Trados and Word bookmarks have long been awkward bedfellows. Microsoft Word's use of hidden bookmarks to delimit the target reference points for cross-references in a Word file has caused fun and games for more than one TM system, but I've most commonly encountered it while using the Trados system. So I really like Trados's new recommended workflow of using TagEditor to translate Word files. We've been using this approach for some months now at SalfTrans and, on the whole, we find it is a considerable improvement in terms of data integrity when working with complex Word files.
But I've recently noticed that for some Word files, bookmarks which are present in the source-language Word 2003 file do not actually get correctly picked up and converted when the Word file is converted to TagEditor's TTX format. They are simply missing from the TTX file. And therefore, simply missing from the target-language Word file. So after translation in TagEditor 7.5, we have to go through and manually re-insert the bookmarks for cross-references in the final target-language Word file. Which is time-consuming, and not necessarily happy-making.
Today, a kind soul suggested that he thought there may be a limit to the number of bookmarks that a Word file, or perhaps TagEditor, can cope with. Thank you, Iwan.
We experimented. I got rid of some non-essential bookmarks (I perhaps removed around 100 non-essential bookmarks beginning with HLT and with TOC), and then converted the same Word 2003 file to TagEditor again. This time, the explicitly named bookmarks in the Word 2003 file were indeed present in the TTX file.
Which brings me to my question: Does anyone know how many bookmarks TagEditor (using Trados 7.5) can cope with in a Word 2003 file before it "faults out"? I gather from the Microsoft knowledgebase that Word 2003 can cope with about 16,000 bookmarks in a single Word file (OK, 16,379 bookmarks if we want to get fussy about it!). The Word file that we have contains less than that - perhaps 150 to 200 bookmarks, some of which are simple bookmarks, and some of which are hidden bookmarks.
Any information will be gratefully received.
But I've recently noticed that for some Word files, bookmarks which are present in the source-language Word 2003 file do not actually get correctly picked up and converted when the Word file is converted to TagEditor's TTX format. They are simply missing from the TTX file. And therefore, simply missing from the target-language Word file. So after translation in TagEditor 7.5, we have to go through and manually re-insert the bookmarks for cross-references in the final target-language Word file. Which is time-consuming, and not necessarily happy-making.
Today, a kind soul suggested that he thought there may be a limit to the number of bookmarks that a Word file, or perhaps TagEditor, can cope with. Thank you, Iwan.
We experimented. I got rid of some non-essential bookmarks (I perhaps removed around 100 non-essential bookmarks beginning with HLT and with TOC), and then converted the same Word 2003 file to TagEditor again. This time, the explicitly named bookmarks in the Word 2003 file were indeed present in the TTX file.
Which brings me to my question: Does anyone know how many bookmarks TagEditor (using Trados 7.5) can cope with in a Word 2003 file before it "faults out"? I gather from the Microsoft knowledgebase that Word 2003 can cope with about 16,000 bookmarks in a single Word file (OK, 16,379 bookmarks if we want to get fussy about it!). The Word file that we have contains less than that - perhaps 150 to 200 bookmarks, some of which are simple bookmarks, and some of which are hidden bookmarks.
Any information will be gratefully received.
posted by Nick at 4:31 PM
4 Comments:
Sorry, but no solution is provided. I was browsing the internet in order to find a magic solution to the ugly changes of bookmarks using Trados. My client is very angry with me, and he is in trouble with a very important client because of the bookmarks.
I tried to copy and paste the bookmarks of the original file into the translation, but it seems that that doesn't even work.
I'm very, very worried; please, if you found a solution, share it with me.
Kind regards
Clarisa
Clarisa,
I suspect you are trying to use Trados Translators' Workbench to translate a Word file that contains bookmarks? If so, you'll find it a lot better (in terms of file integrity) to use TagEditor to translate the Word file. You'll need TagEditor version 7.0 or newer. But it will leave you with working bookmarks after you complete the translation.
Yes, you are right. The problem was that I could not not open the file using TagEditor (don't ask my why, I will never know; perhaps the file contains lots of formattings issues, pictures, tables, and so on).
I believe I've found the solution browsing the Web. I've just asked my client to verify the file to see if everything is fine.
Let me share it with you.
Trados workbench (mine is 7.1) comes with a template named "TRADOS Bookmark handler" (located at SDLTrados71_Freelance_7.1.0.719\Program Files\TRADOS\T7_FL\TT\Templates).
I copied the template at the Office folder, and used it.
The instructions for using the template are found at the following site: http://www.sandbergtranslations.com/Intranet/Using%20Bookmark%20handler.pdf. They are very clear and apparently, I solved the problem. I'm just waiting for my angry client reply!
I'll keep you informed.
Kind regards
I am glad that you solved your problem and got the translation delivered, Clarisa. The Trados Bookmark Handler that you found does work reasonably well if you are using the Workbench workflow. Occasionally, we all encounter a Word file that refuses to open in TagEditor, so it is certainly good to know about the Trados Bookmark Handler as a back-up option.
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