(Ab)using Studio 2017 as a Proofreading Tool - autopropagation over segments with original text

Question

I'm (ab)using Studio 2017 to proofread/review/edit German original texts which are in formats that don't otherwise allow the tracking of changes. My deliverable is a DOCX with tracked changes, which the client then uses as a basis to implement my changes in the texts in their own tool. Now what I would love to do, but I'm not sure that is possible: 
 I insert all source segments into target in the beginning with Alt+shift+insert. Then I start reading (totally ignoring the left hand side with the source). As soon as I've read a segment, I confirm it, and then I would like it to be autopropagated through the rest of the document. 
 But that somehow doesn't seem to work. Autopropagation only works if I refrain from copying the original text to all target segments. (But I can't skip that step, because if I do, that causes a lot of unwanted high "translation matches" beeing inserted when in fact all I want is the original. I then have to replace these high matches with the original text, which causes tracked changes that in fact are none, because the client doesn't have to do anything in these places.) 
 Note: I'm honestly not complaining about Studio here. I'm fully aware it was not designed for this ... 
 Apologies if this is awfully difficult to understand, but I'm happy to elaborate if necessary, and I'm hoping for Paul's natural curiosity to kick in :-) 
 To cut a long story short: What I need is autopropagation over segments into which original text was copied. Any chance to achieve this?

Nora Díaz · Accepted Answer

Hi Eva, 
 
You can manage your user profiles by going to File - Setup - Manager User Profiles.

Nora Díaz · Answer

Unknown said: 
 
 But that somehow doesn't seem to work. Autopropagation only works if I refrain from copying the original text to all target segments. (But I can't skip that step, because if I do, that causes a lot of unwanted high "translation matches" beeing inserted when in fact all I want is the original. I then have to replace these high matches with the original text, which causes tracked changes that in fact are none, because the client doesn't have to do anything in these places.) 
 
 Wouldn't this be solved by changing the Minimum match value from the default 70% to 100% in TM Search?

Nora Díaz · Answer

Hi Eva,

Are you working in Translation or in Review mode? What I would do is first change all segment statuses to Translated right after copying, then switch to Review mode. Now in Review mode you just have to remember that autopropagation is a bit tricky when Track Changes are enabled, i.e., if you confirm a segment where no changes have been made, it will autopropagate (the status Translation Approved will autopropagate), as long as Track Changes are off. Because of this, I always filter for repetitions when starting a review job and carefully enable/disable track changes as appropriate to ensure propagation (Track Changes OFF to confirm segments with no changes, Track Changes ON to confirm segments that require changes). After all the reps are done, I leave Track Changes on, as I no longer need propagation for unchanged segments.

I even made an AutoHotkey script to use the Windows key to quickly toggle Track Changes on and off in these cases.

Paul · Answer

Hi Eva, 
 I like the suggestion from Nora, but I think if it was me I'd do this instead. 
 
 Add the source Word file you have for translation 
 Translate it as normal, albeit you are actually reviewing the text by correcting in the target as a translation. This way you get your autopropagation as normal as you are not using tracked changes 
 Finally save the target file 
 You now have a word source and a word target. Use Word to compare the files and create a merged file with track changes 
 
 That's probably what you need to give to your client and fairly straightforward I think. Would that work? 
 Regards 
 Paul

Paul · Answer

Hi Eva, 
 Unknown said: thanks for your suggestion, but if my source was Word, I would bypass Studio completely and simply work in Word with track changes on. The problem is that the file format is PPTX :-( 
 Have you thought about this perhaps? 
 http://www.addictivetips.com/microsoft-office/powerpoint-2010-compare-two-presentations/ 
 Unknown said: Can you think of anything that would allow saving and quickly switching between translation and proofreading settings? 
 Do you mean just be able to turn on/off track changes? I'm not too clear with this one. 
 Regards 
 Paul

Eva Repolusk-Stoppel · Answer

Wow, Nora, that is amazing. I never understood you could use these seemingly useless SDLX and SDL Trados profiles so productively. I'll definitely look into this, thanks!

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(Ab)using Studio 2017 as a Proofreading Tool - autopropagation over segments with original text