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Target IDML causes InDesign to crash

Nora Díaz

I'm hoping someone can help out with this.

I converted a PDF to INDD using a third-party tool (PDF2IND), which does a pretty good job. Then I exported to IDML, translated the file in Studio and generated the target IDML. The problem is that the target IDML won't open and causes InDesign to crash every time. The original INDD and IDML files open without issue, so it must have something to do with the SDLXLIFF-to-IDML conversion, but I have no idea what it could be or if it could be fixed.

Thanks in advance,

Nora
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  • 0 in reply to Walter Blaser

    Hi Walter,

    I have only started using it recently, but I find it much better for certain types of files. While a simple file will be handled well either by Studio's PDF converter or by Acrobat (resulting in a target Word file, of course), the poor results with heavily formatted files which have, for instance, columns, lots of background images, etc. can be a big headache, as you know. I have some clients who send PDFs and expect to get back the exact same thing in the target language. Many of them don't understand that the PDF was created from another file and have no way of locating the original file or handling the post-translation DTP required for their file to resemble the source file.

    PDF2ID is an InDesign plug-in that allows you to open the PDF directly in InDesign. It creates an INDD file from the PDF, and then you can go from there. While it's not perfect, the resulting INDD/IDML is significantly better than a Word conversion, and only some light DTP is required afterwards.

    Here are a couple of screenshots to compare the conversion results of the same file in Acrobat Pro (the converted file is a Word document, of course) and PDF2ID.

    And here's what I mean when I say it's not perfect. 

    Hope that helps, Walter!
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  • 0 in reply to Nora Díaz
    Hi Nora

    Many thanks for this information. I also visited Recosoft's website yesterday and had a look at the capabilities.
    But getting live experience reports from someone who has used it, is obviously very useful.
    I see the power of the tool, at the same time I also realize that possible scenarios are limited by the fact that it requires InDesign. Do you use it for clients who have and master InDesign or do you fix the layout yourself afterwards (in the cases where it is required)?

    Walter
  • 0 in reply to Walter Blaser
    That's true, Walter, InDesign is required, as this is only a plug-in. To answer your question, I usually fix the layout myself if the client asks for final files.

    For example, a client who has an in-house DTP team and uses InDesign, couldn't track down the original INDD files for a number of forms that they only had as PDFs. They asked if I could take the PDFs and produce translated INDDs, as their DTP team was busy and couldn't produce the INDDs for that project. So I used PDF2ID and things turned out great, with minimum effort on my side regarding the creation of the layout. I'm no InDesign expert, and while I can do some light-touch post-translation DTP, it would have taken me forever to figure out how to recreate the forms from scratch.

    Another recent scenario involved an end client who gets PDF brochures from their parent company. They never seem to get the original files, just the PDFs. It's a group of vets who work on artificial insemination and they couldn't care less about file formats, all they want is a translated PDF that resembles the original as closely as possible so they can forward it to their customers. Their brochures and reports are always heavily formatted, with text over background images, columns, tables, etc. and of course all their company logos. I handle the entire process for this client, as they wouldn't know where to start to make any layout corrections to the file, and in fact I only send them the PDFs, they never see the INDD files.

    So I guess in general if they send PDFs, it means I will have to take care of the entire process for them.
  • 0 in reply to Nora Díaz

    Hi Nora

    Unknown said:


    So I guess in general if they send PDFs, it means I will have to take care of the entire process for them.

    Excellent, this is what I understand as "full service", rewarding and interesting - als long as the client is willing to pay for the extra work.

    Wish you a nice weekend, Nora.
    Walter 
  • 0 in reply to Walter Blaser

    Unknown said:

    ...rewarding and interesting - als long as the client is willing to pay for the extra work.

    I agree!

    A nice weekend to you too, Walter.