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Cannot preview PDF

I am a new SDL-Trados user (2019 version). I am trying to preview a PDF (target). But if I click preview I get the message "Microsoft Office 2007 or later must be installed to preview Office files." This is not an Office file; it was made on Mac Keynote.

  • Hi  

    The answer to this will disappoint you but I'm afraid that although Studio is capable of converting a PDF to sdlxliff, it cannot convert the resulting target file to a PDF without Microsoft Word. Studio will only save the SDLXLIFF to a target file in Microsoft Office Word.

    Therefore you need to have Microsoft Office installed to be able to preview the target for a PDF.

    However, as I understand Mac Keynote is the Apple equivalent of Microsoft PowerPoint. So if you convert your file to PowerPoint instead of PDF, you should be able to convert the target .ppt or .pptx file back to Keynote after translation. You just wouldn't have the Preview facility available during translation (which I actually never use though I'm in a minority).

    Take a look here:

    Convert Keynote presentations to PDF, Microsoft PowerPoint, and more

    Translate the .ppt or .pptx file in Studio then save the resulting sdlxliff to target (or Finalise, whatever you usually do).

    You should be able to open the resulting .ppt or .pptx file directly in Mac Keynote via 'Open > Existing File'

    If the client wishes for a PDF file then you can save your file to a PDF file after that.

    I hope this helps!

    All the best,

    Alison

  • Alison,

    Thanks so much for your thoughtful response.

    Yes, disappointed but somehow not surprised. Apparently the LibreOffice loaded on my PC will not work, I have to spring for MS. Don't have PowerPoint either.

    Preview seemed like a useful feature to me but if I have to invest in all this other stuff, I'll skip it for the time being.

    best,
    Daniel
  • Hi 

    Sorry about that but at least you know there is a way to get the Target format that you need in the end, even if you can't preview it...

    I frequently work on packages based on idml.sdlxliff files but InDesign is way too expensive for me to invest in just to have the Preview or even generate the Target so I content myself with a PDF supplied by the client as reference ;-)

    All the best!

    Ali :)

  • Alison, I have Microsoft Office installed and working no problem, but cannot figure out how to save the target as PDF. I just completed a project for a returning client and we always worked with PDFs both ways. However, after the update, the PDF becomes a Word document and the formatting is all way off, causing a LOT of work (mainly copying and pasting) to fix it. How do I keep the nice PDF format that I used to be able to do before the update?
  • Hi 

    Studio has never been able to save to PDF format. The resulting Word file has to be opened in Word to create a PDF.

    So, one method to save a Target Word file as PDF is to open it in Microsoft Word then use 'File>Save As>PDF'
    Alternatively, open the Word file then use 'File>Print>Printer>Microsoft Print to PDF'.

    The ideal way to work when translating a PDF is... once you have your SDLXLIFF open in Studio, use 'File>Advanced Save>Save as Source'
    Then open the resulting Word file in Microsoft Word, tidy up the layout of the Word file so that it looks the way you want it before translation.
    Then, use that tidy Word file to create your translation project or translate as single file.

    The resulting translated Target Word file will then be much easier to tidy up after the translation is complete.

    Another thing to note is that Studio's ability to convert PDFs to translatable text depends on the quality of the PDF in the first place.

    Studio can't convert images to translatable text. It will keep any images intact so that they appear in the Target Word file correctly but it cannot detect text that has been embedded as a block image in a PDF. You need complex OCR software to do that.

    Let me know if the above helps and feel free to ask further questions.

    All the best,

    Ali [:)]