InDesign: Exporting an INDD file as several IDML files (each containing one chapter of the report)
Thread poster: Vladimir Pochinov
Vladimir Pochinov
Vladimir Pochinov  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 20:44
English to Russian
Dec 1, 2019

Hi,

I have been offered a revision job. The report to be revised is about 135,000 words and contains several chapters. The deadline is rather tight. The translation is to be done in XTM Editor (perhaps, in MateCat or Memsource). I would prefer to do the revision in the SDL Trados Studio environment.

I suggested that they "... divide the final batch into separate files, say for each chapter of the report; provide XLIFF files as soon as they have been translated, so that
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Hi,

I have been offered a revision job. The report to be revised is about 135,000 words and contains several chapters. The deadline is rather tight. The translation is to be done in XTM Editor (perhaps, in MateCat or Memsource). I would prefer to do the revision in the SDL Trados Studio environment.

I suggested that they "... divide the final batch into separate files, say for each chapter of the report; provide XLIFF files as soon as they have been translated, so that I could start revising them." However, the agency claims that they "... can’t divide the workflow, as the files are IDML."

Is it true that there is no way to divide the original InDesign file (.INDD) into several chapter-based IDML files?

Thank you in advance for your kind assistance in this matter.

Regards,
Vladimir
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 19:44
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Vladimir Dec 2, 2019

Vladimir Pochinov wrote:
I suggested that they "... divide the final batch into separate files, say for each chapter of the report; provide XLIFF files as soon as they have been translated, so that I could start revising them." However, the agency claims that they "... can’t divide the workflow, as the files are IDML."


I have used XTM only as a translator, and I've never used InDesign or any other tool that saves INDD or IDML, but what you describe sounds like a workflow issue in XTM, not an issue with InDesign. The project manager operating XTM doesn't need to know how InDesign works. The PM simply drops the IDML file into XTM, and is then limited to what XTM can or cannot do. So perhaps XTM itself is unable to split the job into smaller batches (or: unable to split into smaller batches after the translation has already started). If XTM could do that, then it would be easy for you to download the smaller batches as individual XLIFF files from the XTM file manager.

But even if the PM can use InDesign, there would be a problem: the PM can't just split the translated IDML file into smaller files, because then he won't have them inside XTM anymore. In order for the PM to split "the IDML file", the PM would have to split the original source version of the IDML file, then load those smaller files into XTM, and then somehow apply the unreviewed translations from the larger IDML file to the smaller IDML files so that they appear "translated" in XTM. I'm sure this is all possible, but it sounds like something that could be quite a complex operation.

[Edited at 2019-12-02 07:09 GMT]


 
Vladimir Pochinov
Vladimir Pochinov  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 20:44
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
@Samuel Dec 2, 2019

Thank you for your input.

My idea was to obtain separate chapter-based IDML files, from the end client or the agency's DTP expert, before loading the project into XTM. However, upon discussion with a DTP expert, I learned that InDesign cannot automatically split an INDD file (native InDesign format) into several IDMLs. It can be done manually bu would involve a lot of time an effort, and might be prone to problems at the time when the translated version is re-imported back into InDe
... See more
Thank you for your input.

My idea was to obtain separate chapter-based IDML files, from the end client or the agency's DTP expert, before loading the project into XTM. However, upon discussion with a DTP expert, I learned that InDesign cannot automatically split an INDD file (native InDesign format) into several IDMLs. It can be done manually bu would involve a lot of time an effort, and might be prone to problems at the time when the translated version is re-imported back into InDesign.

Upon second thought, the agency could send me the partially translated document in bilingual XLIFF at some points throughout the project, so that I could revise it in SDL Trados Studio ("Trados"), thus filling up my project-specific TM. Then I might send the translator a revised file in Word using the "Export for bilingual review" option in Trados, so that he might take into account my suggested changes while working on the remaining chapters.

After the translation is done, the agency will send me the final bilingual XLIFF. All segments that I revised previously, should be suggested and/or inserted by Trados automatically, saving lots of time for me which would be much appreciated as the deadline falls on 3 Jan 2020 (holiday season, you know.

Hopefully, this workflow will work.
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InDesign: Exporting an INDD file as several IDML files (each containing one chapter of the report)






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