We are already well aware that nothing about technology should surprise us anymore, whether it’s software, products, devices, phones, laptops, etc. All these products we buy today may be obsolete in a couple of months. We know how fast they move on and how quickly all the products we use on a regular basis are updated. The same happens, as is logical, with software related to the translation industry. Translation tools (translation memories, reviewing tools, complements for files, file conversion tools, et al.). When we become familiar and accustomed to a particular version of a program, updates quickly arise that require us to keep up.
One example of this occurred when the transition took place between Office 97 and Office 2007 from Microsoft. The Office package is crucial to translators, as we normally face the challenges of translating documents into different formats for this package: MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint and MS Publisher.
A common problem faced by translators is the conflict arising from the translation of documents in Adobe InDesign or MS Office 2007 using Trados 7 or earlier versions. Normally, the translator is faced with a problem of incompatibility between the CAT Tool (here we return to the problem of having to update tools all the time. This is not a problem if you are working with Trados 2009, for example. The problem is not all translators are able to get the very latest of with the tools they use) and the Office file.
It is very common that in the translation of these documents with Trados 7 (especially Tag Editor), the translator finds a common dialog box that says “Filter Definition Not Found”. This dialog box appears every time we open a segment in a memory if our Tag Editor program lacks this plug-in or filter. It is very common to think that a mistake of this kind means that the file is not being translated correctly or that, for example, will not be able to save to the memory segment and, therefore, the file will not be cleaned. This is not true. The file can be translated without any problems. Simply click OK in the dialog box (it is a cumbersome procedure, as this dialog box appears every time we open a segment) and you can then access the other segment. The file may be translated smoothly, the segments can go into the TM and cleaning is carried out without errors.
Of course, the best option is always to keep up with or even stay ahead of these problems. That is, you should always do what you can to install the latest version of Trados, or install the necessary plug-ins to open these files so that these errors disappear. Our suggestion is that you do as much as you can, as you will benefit from this. Of course, we also want to assure you that there is no need to panic and that solutions are available easily for almost every problem.
(Versión en español: https://www.trustedtranslations.com/inconsistencias-entre-office-1997-y-2007-2011-08-16.html)
