Excelling Studio

Making Excel Files Translatable

Translators frequently encounter Microsoft (MS) Excel files. Just as frequent are the problems this file format represents, especially in conjunction with translation tools. Kaleidoscope has developed a solution for SDL Trados Studio users: Excelling Studio.

Text in columns C and D should be merged, translated as one segment, and then imported into columns H, I, J, K and L for the target languages. But only if there is not any text there already, and only if there is a number in column A and if column B does not have a green background. Ah, by the way: Column E contains the length limitation in pixels and column F a comment, which the translator absolutely needs to see in Studio. And of course column G contains the English translation, which has to be used as a source for Russian. So that was it for worksheet 1. Now on to worksheet 2…

Do you ever receive Excel files like that for translation? Or maybe just a plain multilingual Excel sheet which has to be translated or aligned (or maybe both)?

Our Solution

Excelling Studio organizes your Excel files and prepares them for translation in SDL Trados Studio. The tool reads data from the columns and rows of Excel worksheets and converts them to a special XML format for processing in Studio.

During pre- and post-processing of the files there are a lot of options you can set up. For instance:

you can merge several columns or even rows in the source Excel into one logical segment in Studio. This is useful, for instance, if some database exports contain several fields, which logically form one segment in Studio. The cells from the source Excel are then separated by a break tag in Studio, but can be translated as one merged segment. The length verification can either be carried out for each “cell” or for the entire segment.
you can define, in which columns the source language appears, and which target languages should be imported into which columns after translation.
you can have the tool check if there is already a translation in the target cells. If so, you can define if this translation shall be exported to Studio, too, or if it should be ignored. You can even lock these translations in Studio automatically. This feature of exporting the target languages, too, can actually be used as an elegant alignment workflow, since SDLXLIFF files can be directly imported into Studio. You can optionally read the target language from one column but write it back to a different one.
you can define where comments can be found. These comments will then be displayed in Studio as comments.
you can automatically generate projects for many Excel files which always follow a certain naming convention. This is done by mapping export/import tasks to a particular filename pattern, thus enabling export/import of an entire directory.

You can save the export/import definitions as a “task”, which you can then run again for identical Excel files. In case the target Excel file will contain several languages, the special file type that comes with Excelling Studio will automatically read source and target languages from the XML file and thus generate a multilingual project automatically. You then translate the resulting XML file in Studio as you normally would. The file type provided will check the length restrictions, based on maximum character or pixel counts. The pixels can either be counted based on a rendering in your operating system or based on a client-specific font width table. After finalizing the studio project, Excelling Studio will read the XML files back into the excel file, thus automatically generating a multilingual target Excel file.

Product Documents to Download

Technical product documents: Download our User Manual.

Why not try out a free version of Excelling Studio for yourself: Simply download it from SDL OpenExchange! Please be aware that functionality is restricted in this free version. You can take advantage of all the functions in the Professional version of Excelling Studio, which is available for purchase in our online shop.

Delivering MultiTerm

Delivering MultiTerm converts server-based termbases into a local termbase, which can be added to a SDL Trados Studio project. You can take this termbase offline and send it to the translator. Delivering MultiTerm optionally scans the source documents for terms and then adds only the relevant ones to the project-specific local termbase. Filtering is also available.

Excelling MultiTerm

Excelling MultiTerm is a tool that lets you precisely select data from SDL MultiTerm and export that data into an Excel file. Once in Excel, you can then edit, translate, or review your terminology. You then use the Excel file itself to update the data in MultiTerm. Excelling MultiTerm also contains a number of features which professional users of MultiTerm need for keeping termbases “clean”.

Publishing MultiTerm

Use Publishing MultiTerm to select specific content from SDL MultiTerm and export it. Then run any number of transformations on the output, and convert the final data to formats like PDF or XML. The tool is ideal if you want to create a glossary suitable for printing or if you want to export your data for use in other systems. Once set up, the publishing process runs automatically on a server.

Translate Excel Files with Ease

Excelling Studio makes working with Microsoft Excel files much easier. These files are often a stumbling block, especially when processed in translation tools. Excelling Studio from Kaleidoscope organizes your Excel files and prepares them for translation in SDL Trados Studio. The tool reads data from the columns and rows of excel files and converts them to a special XML format.

Connecting Content

Connecting Content is the ideal solution for connecting a content management, catalog, or technical editing system to an SDL Trados-based translation workflow. Connecting Content also works smoothly with a variety of other workflow systems and is a logical solution for automating time-consuming processes in this field. Once set up, it runs automatically on a server, automating your projects.

COTI – Standard for Automation

COTI – Common Translation Interface – is a German standard for exchanging translation projects between a CMS such as SCHEMA ST4 and a CAT. Kaleidoscope has built this bridge for the world of SDL Trados Studio, GroupShare, and WorldServer, enabling standardized automatic data exchange between editing and translation management systems that can be implemented extremely quickly.

goAnalyze Studio Files

goAnalyze is an add-on for SDL Trados that can analyze multiple or even zipped files, without even having to open Studio or create a project. Using goAnalyze, any number of different TM connections can be grouped under “Customer” and prices assigned to the corresponding match bands. Not only is this a bonus for freelancers and agencies, but also for in-house translation departments.

Synching Language

Synching Language is a fully automated tool for keeping several translation memories and termbases synchronized between multiple SDL servers and/or clients. This solution maintains “snapshots” of all databases and compares all the images with one another during each synchronization process. As a result, synchronization can be performed reliably in both directions.

Your TTX is too large?

Then Splitting TTX is the Answer! Splitting TTX is an extremely efficient tool for splitting large TTX files into several smaller TTX files. After the translation is complete, the individual files are merged back together into one complete TTX file. This is particularly useful when TTX files are too large to handle efficiently or when several translators will work on one source file at the same time.

Jewels in the Treasure Chest

In our treasure chest we collect small and useful tools that we have developed for specific needs and which may be interesting for other customers as well. Take a look for yourself; perhaps you will also find a jewel such as secureSDLXLIFF that will transform your current processes! Got a great idea for a new tool? Let us know!

Consultancy & Workshops

While you can simply download and try out some of our products for yourself, larger-scale solutions such as SCHEMA DocuManager or SDL WorldServer have extensive configuration options. To enable us to tailor these systems to your individual requirements, we can offer you specialist guidance and workshops. This will give you a clear picture of the desired and perfect solution for you.

Rely On Our Support

Do you want tailored guidance and prompt support response times? Then you can rely on us! We provide support both for the SDL Trados products we market and for the software solutions we develop in-house, such as quickTerm, smartQuery, globalReview, and expertTools. In order to support the products from our other partners, we negotiate direct support and maintenance contracts on your behalf.