ProZ.com Translation Forums

Translating InDesign files | Affinity Publisher

Paolo Tramannoni — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 23:13:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Paolo Tramannoni
Post title: Affinity Publisher

I subscribe (pun intended) to the above suggestion of using Affinity Publisher for previewing IDML files. InDesign features missing from Publisher will not be previewed, but most of the content should be fine.

I concur to the feeling that refining the translation in the final page makes for a much better translation. However, I would't want to renounce to the speed and ease of drafting a first translation using a translation memory. In my use cases, IDML carries (linked) images with text, so rebuilding the page layout file from it would result in seeing everything as in the original file.

As translators, we should really push on Serif/Canva to make their Publisher able to export IDML files, and make the importer/exporter as good as possible. It would be a powerful, inexpensive tool to work on the final page, wether it will end up into a Publisher document or an InDesign one.

Translating InDesign files | Affinity Publisher

Philippe Locquet — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 10:52:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Philippe Locquet
Post title: Affinity Publisher

I've been using Affinity Publisher for a while now and I'm pretty happy with it.
It opens all idmls
Of-course with all DTP, you need to have the fonts etc. so it can be viewed same as the original.
You CAN'T save as idml, however, you can save as their proprietary format or export as pdf for fast review of long documents.
It's cheap (lifetime license) and works on Mac and PC (I got mine on offer for 35 EUR).

If you're translating idml, you need to get every tag right, then all changes due to language expansion etc. need to be addressed by your customer in post. A good idea is to send your customer a pseudo translation before getting started so they can have an idea of the effect language expansion will have on the target file.

I use Affinity to double-check there are no major issues or that small portions of text did not end-up with a different tag config than what should be expected.

Scribus never gave me a good enough visual result, so I had to uninstall it.
If you do a lot of idml and wnat to check they look right before sending it to the customer and you don't want to sell your car to buy Adobe Indesign, then Affinity Publisher is a good option IMO.
[url removed]

Translating InDesign files | InDesign + Trados

Petr Lexa — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 15:16:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Petr Lexa
Post title: InDesign + Trados

I am translating/localising a lot of InDesign files into Czech. If I understand well your question, it would be advantageous to generate a PDF in target language. When checking such PDF, you see also all pictures which stay in the file unchanged, just as they are in the original text. All corrections have to be done in the corresponding Trados project. Then, you generate the target translation and have a nice final InDesign file. It needs only some DTP work. Feel free to contact me...

Translating InDesign files | Adrien,

Sayeda Abdelrazik — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 14:10:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Sayeda Abdelrazik
Post title: Adrien,

[quote]Adrien Esparron wrote:

[quote]Sayeda Abdelrazik wrote:

I have imported an IDML on Trados but I can't see the preview. It says it's not available.

I had already tried to work on the language terminal as per the post you shared with me but the results are not great.

I am looking for something that gives you a real preview of how the original file looks like.

[/quote]

The latest stable version of Scribus (1.5.5) gives good results and better than Language Terminal in my experience. It's worth trying.

[url removed] [/quote]

Thank you very much, I will check it out

Translating InDesign files | IDML & INDD

Steffen Kern — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 08:59:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Steffen Kern
Post title: IDML & INDD

@ Karin: As far as I know, IDML is only an exchange format. The actual InDesign file format is INDD. I had a very similar situation, in which the original text consisted of a lot of pictures and text boxes. The client initially had several hundreds of INDD files which contained single paragraphs or sometimes even single sentences (e. g. for image captions). Opening all or at least a part of them brought Trados to its knees. but the client was able to provide two IDML files containing the whole text. So I translated these and afterwards ran the INDD files against the TM, so that the client could reconstruct the document from the INDD files. That could be a solution. However, we ran into some problems, as I had delivered a work-in-progress text to better judge the text overflow (as you know, a German translation is longer than the English source text – which is actually what I wanted the IDML preview for) and in the final step, mysteriously, not all work-in-progress text had been overwritten by the final translation (actually, only one file was concerned by this, but it necessitated another check).

Translating InDesign files | Copy of the indd-file

Karin Maack — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 17:43:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Karin Maack
Post title: Copy of the indd-file

[quote]Adrien Esparron wrote:

[quote]Karin Maack wrote:

... The editor thought this was very time consuming and not very profitable for me (probably she would be right) and she argues their other freelance translators would translate directly in InDesign. So I am not sure what to do...

[/quote]

I think the editor is right: there are times when you need to be able to work without CAT Tool and directly in the source file (a copy of...). Experience has shown me that you gain a lot in quality and efficiency. But it's true that I started translating a long time ago from paper documents, which is why it has never been a problem for me and even now.
[/quote]

So, you make a copy of the source file, have the source file open for reference and overwrite the source text in your copy? Why didn't I think of that before! Ok, you have just solved my problem. It's strange, I have got so used to using CAT-tools for translating longer texts I almost forgot that it is possible another way - although I translate birth certificates and the like from paper!

Translating InDesign files | Translating directly in InDesign

expressisverbis — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 17:34:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: Translating directly in InDesign

[quote]Karin Maack wrote:

I have been asked to translate an InDesign-file (a book with many pictures) directly in InDesign. I was wondering if I have missed something because I would also use an IDML-file and import it into my CAT-tool. But they don't want that because afterwards the pictures would be missing - meaning of course that they would have to put them back in. So I would have to copy the text back into each text field. The editor thought this was very time consuming and not very profitable for me (probably she would be right) and she argues their other freelance translators would translate directly in InDesign. So I am not sure what to do, because the royalty would only be what I usually get for a book translation, on the other hand, I would really like to work on this project and perhaps get more of that sort in the future. [/quote]

I did that in the past, translating directly in InDesign (It can be an option, no?), and I had the same issue with images. It was a user manual containing pictures.
It was better to do this directly.
I have a client who sends me idml files, but he handles the layout part. I translate, they edit!

Translating InDesign files | A different perspective

Platary (X) — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 17:19:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Platary (X)
Post title: A different perspective

[quote]Karin Maack wrote:

... The editor thought this was very time consuming and not very profitable for me (probably she would be right) and she argues their other freelance translators would translate directly in InDesign. So I am not sure what to do...

[/quote]

I think the editor is right: there are times when you need to be able to work without CAT Tool and directly in the source file (a copy of...). Experience has shown me that you gain a lot in quality and efficiency. But it's true that I started translating a long time ago from paper documents, which is why it has never been a problem for me and even now.

Translating InDesign files | Try Scribus

Platary (X) — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 16:58:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Platary (X)
Post title: Try Scribus

[quote]Sayeda Abdelrazik wrote:

I have imported an IDML on Trados but I can't see the preview. It says it's not available.

I had already tried to work on the language terminal as per the post you shared with me but the results are not great.

I am looking for something that gives you a real preview of how the original file looks like.

[/quote]

The latest stable version of Scribus (1.5.5) gives good results and better than Language Terminal in my experience. It's worth trying.

[url removed]

Translating InDesign files | Publishing Editors don't seem to know...

Karin Maack — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 15:43:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Karin Maack
Post title: Publishing Editors don't seem to know...

I have been asked to translate an InDesign-file (a book with many pictures) directly in InDesign. I was wondering if I have missed something because I would also use an IDML-file and import it into my CAT-tool. But they don't want that because afterwards the pictures would be missing - meaning of course that they would have to put them back in. So I would have to copy the text back into each text field. The editor thought this was very time consuming and not very profitable for me (probably she would be right) and she argues their other freelance translators would translate directly in InDesign. So I am not sure what to do, because the royalty would only be what I usually get for a book translation, on the other hand, I would really like to work on this project and perhaps get more of that sort in the future.

Translating InDesign files | Indeed

Sayeda Abdelrazik — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:12:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Sayeda Abdelrazik
Post title: Indeed

[quote]Steffen Kern wrote:

Hi Sayeda,

I can only tell you that I have looked hard for this as well, but didn't find any solution. Frontlab had released a Trados Plug-in that worked in 2018, but then they were acquired by LanguageWire and that was the end of it. I haven't scanned the market for a while, so maybe somebody has come up with a solution in between. If not, this is probably one of the biggest unmeet needs of the translation industry.

Let me know if you find something. Good luck! [/quote]

Hi Steffen,

I had a look at Frontlab as well because I saw someone had mentioned it on the SDL forum but as you said, it was discontinued.
At the moment the only tools I have tried are not great so hopefully, this will be looked into better in the future.

[Edited at 2020-10-30 14:19 GMT]

Translating InDesign files | No land in sight

Steffen Kern — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 13:57:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Steffen Kern
Post title: No land in sight

Hi Sayeda,

I can only tell you that I have looked hard for this as well, but didn't find any solution. Frontlab had released a Trados Plug-in that worked in 2018, but then they were acquired by LanguageWire and that was the end of it. I haven't scanned the market for a while, so maybe somebody has come up with a solution in between. If not, this is probably one of the biggest unmeet needs of the translation industry.

Let me know if you find something. Good luck!

Translating InDesign files | No available preview on Trados

Sayeda Abdelrazik — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 12:51:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Sayeda Abdelrazik
Post title: No available preview on Trados

I have imported an IDML on Trados but I can't see the preview. It says it's not available.

I had already tried to work on the language terminal as per the post you shared with me but the results are not great.

I am looking for something that gives you a real preview of how the original file looks like.

Translating InDesign files | Sayeda,

expressisverbis — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 18:57:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: Sayeda,

[quote]Sayeda Abdelrazik wrote:

Can anyone reccomend any good tool to use to translate InDesign files that will allow you to preview the file as well?

It doesn't necessarily have to be a live preview but at least something that would enable me to see the source text in context.

Thank you in advance! [/quote]

In that case, Trados Studio does the job for you, but other CAT tools as well.
You can translate your idml files and you are able to have the source text and target text side-by-side. You can also preview the original file.
Am I understanding your question right...?

Translating InDesign files | Yes, they do

Sayeda Abdelrazik — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:51:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Sayeda Abdelrazik
Post title: Yes, they do

They usually provide me with IDML files as well.

Translating InDesign files | Can you have your files converted to idml format by the client?

expressisverbis — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 20:21:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: Can you have your files converted to idml format by the client?

If not, I think you can find a good tip here:

[url removed]

Translating InDesign files

Sayeda Abdelrazik — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:48:00 +0000

Forum: Localization
Topic: Translating InDesign files
Poster: Sayeda Abdelrazik

Can anyone reccomend any good tool to use to translate InDesign files that will allow you to preview the file as well?

It doesn't necessarily have to be a live preview but at least something that would enable me to see the source text in context.

Thank you in advance!