How to Prevent Auto-Populating Target Terms When Using an Empty Glossary in Trados Studio

Hello,

I need to create an English-to-German glossary for translation. I started by creating an Excel spreadsheet with three columns: “English,” “German,” and “Notes.” The German column has been left empty as I don’t have the target terms yet and only want to provide English clarifications to translators. This will be filled in later.

I used Glossary Converter to convert the Excel file into a format that can be used in Trados Studio 2022. The file was automatically converted into an SDL Termbase (.sdltb). This is the field structure I set up in Glossary Converter:

Screenshot of Glossary Converter settings with fields for English and German set as Language and Note set as Entry Field Text.

I then opened the Termbase in SDL MultiTerm to confirm that everything looked correct, and it did. Here’s how it appears:

SDL MultiTerm interface showing a term 'Benchmarks' in English with its note, but no German translation provided.

Termbase Management window in SDL MultiTerm with the structure showing Note at Entry level and a Descriptive Fields section.

Next, I created a project in Trados Studio for translation from English to German and added the Termbase. Now, when I opened the files for translation and click on a segment containing a term with a corresponding entry in the Termbase, the source term is underlined, indicating that the Termbase recognizes it. However, the problem is that the target section is automatically populated with the English term, even though the German column in my Termbase is empty. and I don't see the notes section of the English term.

Trados Studio translation editor with a segment selected showing term recognition but no German term or notes displayed.

I’ve also tried creating the glossary with only two columns, “English” and “Notes,” to avoid this issue, but the result was the same. Additionally, I created the Termbase from scratch in SDL MultiTerm by importing the XML and log file instead of using Glossary Converter, but the problem persisted.

How can I ensure that the text from the "Notes" column in the Termbase appears as reference information, prevent the target section from being automatically filled with the source term, and successfully create glossaries?

Thank you,

Virginia



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[edited by: RWS Community AI at 12:51 AM (GMT 0) on 25 Jan 2025]
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  •   

    Great explanation… but can you explain the last part again? I don’t follow because the screenshot doesn’t show what you have explained and I don’t recognise the behaviour you’ve written.

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • Hi  

    Thank you for getting back to me on this.

    To sum up, I want to create an EN-DE Termbase where the Notes about the some source terms are displayed as reference information in Trados for translators, but the problem is that the Notes don’t appear in the term recognition window, and the target section is automatically populated with the English term when the German column is empty.

    My last screenshots show how the term "LoadingDocks1" is blue-underlined, implying that it's from the Termbase and that the target term is filled in by AT. I don’t want the target section to be automatically populated by AT, and I’d like to understand why the term is not recognized, as the term recognition window says, “No results available.”

    Screenshot of Trados Studio interface showing 'LoadingDocks1' term underlined in blue with 'AT' indicating automatic translation, and a 'Term Recognition' window with 'No results available' message outlined in red.



    What’s weird to me is that if I look for the term under the "Termbase search" option, I can clearly see it and open it to read the Notes section.

    Screenshot of Trados Studio with 'Termbase Viewer' open, displaying an entry for 'LoadingDocks1' with a note, and 'Termbase Search' tab showing 'LoadingDocks1' and related terms in English.


    Could you guide me on how to properly create and configure Termbases from Excel files so that the "Notes" column appears as reference information, the target section isn't automatically populated with the source term, and the glossaries are set up correctly for use during translation?

    Thank you,

    Virginia

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 4:24 PM (GMT 0) on 27 Jan 2025]
  •  

    What you are showing, are results of automated translation due to the recognition of alphanumerics, which in your case LoadingDocks1 exactly is. So there is nothing wrong with your program, as recognition of alphanumerics is a standard feature of Trados Studio. However, you can deactivate it in the settings of your TM attached to this project.

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  • Hi  

    Thank you! 

    How can I make sure the TB is correctly set? As I don't see the term in the recognition window.


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  •  

    You must activate this setting in your project:

    Screenshot of Trados Studio Project Settings with the 'Search Settings' section highlighted, showing an option 'Show recognized terms with no available translation' checked.

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    When asking for help here, please be as accurate as possible. Please always remember to give the exact version of product used and all possible error messages received. The better you describe your problem, the better help you will get.

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 5:37 PM (GMT 0) on 27 Jan 2025]
  • Hi  ,

    Thank you so much for your prompt response! I really appreciate your help.

    I’ll follow your suggestion.

    Just to clarify, to prevent the target section from being automatically filled by AT, I should either disable AT or deselect the alphanumeric recognition, correct? Where can I find the option to deselect the alphanumeric recognition?

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  •  

    In your project settings click the name of the TM used. Then click Settings:

    Screenshot of Translation Memory Settings in Trados Studio with a red box highlighting 'Alphanumeric strings' and an arrow pointing to a dropdown menu with text 'Click here to edit the list'.

    After doing so the TM should request reorganization. If no, go to TM View, open the TM there, click Settings and go to Performane and Tuning and perfom all tasks listed there. Then go to Fragment Alignment and perform the task there. Restart Studio. You should be done now.

    This said, I think the solution provided by is better. To be found here: File -> Options -> Editor -> Automation:

    Screenshot of the 'Options' menu in Trados Studio under 'Editor' and 'Automation' showing various checked options for Translation Memory and segment handling.

    However, please bear in mind, that this is a global setting and will be used in all your projects.

    _________________________________________________________

    When asking for help here, please be as accurate as possible. Please always remember to give the exact version of product used and all possible error messages received. The better you describe your problem, the better help you will get.

    Want to learn more about Trados Studio? Visit the Community Hub. Have a good idea to make Trados Studio better? Publish it here.

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 6:07 PM (GMT 0) on 27 Jan 2025]
  • Hi  

    Thank you for your detailed explanation.

    I have one final question: what are the disatvantages of deactivating AT?

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  • Depends on what you want to achieve. In my opinion there is no or next to no disadvantage of deactivating automated translation. AT is IMO only good for segments similar to yours with alphanumeric or for only number segments. However, I can filter for only number or alphanumeric segments using a simple regex ^[\d\W]*$ When filtered, I select all segments and copy them to target. After that segments are confirmed and locked. In my case this is mostly enough, as I can use the same format for source and target. And automated translation of numbers or dates is prone to error, when the numbers are not properly written or have a format which can be treated as a date, but shouldn't be treated so. I rely more on auto propagation of complete segments, but do not use this neither for only number segments or only alphanumeric segments due to the error possibility there. So for me automated translation does not work or is not desirable.

    _________________________________________________________

    When asking for help here, please be as accurate as possible. Please always remember to give the exact version of product used and all possible error messages received. The better you describe your problem, the better help you will get.

    Want to learn more about Trados Studio? Visit the Community Hub. Have a good idea to make Trados Studio better? Publish it here.

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  • Hi  

    I have one more question. After creating the project, why can't I see the term recognition window properly? I created the glossary with the following information: "English," "German," and "Notes," but I can't see the term details.

    Please find a screenshot below:
    Screenshot of Trados Studio interface showing the Editor workspace with a project file list on the left, a translation segment in the center, and a partially visible Term Recognition window on the right with the term 'LoadingDocks1'.


    However, if I click on "View term details (Termbase Viewer)," I can see the information associated with this term correctly.

    Please find a screenshot below:

    Screenshot of Trados Studio with the Termbase Viewer window open, displaying details for the term 'LoadingDocks1' including an English clarification and a German translation. 
    How can I make sure to see what I see in the Termbase Viewer in the term recognition window?

    Thank you,


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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 9:05 PM (GMT 0) on 3 Feb 2025]
  •  

    This is due to the hitlist settings. Click this:

    Screenshot of Trados Studio's Term Recognition window showing a red warning icon next to the term 'Netzzuleitung' with a score of 100 and labeled as Standard, GERMAN.

    then adapt the settings to see fields in the TR window.

    However, the information there will be truncated due to lack of space.

    _________________________________________________________

    When asking for help here, please be as accurate as possible. Please always remember to give the exact version of product used and all possible error messages received. The better you describe your problem, the better help you will get.

    Want to learn more about Trados Studio? Visit the Community Hub. Have a good idea to make Trados Studio better? Publish it here.

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 7:11 AM (GMT 0) on 4 Feb 2025]