/2014/03/15/unclean/ 
 Things have certainly moved on a bit since those days :-) 
 Sorry for the long answer and it may not be what you want in the end which is why I suggested you persevere with Rys... but I kind of enjoyed seeing if these old tools still worked in the new Trados Studio 2022... they do!

RWS AppStore > 2. RWS AppStore Applications

Bilingual output format with RyS Bilingual Document Generator and Legacy Converter