CAT tool compatible with idml and pdf that could be used as a proofreading tool for English
Thread poster: Christelle Maginot
Christelle Maginot
Christelle Maginot
United States
Local time: 17:07
English to French
+ ...
Jan 14, 2021

Hello,

I’m looking for an easy-to-use CAT Tool that could be used as a proofreading tool in English (setting the language pair to U.S. EN>U.S. EN or UK EN>U.S. EN) for a proofreader colleague of mine.

The requisites are that the CAT tool:

- Be compatible with Mac
- Be compatible with InDesign (or its exchange format idml)
- Be compatible with pdf documents
- Allow for review of changes by someone without the software

Honestl
... See more
Hello,

I’m looking for an easy-to-use CAT Tool that could be used as a proofreading tool in English (setting the language pair to U.S. EN>U.S. EN or UK EN>U.S. EN) for a proofreader colleague of mine.

The requisites are that the CAT tool:

- Be compatible with Mac
- Be compatible with InDesign (or its exchange format idml)
- Be compatible with pdf documents
- Allow for review of changes by someone without the software

Honestly, I don't know why CAT tools manufacturers haven't penetrated the proofreading market. There are millions of proofreaders in the U.S. who still do their job manually. The technical features of CAT tools should be perfectly applicable to proofreading...

Anyway, if anyone has any idea, I would appreciate some advice.

Thank you.

Christelle

[Edited at 2021-01-14 15:36 GMT]

[Edited at 2021-01-14 17:55 GMT]
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Natalie
Natalie  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 22:07
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
SITE LOCALIZER
Can't you just Jan 14, 2021

export your sdlxliffs to Word for your colleague to review them?

 
Christelle Maginot
Christelle Maginot
United States
Local time: 17:07
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Not the purpose Jan 14, 2021

That's not the use my colleague would be making of the software. She (who works independently from me) receives pdf files of instruction booklets, product catalogs, recipe books (think "super repetitive copy") that she has to proof manually, and she can't keep up with.

I'm thinking that if she worked with a CAT tool, she would never have to make the same change twice, or remember the changes she made three months before.

[Edited at 2021-01-14 17:54 GMT]

[Edited at 20
... See more
That's not the use my colleague would be making of the software. She (who works independently from me) receives pdf files of instruction booklets, product catalogs, recipe books (think "super repetitive copy") that she has to proof manually, and she can't keep up with.

I'm thinking that if she worked with a CAT tool, she would never have to make the same change twice, or remember the changes she made three months before.

[Edited at 2021-01-14 17:54 GMT]

[Edited at 2021-01-14 17:55 GMT]
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Natalie
Natalie  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 22:07
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
SITE LOCALIZER
No such software Jan 14, 2021

As far as I know, there is no CAT tool that would meet all your demands, first of all because there is no special CAT tool for proofreading PDF files, besides Acrobat and similar programs.

For other three requirements you can use main CAT tools like SDL Studio or MemoQ.


 
Christelle Maginot
Christelle Maginot
United States
Local time: 17:07
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
SDL (which I use) meets all requirements but one... Jan 14, 2021

...the MAC compatibility.

 
Clarisa Moraña
Clarisa Moraña  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 16:07
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Wordfast Pro Jan 14, 2021

Exactly what you need.

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 22:07
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Christelle Jan 15, 2021

Christelle Maginot wrote:
I’m looking for an easy-to-use CAT Tool that could be used as a proofreading tool in English (setting the language pair to U.S. EN>U.S. EN or UK EN>U.S. EN) for a proofreader colleague of mine.


I, too, have tried to do editing by loading the file into a CAT tool and then editing the target column. The act of copying each segment to the target turns out to be quite cumbersome. You can copy all text to target at the start of the "translation", but then you miss auto-propagation. Theoretically, one could then use the glossary feature of the CAT tool to remind oneself of things that need to be checked in subsequent segments, and one can use the concordance feature to search previous "translations".

The requisites are that the CAT tool:
- Be compatible with Mac
- Be compatible with InDesign (or its exchange format idml)
- Be compatible with pdf documents
- Allow for review of changes by someone without the software


I'm not sure what you mean by "compatible with PDF", though. Several CAT tools can read IDML files and then export to a two-column DOCX file, and then import edits back into the IDML file. But dealing with PDF files in CAT tools always involve some kind of lossy conversion to DOCX that is not reversible.

I believe WFP5 does work on Mac. The demo version should be fine. You load the IDML file in WFP5, then export the TXLF file using "bilingual export" to a two-column DOCX file. If you want to do the proofreading inside WFP5 then you may need to buy a license, but you can also do the proofreading in the DOCX file (although then you can't use any of the CAT tools features, e.g. glossaries, propagation, concordance etc.). After the DOCX file has gone from proofreader #1 to proofreader #2 and to proofreader #3 etc., all using tracked changes on the **target** column (make no edits to the source column), the last version can be imported back into the IDML file with WFP5's "bilingual import" feature.

WFP5 isn't simple to use, so be prepared for some frustration initially, but it does work.

Honestly, I don't know why CAT tools manufacturers haven't penetrated the proofreading market.


Well, one problem is that the millions of proofreaders typically work on final files, not intermediary files. The proofreader typically does not work on the IDML file, but on the PDF file. Or, the proofreader works on a DOCX file whose formatting has already been fixed. And this is a problem because the conversion from the final file format into the CAT tool's internal file format (and back) isn't 100% reliable. Although many CAT tool translators do not check the final files before sending it to the client, you really should, because the final file is likely to be only 99% finalized by the time the CAT tool spits it out. The CAT tool introduces formatting and layout issues in the file, you see. The conversion is not perfect.

Another problem is that proofreaders often fix formatting and layout at the same time that they fix language problems. But CAT tools remove formatting and layout from the user. This means that the proofreader needs to go through the file *twice* -- once inside the CAT tool, to fix language issues, and once in the final file format, to fix formatting and layout issues. A simple quick read-through is not sufficient for step 2.

And another problem is that CAT tools assume that the sentence and paragraph structure of the original file is already correct. You can't move sentences around in a CAT tool. You can split up paragraphs or join paragraphs in a CAT tool, due to the one thing that makes CAT tools so successful: segmentation.


Jorge Payan
 
Binnur Tuncel van Pomeren
Binnur Tuncel van Pomeren  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:07
Member (2007)
English to Turkish
+ ...
What I usually do Jan 15, 2021

Hi, none of my editors has a cat tool. What I do have, is Studio Trados 2019. The following function helps you convert your bilingual CAT tool interphase into word bilingual file for review (Comments are also allowed). When you import the file returned from your editor, you can read and approve them on your CAT tool.
Open on Trados your bilingual file=>on the Toolbar (Review)=>Export for bilingual reviewing)

Good luck

[Edited at 2021-01-15 13:40 GMT]


 
Christelle Maginot
Christelle Maginot
United States
Local time: 17:07
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all for your comments. Jan 15, 2021

Thank you all for your comments and help. I'm going to give up on my search. As Samuel pointed out, there are a lot of drawbacks.

For the little story: Both my colleague and I work in house, as part of a Creative Department that can provide us documents pretty much in any format we request. With SDL, I work mainly on idml files, but no one has to approve my work. The proofreader's changes must be approved by the powers that be before they are made, and that adds a level of difficult
... See more
Thank you all for your comments and help. I'm going to give up on my search. As Samuel pointed out, there are a lot of drawbacks.

For the little story: Both my colleague and I work in house, as part of a Creative Department that can provide us documents pretty much in any format we request. With SDL, I work mainly on idml files, but no one has to approve my work. The proofreader's changes must be approved by the powers that be before they are made, and that adds a level of difficulty to finding a tool that works for her.
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CAT tool compatible with idml and pdf that could be used as a proofreading tool for English







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