MFile Preparation before Translation/ Document Preparation for Translation: Preparing documents into a format understandable by machine translation tools We recreate source files from PDFs or other formats to any format that our client need as well as template and document design. The preparation of files prior to translation is important to save the time in post-translation DTP. A correct analysis/preparation of the files, keeping in view the tools to be used for translation and the subsequent layout, can avoid many problems and consequently save time and unnecessary costs

We use various tools to extract text from various DTP applications into files that can be easily translated in Microsoft Word, Trados tools or any other CAT tools. This phase of preparation may also include different types of work over the source documentation, such as content fix and tune-up, to ease and speed up the post-translation process.

In order for a language expert to work with your content, it must first be editable. And although Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) has come a long way in the past 20 years, it still relies on is the keen eye of an expert to understand when a file can and cannot be processed. This human touch is still needed with even the most advanced software programs available today.

The editability of text is not a problem for most file formats, but there are often times when this isn’t the case. This includes:
1. Extracting text from images or desktop publishing software
2. Removing unnecessary line breaks and space characters that would otherwise make working with your content difficult
3. Tidying up PDF files after optical character recognition (OCR) processing
4. Filtering irrelevant content in Excel files
5. The creation of tag settings (.ini) files for .xml and other similar file types