Studio 2014

Question

I have read the discussions concerning following subject: 
 Problem with WordprocessingML v. 2 file type 
 I have Studio 2014 and I have the same problem. No way to translate let alone to send it back as part of a package. 
 Consequences: I did not get jobs any more from an outsourcer I used to work with because of this problem and I received a document for a test translation which could not be opened because of this issue. 
 Pls Note that Studio 2014 is barely 4 years old and things like this should not be allowed to happen - they should be fixed. 
 I totally agree with Evzen Polenka: "But the upgrade is NOT FREE, it costs a lot actually". 
 So my question Paul: 
 1 has it been fixed meanwhile (I could not find any answer to this)? 
 2 if Trados does not want to fix it we are being forced to upgrade. Will you offer me a free upgrade?

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Rita Depuydt , 
 
Why can't you translate the file? This should not be a problem and if you have difficulties with this please explain why and we can help you with that. 
 
Regards 
 
Paul

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Rita Depuydt , 
 
Sure... email it to pfilkin@sdl.com

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Rita Depuydt , 
 
ok. I clearly misunderstood what you were saying because you said "No way to translate let alone to send it back as part of a package". I expected you to send me an sdlxliff or a package, but you have sent me a DOCX file that was created in a version of Word not available when Studio 2014 was developed. 
 
If you want to handle a file like this you have to do at least one of the following: 
 
1. Downgrade the source file to a version of Word that was supported in Studio 2014 
2. Ask your client to send you the SDLXLIFF or include the file as part of a Studio package 
3. Upgrade your version of Studio 
 
In order to process these files we reworked the office filters and I'm afraid these will never be backported into a version of the product that is already out of support. One approach to the problem of upgraded software is to take a Support & Maintenance contract as this includes free upgrades as well as the ability to get help whenever you need it and then you won't come up against problems like this in the future.

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Rita Depuydt , It does indeed seem strange, but perhaps not as cut and dry as the picture you paint. The last thing we really want to do is have to go through these kind of problems every time Microsoft bring out a new version of their filters so profit through denial is not the way we work! First of all, I believe that the filters in Studio are more capable than any other in terms of what they are able to do with the information provided by Microsoft. For many customers it is not enough to simply extract the basic text you see in the file, it's also important to be able to do things like this (and this is not intended to be an exhaustive list): - handle tracked changes (source/target) - options around special chars, complex scripts, different fonts, advanced formatting, hyperlinks, mathematical expressions etc. - handling comments - processing content controls - dealing with document properties - font mapping - etc. The complexity of the filters doesn't end there either as we expose features from Word that can be used in the Studio Editor in various ways including document structure and preview. It also means that we need to be very specific about the versions of the files we are opening as we are using things that are simply not relevant to other tools and as a result this can mean that when Microsoft upgrade their own formats that we need to address this with an update to the filters. All of these things and more have resulted in the Word filetype in Studio being quite a complex thing that can be very difficult to change when we need to support more features for our users. So much so that when we also moved Studio to a new version of the .NET framework in Studio 2015 we also decided to completely rewrite the filetypes so that they could provide us with many of the things that were missing in Studio 2014 and earlier. Since they were built against a different .NET framework retrofitting it to Studio 2014 would have meant rebuilding 2014 against a new version of this framework and this essentially would have meant a new major version of the product to upgrade to anyway. So we did not do this, instead we added them into 2015 as this came with a lot of improvements over 2014 alongside the older ones as we made sure that they were going to be suitable for all our users. These new filetypes readily support a wider range of Word formats than before, support realtime previews irrespective of the version of Word you are using and introduced support for many of the things our users had been asking for that are not possible in other tools at all. We did try to drop the old filters in 2017 and only work with the new ones, but these caused problems for some of our customers who were still working with users on older versions of Studio. So we took a decision to add the old ones back in again until more of our userbase had upgraded to the more current versions of the software. I have received your email and many of the people you have quoted in there actually have different problems to the ones you have raised. They needed the older filetypes to be available to them and we have done this. Putting the new filetypes into Studio 2014 is not an option for us at all. You are using an old piece of software that has been through two major upgrades and I'm afraid the only way you are going to be able to work with files created in a more modern version of Office is to either upgrade or continue to work with other tools that will deliver what you need now. I have tried to explain the rationale behind our decisions and can't really tell you any more than this. I think a support & maintenance contract makes sense for anyone engaged as a professional translator because you are always able to ensure that you have the latest version of the software available to you, and this will be supported for the new computer you purchase and the new versions of office you use as well as you being able to get technical help whenever you need it.

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Rita Depuydt , I'm sorry Rita, but I have tried to explain why the new forms of DOCX cannot be opened by our older versions of the software and why we have created new filters to support the needs of our entire userbase. Based on your conclusion of a win-win we would have to forget about upgrades and developing software as we'd have to give it away for for free to every customer we have. We'd have no business to run as we could not afford to pay anyone to deliver it. It might be a negligle cost for just you, but really... why should you be entitled to something for nothing that other customers pay for to help support the development of the software for the future? I think to use your analogy, if you send me the new topping you have received for use with your old pizza then I can provide you with some topping that's also 4-years old and then you'd be able to eat it. Alternatively, why don't you upgrade? The version of software you are using is not supported at all anymore. With a support contract we provide mechanisms for professional translators using our software to work with us and be part of our business, and in return we provide free support, free upgrades to the software and ensure that they are able to work without problems to the best of our ability. We do take great pride in our jobs and in trying to help our customers to ensure they are being fairly treated and get what they need from the software we provide. But it's not a one way street. We do this in return for you continuing to work with us and using the solutions we provide to help deal with the continual changes created in the software and hardware world. If you choose not to take them then there is only so much we can do.

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Studio 2014

Problem with WordprocessingML v. 2 file type