Documentation Center

Opening files using Translate Single Document

Use the Translate Single Document command to initiate a translation and start working on it quickly.

About this task

Starting a translation using this method bypasses the selections you make when using the New Project wizard. For example, you do not specify settings for pre-translation. Using the Translate Single Document command, you can create and save an *.sdlxliff file which contains source language segments only and then, from this, create further *.sdlxliff files which have a target language assigned to them.

Once you have created the *.sdlxliff file, you can modify translation memory (TM) settings using the Project Settings dialog:

  • This method creates a project automatically and the *.sdlxliff file is added to it. The project is given the same name as the file you opened. Settings for your active file can then be specified in the Project Settings dialog where you can select TMs, termbases, AutoSuggest dictionaries and batch processing settings.
  • The options that you define in this dialog, when you first open a file for that language pair, become the default options for this language pair and are displayed in the Options dialog, being used if you create a project.
  • The TMs are ordered by priority (highest priority being the first TM in the list). The TM priority is used to determine the order in which TM suggestions are made. You may see disabled TMs listed here. These TMs are not applicable to the language pairs you have selected. These are TMs that are defined in your default settings in the Options dialog. They will be removed from your project when you open the file.

Procedure

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Go to the Welcome view, and either browse or drag and drop the file you want to translate. In the Translate files dialog, select Translate as single document.
    • Go to File > Open > Translate Single Document.
  2. Do one of the following depending on the available dialog:
    • In the Open Document dialog, select the file, and then select Open.
    • If the Select Project File dialog is displayed, an *.sdlxliff file has already been created for this file. To create a new translation, select Create New Project File and select OK. To open the partially translated file, select Open existing project file, and then select OK.
  3. In the Translation Memory and Document Settings dialog, check the value in the Source Language box. If the source language is not correct, select the correct language from the drop-down list.
  4. In the Target Language box, select the required target language from the drop-down list.
  5. If you want to use a translation memory (TM) during translation, select the type of TM to use in the Translation Memory and Automated Translation section:
    If...Then

    you want to use a TM stored locally in a file,

    Select Use and select File-based Translation Memory from the drop-down list. Select a TM from the Open Translation Memory dialog.

    you want to use a TM stored on a server,

    Select Use and select Server-based Translation Memory from the drop-down list. Select a TM from the Select Server-based Translation Memory dialog.

    you want to use a file-based TM with different languages than the ones in your project,

    Select Use and select AnyTM: Any file-based TM from the drop-down list. Select a TM from the Open Translation Memory dialog.

    you want to use a server-based TM with different languages than the ones in your project,

    Select Use and select AnyTM: Any server-based TM from the drop-down list. Select a TM from the Open Translation Memory dialog.

    you want to create a new file-based TM,

    Select Create Translation Memory. Create a TM in the New Translation Memory wizard.

    you want to create a new server-based TM,

    Open the drop-down list for Create Translation Memory and select Create Server-based Translation Memory. Create a TM in the New Server-based Translation Memory wizard.

    you want to use an WorldServer TM,

    Select Use and select SDL WorldServer Translation Memory from the drop-down list. Select a TM or TM group from the Select WorldServer Translation Provider dialog.

  6. Select Settings if you want to modify the settings of the TM. Select Import and Export to import data to or export data from the TM.
  7. If you want to use automated translation (AT) during translation, select Use and select SDL Language Cloud to connect to Neural Machine Translation (NMT) engines included in your account.
  8. If you want to use a termbase during translation:
    1. Select the Advanced button to display the Project Template Settings dialog.
    2. Select Language Pairs > All Language Pairs > Termbases from the navigation tree. The Termbases page is displayed. Select your termbases.
  9. If you want to specify additional settings for translation, select Advanced to display the Project Template Settings dialog. Make the required changes and select OK to close the dialog and save your settings.
  10. Select OK. The translatable content of the source language file is identified, segmented and placed in an *.sdlxliff file.

Results

A single-file project is automatically created for you. The file is opened in the Editor window for translating.