SDL Trados Studio

Content:

 

Error message: "Failed to save target Content: Mismatch in Unique ID"

This message is mostly caused by the following problems in the source document:

  1. Comments in Word documents, especially by multiple authors.
    Delete all comments from the source document and put them back in again after translation.

  2. Footnotes in Word documents that do not comply with the rules for footnotes, such as those containing automatic lists or paragraph marks.
    Remove the offending footnotes from the source document and insert correct ones.

Once you have corrected the source document, you need to set up your Trados project again. Apply the translation memory that has already been filled.

Translating from TXT Format: The target text contains only the target language or the source and target languages are side by side

The "tab-delimited text file" format was probably selected instead of "plain text" when it was saved.

  • Save the source file again with the right file type, and set up your project again.
  • If that doesn't work either, save the source text in DOCX format and work on this document. You can then convert the target document back into a text document at the end.

Error message: "Object reference not set to an instance of an object"

This error message can be caused by a number of things. Try the following series of solutions:

  1. In SDL Trados Studio, reset the window layout: View ribbon > Reset Window Layout button.
  2. Close and reopen SDL Trados Studio.
  3. Restart your computer.
  4. Close SDL Trados Studio and, in Windows Explorer, go to the folder User\<user name>\AppData\ Roaming\SDL\SDL Trados Studio\[XX.0.0.0].
    Delete the following files.
    - BaseSettings.xml
    - plugincache.xml
    - UserSettings.xml
    Reopen SDL Trados Studio
    N.B. This process will reset any user-specified settings (window positions, colours, text size, etc.).
  5. Close SDL Trados Studio.
    In Windows Explorer, go to the folder <user name>\Documents\Studio 2014\Projects.
    Delete the file projects.xml.
    Reopen SDL Trados Studio.
    N.B. All projects will have been removed from the list.

The project list contains a damaged project that stops SDL Trados Studio from opening

  1. Open Windows explorer.
  2. Go to the folder <user name>\My Documents\Studio2014\Projects.
  3. Delete the file projects.xml.

SDL Trados Studio should run now, but all the projects will have been removed from the project list.

The "Confirm and Translate until Next Fuzzy Match" function isn't working properly

If you have to set up your project again or if, for whatever reason, the target segments have to be filled in from the translation memory again, SDL Trados Studio has a function called "Confirm and Translate until Next Fuzzy Match" (riboon "Home" tab > "Segment Actions" group > dropdown menu under the "Confirm" button).

This function looks for matches in the translation memory. If a 100% match is found, then it will be inserted into the target segment, the segment will be confirmed, and the next segment will be opened. If no 100% match is found in the translation memory, then the cursor will stop.

Unfortunately, the function does not always work smoothly. There are two options to get around this:

Option 1

From now on, all applied 100% matches and context matches will automatically be applied and confirmed.
If a lower Quality match is inserted, you will have to confirm it manually before moving on.

  1. Open SDL Trados Studio.
  2. On the "File" menu, click the "Options" button.
  3. In the "File" > "Options" dialogue, go to "Editor" > "Automation" in the menu.
  4. Select the "Apply best match after successful lookup" option.
  5. Select the "Confirm segment after applying an exact match" option.
  6. Click on "OK" to safe these new Settings.
  7. Open your document in SDL Trados Studio.
  8. Place the cursor in the first target segment.
  9. Confirm the first match applied.

NB.
After finalizing the Project, remember to go back to the "Options" dialogue and deactivate the "Confirm segment after applying an exact match" option again.

 Option 2

  1. Open your document in SDL Trados Studio.
  2. Open the "Home" tab of the ribbon, and click on the "Batch Tasks" button in the "File Actions" group.
  3. Select the "Pre-translate Files" option in the dropdown menu.
  4. Click on the "Next" button in the "Batch Processing" dialogue.
  5. In the menu, go to "Language Pairs" > "All Language Pairs" > "Translation Memory and Automated Translation".
  6. If not available, add the translation memory you would like to insert matches from.
  7. Tick the "Lookup" box for this translation memory.
  8. Go to "Language Pairs" > "All Language Pairs" > "Batch Processing" > "Pre-translate Files" in the menu.
  9. Set the "Minimum match value" to 100.
  10. Make sure the "Confirm 100% matches" and "Confirm context matches" options are selected.
  11. Under "When no match found", select "Leave target segment empty".
  12. Click the "Finish" button. The pre-translation will begin.
  13. When the pre-translation is complete, click on the "Close" button.
  14. Whn Trados asks whether you want to reopen the file, click on "Yes".

The document will be opened in the Editor with the pre-translated segments.

Term Recognition not recognizing databases

No suggestions are displayed in the Term Recognition window, despite MultiTerm databases being correctly configured.

  1. On the Navigation Pane, click on the Projects button.
    => SDL Trados Studio shifts to the Projects View.
  2. Right-click on your current project.
  3. In the context menu, choose Mark as Complete.
    => The project's status will change to Completed.
  4. Now right-click on the project again.
  5. In the context menu, choose Revert to In Progress.
    => The project's status will change back to In Progress.
  6. Open the project as usual in the Editor.
  7. Place the cursor in a segment.

Term recognition should now work.

Term Recognition does not identify everything that is in the termbase

Sometimes, Term Recognition fails to find terms which are actually in the MultiTerm database. This can be because the search depth value is too low.

  1. Open the Project Settings of your current project.
  2. In the Language Pairs menu, go to All Language Pairs > Termbases > Search Settings.
  3. for the Search depth option, set a higher value (e.g. 150).
  4. Click on the OK button.

If you want to set a higher value for Search depth by default, use the setting under File > Options.

Only a blank space is displayed in the Translation Results window

Although the Translation Memory is correctly configured, only a blank space is displayed in the Translation Results window, without labels.

  1. Close SDL Trados Studio.
  2. Open Windows Explorer.
  3. Browse to the folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\SDL.
  4. Rename the folder SDL Trados Studio to SDL Trados Studio_old.
  5. Browse to the folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\SDL.
  6. Rename the folder SDL Trados Studio to SDL Trados Studio_old.
  7. Rename the folder ProjektApi to ProjectApi_old.
  8. Browse to the folder Libraries > Documents.
  9. Rename the folder Studio 201X to Studio 201X_old.
  10. Open SDL Trados Studio.
    => The renamed folders will be recreated when SDL Trados Studio is opened.
    => All settings under Options will be reset.
  11. Open your project and check that the Translation Results window is now correctly displayed.
  12. If this is the case, close your project again.
  13. Open File > Options and choose the desired settings.

If you want to set a higher value for Search depth by default, use the setting under File > Options.

A saved target text in Word format will not open

Sometimes Word cannot open the target text of a translation, giving the following error message:

The file xxx.docx cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents.

If you click on the Details button in the message window, an error description similar to this will appear:

The name in the end tag of the element must match the element type in the start tag.
Location: Part: \word\document.xml, Line: 2, Column: 2260

According to SDL, the new file filter for Office 2016 formats is very sensitive to repeated overwriting of target texts. This is not a bug in the program, but does give an insight into the future. The intention is that, in a future Studio version, it will be impossible to overwrite an existing Microsoft Word document using the Save Target As function.

To get around this problem, you can try the following workarounds:

Workaround 1

Delete the existing saved target text before saving a new version.

Workaround 2

Give your target text a new version number each time you save it.

Workaround 3

Assign another file filter to the project:

  1. Delete the corrupt target text.
  2. In the ribbon Home tab, click on the Project Settings button.
    => The Project Settings dialogue will open.
  3. Select File Types in the menu list.
    =>  The list of file types will appear on the right.
  4. Deselect the file type Microsoft Word 2007-2016.
  5. Select the file type Microsoft Word 2007-2013.
  6. Click on the OK button.
    => The Project Settings dialogue will close.
  7. Switch to Projects View.
  8. Right-click on your current project.
  9. In the context menu, choose Mark as Complete.
  10. Studio will ask if you are sure. Click on the Yes button.
    => The project will now be marked as Completed.
  11. Now right-click on the completed project again.
  12. In the context menu, choose Revert to In Progress.
  13. Studio will ask if you are sure. Click on the Yes button.
    => The project will now be marked as In Progress.
  14. Open the project in the Editor.
  15. Save a new target text.
    With the older filter, this text can now be overwritten again without problems.

The workarounds work the same way for PowerPoint presentations.