InDesign Files with Trados

Many of the demands that a client can place on an agency when requesting a translation of a text:  from complying with the style of a translation, to following a certain glossary of terms, to working within the design (or “layout”) of a file.  For this task, it is necessary to have a good Desktop Publishing (DTP) team that can deliver a translation in the same format that the client originally provided it in. For example, if the client has an InDesign file, then the agency must be able to return a translation in the same InDesign format.  This is what usually happens with product manuals, brochures and documents with a large volume of text and images.

Having said that a good design team is needed for this work, being able to facilitate said team’s work is also essential so that they can convert the files easily.  How can we help the DTP team? By looking  for resources that know how to work with Trados in its different versions.  The use of Trados is crucial for these kinds of tasks, since Trados is compatible with Adobe In Design.  The .indd files can be converted into an intermediate format (format 01 main menu 2 150×150 InDesign Files with Trados extension .inx) which, in turn, can be opened with Tag Editor to be translated in Trados.

So, using a resource with Trados guarantees the possibility of taking advantage of a file’s repetitions, provided there are repetitions (manuals with a large volume of text, for example, tend to have a large number of repetitions).  This allows for optimizing factors like text consistency and speeding up delivery times.  But, above all else, translating a manual with Trados lets the conversion of its original format to be faster and easier as well.

The use of Trados is very valuable for recreating files in InDesign, but it is not a determinant. Of course, a file could be recreated without having access to .inx files. However, this always makes it more expensive.  Recreating a file without the original documents takes a lot of time and resources to be able to do it.  This, almost always, translates into more work hours and more money, which tends to be an impediment for clients when they contract translation services.

Spanish Version: https://www.trustedtranslations.com/archivos-indesign-con-trados-2011-09-30.html