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There are 4 ways in which you can best approach file issues:
1. Use the native application of the file
- If your file is, for example, a Microsoft Word document, try opening the file in Microsoft Word and check if you can see something suspicious.
- All Microsoft Office programs have a Repair File function. Refer to article #893672 in the Microsoft knowledgebase.
- Copy the content of your original file into a new empty file, save the new file, and try to open this new file in Trados Studio.
2. Use alternative applications
- If you are using Trados Studio 2021 for your translation, try to open the file in an earlier version (e.g. Trados Studio 2019), or vice versa. If you have the same problem, the underlying problem is more likely to be in the file itself than in the tool.
- If your file is html or xml format, open it in your browser to check if any errors are reported. You can also use the online W3C Markup Validation Service to check the validity of your file.
3. Validation
- Open your original file in its native application and check for inconsistencies.
- Open your original file in Trados Studio and:
- Check for error messages when opening the file.
- Check if the suggested encoding and source language is correct.
- Verify the file via Tools > Verify and check for error messages.
- Go to File > Save Target As and check for error messages or open the created target file.
- Try opening the file in Trados 2007 or any other version.
- Try opening the file in your browser (in case of XML or HTML files).
4. "Divide and Conquer"
- This means splitting up your file into smaller pieces to locate the problematic part of your file.
- The easiest approach is to first split your file into two parts and open them both. If one of them is problematic, then split that one up into two parts and open them again. Continue this exercise until you have found the string causing the problem.
Troubleshooting the extraction of source files:
1. Your file does not extract:
- Open the file in the native application
- Fails
- The file is corrupt
- Check the version of the application
- Contact the author of the file
- Redownload the file, if relevant
- Check for troubleshooting tools
- Use the Repair tools available from the application vendor
- Use external validation tools available on the Internet
- "Hack" the file
- Use the "Divide and Conquer" methodology
- Edit (part of) the file in an editor, for example Notepad++ or HexEditor
- Succeeds
- Check if your version of the native application differs from the version the file has been created in
- Use the Save As function to save a copy of the file in your version
- Save the file again in the native application (often fixes issues with Microsoft Word files)
- Scan the file for suspicious strings, embedded objects, tables, pictures, forms, and temporarily remove them from the file
- Check the file for hidden text, revision marks (tracked changes), or large embedded content
- Open the file in Trados Studio
- Fails
- Check for error messages
- File type is not supported
- Check the file extension
- Convert it to another format
- Other error messages
- Use the location information in the error message to find the problem (for XML files)
- Search the RWS Support Gateway for the error message
- Search the Internet for the error message
- Succeeds
- Check the following
- Check if the correct File Type has been used - refer to the online help for details
- Expand and check the if the tags in the file are complete: Editor view > Format > Tag Display Mode > Tag ID
- Check if the suggested source and target languages are correct
- Check in the File Type settings if the suggested code page is correct
- Check if there are any messages in the Messages window of the Editor view
- Try the following:
- Define another code page and source language
- Change the File Type settings
- Run the Verification tool via Tools > Verify in the Editor view and check for error messages
- Go to File > Save Target As in the Editor view and check for error messages
- Preview the source file via File > View In in the Editor view
- Open the file in a text editor
- Scan for anything unusual, for example DOC files that have been saved as RTF file
2. You have corrupted characters in your file:
- Check that the character encoding matches the source language
- Check the encoding declaration in the file
- For HTML:
<META charset> - For XML:
<?xml encoding?>
- Open the file in a simple text editor like Notepad (Start > All Programs > Accessories)
- Check if the character is displayed correctly
- Check via File > Save As if the encoding is set correctly
- For Microsoft Office applications, use Visual Studio to check encoding and special characters like smart quotes, en-dash, copyright signs, and so on
3. Unusually slow opening of the source file:
- Check the file size
- Check for unusual features in the file, like embedded documents, pictures and tables
- Try opening the file in its native application - see above
- Try opening the file in a third party application - see above
Troubleshooting the generation of the target files:
1. Error message when generating the target file:
- Validate the bilingual file
- Open the bilingual file in Trados Studio
- Verify the file via Tools > Verify in the Editor view
- Check all error messages and fix the issues
- Change the verification settings via Tools > Options > Verification
- Settings of the QA Checker
- Set an alert for tag order changes
- Go to File > Save Target As and check the error messages
- Preview the target file and scan it for issues
- Change the display settings and check the file for suspicious content
- Go to Format > Tag Display Mode > Full Tag Text
- Go to Format > Tag Display Mode > Tag ID and check if all tag pairs are complete
- Go to Tools > Options > Editor > Formatting Display Style and select Show all formatting and tags
- Go to Tools > Options > Editor and select Show whitespace characters
- Go to View > Toolbars and make sure you have Display Filter selected; then select All content in the drop-down list
- Check the bilingual file for line breaks, tabs, special characters or anything else that is not present in the original source file
- Validate the source file as explained above
- Use the "Divide and Conquer" method by partly removing translations via Translation > Clear Target Segment followed by File > Save Target As
2. Corrupt bilingual SDLXLIFF file:
- Verify the file via Tools > Verify in the Editor view
- Always make sure you have the option Perform schema and DTD validation during file detection in Tools > Options > File Types > your relevant XML format > XML Validation switched on
- Locate the most recently saved correct version of the bilingual file
- "Hack" the file
3. Error messages during validation:
- Click on the message to find the relevant location in the file
4. Corrupt characters in the target file:
- Make sure that the target language is actually supported by Trados Studio
- Make sure that the selected output encoding is set correctly via File > Active Document Settings from the menu bar in the Editor view
- Check the fonts in the file
- Ensure that the defined target fonts are installed on your machine
- Verify the font mapping settings via Tools > Options > File Type > your relevant file format > Font Mapping
- Check if the use of bold, italic, underlined, superscript and so on is supported by the target font
- Ensure the selected code page is supported by the target font
- Check if "older" fonts are being used, like PostScript, Subtopic and TrueType fonts
- Make sure that any of your customized processing (for example via Batch Tasks) is aware of specific encoding settings
- Try to use a different target encoding via File > Active Document Settings from the menu bar in the Editor view
- Typically Unicode works best
- Check if the selected codepage supports all characters used in the translation
- Check that the correct code point is used in the output
- Use the Advanced view in Windows Character Map to find the correct code point for the target font and code page
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