Translation import from Word loses formatting

I received a reply on a different thread.

This is from Alyssa Gomez

Hi Charles,

It sounds like your custom paragraph spacing settings were lost after you imported the translated Word document, is that correct?

Our team is investigating this problem, and I'll certainly add your experience to our report. 

I apologize for all the extra work this has added to your plate! At this point, I haven't found any workarounds for this bug. If we do discover something, I'll be sure to let you know.

I have this thread tagged to be updated as soon as we get any new information. 

My reply to Alyssa:

Hi Alyssa, yes the paragraph and line spacing both are trashed.

There are threads about Word import for translations going back many years. Can you tell me if a fix is in the pipeline for this?

My client's corporate parent company specifically purchased this software to move from PowerPoint to e-learning and they are global, so this is a big issue.

I would need to input text at a 1 (default) line space to avoid this, but that is just not feasible for the kind of content they develop.

It seems to me that if the Word doc preserves the font/size and spacing, Storyline should do the same. It does keep the font/size formats, just not the spacing!

Hi there Charles, 

I know how important this bug fix is for you, and I'll certainly share your experience with my team. At this point, I don't have an ETA on a fix, but as soon as I know more, I'll come back around to share an update with you.

I'm curious, have you tried exporting to XLIFF instead of Word? Considering you're managing so many languages, this could be a time-saving option for you. You also shouldn't have the same paragraph setting issues with XLIFF as you have with Word. 

Unfortunately it was my client who did the export. And they're already distributed. I've been handling them as they come in but each language takes 8-10 hours of labor to fix.

Gosh, I'm really sorry for the extra work this is adding to your plate! I've spoken with my team about your situation, and if there's any forward movement on this bug, I'll be sure to let you know. 

Thanks... it's unfortunate. I am surprised this never came up before.

It's too late for this project. I just have to plow through to get things right. I expected to adjust layouts, but not to this extent.

Disappointingly, the trainer who sold the software to the client never told them about XLIFF or that it was better than exporting to Word.

The files have been distributed globally, but I REALLY hope this is fixed soon. They have more projects coming and ALL need to be translated.

Checking in to see if there's been any progress addressing this issue. I have been working on this project daily for over a month and it has not gotten easier! The loss of line/space formatting on import is still a major problem for me, along with other problems having more to do with clients not using the translation document correctly or changing all the styling. I am now up to 17 languages with more to come. Luckily I've gotten to know which screens are my big problems and can anticipate more of what to expect.

This client has ongoing work with a project like this twice a year. Any possibility of the line/paragraph spacing bug being worked out by my next new seasonal project? It starts in November.

Hi Charles,

Thanks for checking in. I'm sorry I don't have anything new to share on this bug. I have tagged this discussion to be updated as soon as there's any forward movement, so you'll be one of the first to know. I apologize again for all the headaches this is causing you!

This is really very disappointing. I can't believe the software doesn't maintain line & paragraph spacing. It's bad enough to have to tweak foreign languages for other considerations, but having to edit every single text string after import is just a big fail as far as I'm concerned.

It's like a daily occurrence, finding things that are bad in Storyline. My new favorite is having right to left text scramble word order when text strings contain English as well as other language.

The amount of handwork that goes into fixing the imported text is truly astounding.

Hi there, Charles. Thanks for continuing to share your honest feedback, and I'm also really sorry for the laborious task this issue has given you and your team.

I know how frustrating this can be–as the goal is to produce high-quality work–both visually and contextually–so really appreciate you working through the spacing and right to left text issues with us here and in your case with one of our Support rockstars, Vevette. 

While I don't have any news to share at this time, please know that we truly value the insight you provided. Our team is small with a very short ladder for things to run up, so we can make a product you love. You're certainly in the right place for updates and we'll let you know as much as we can, as soon as we can!