Translation import from Word loses formatting

Thanks for you replay Katie, I do like the product, but it is frustrating that so much handwork is required to make the story files look good in other languages. My client purchased Articulate (and so I had to as well) particularly for the ease of translation and this is the first time they're using it on a large project. They are unhappy that it takes so long to fix the translations. They believed that importing translations from Word would require a pass-through to look for any really obvious problems but this certainly has not been the case. This is a semi-annual project and the next one starts in early November, so I hope these various problems are fixed by then.

If you want to see the right/left problem, take a look at my crazy PowerPoint that shows the Arabic/English word scramble problem. I submitted it a little while ago as Articulate Case # 01466878

I hope I don't sound too angry, I don't mean to, but this had made my work much more difficult.

No sweat there, Charles–I can definitely hear where you're coming from. We never want our customers to feel apprehensive about using our software, and are working really hard to ensure a seamless experience for all–including our customers' clients.

I saw you mention Export for Word was already used on the current project, but I wanted to revisit Alyssa's mention of the Export to XLIFF option for subsequent projects while our team delves deeper on both issues. Thanks again for continuing to work with us, both by adding your voice to ELH and by staying in touch with our Support Team.

I did try exporting to XLIFF but what I got looked crazy when I opened it in Notepad.

Don't you need special software to open and auto-convert to a language?

The regions who are translating are not professional translators, they are the regional education managers and would never have professional translation software. They are doing it by hand, which leads to other problems, but I won't go there!

You're right Charles, you would need software.

We recently launched this feature for Rise also and I know my colleague Kelly mentioned this:

*XLIFF files are a translation industry standard, so if you’re working with professional translators, then you shouldn’t have any issues. But what if the translations are being done by a fellow coworker or friend? No problem! If you do a quick Google search, you’ll find a ton of free tools that allow you to easily edit XLIFF files.

I'm sorry, I'm not clear on that process. You mean the co-worker would need the software, free or not, to put their translations in place?

Can someone update me on progress being made on the issue of line/paragraph spacing being lost when importing translation into Storyline 360 project? I've been asking over the past 3 months.

Also any progress regarding the right/left language issues I've noted?

Both of these bugs make work so much more difficult than it is supposed to be. I have more work of this nature starting up and I need to know if these issues have been addressed.

Thanks Crystal. As I said before, the XLIFF tool really is not an option as the clients are far-flung globally and won't attempt to use anything except Word. Frankly even Word seems to be a challenge for them. Plus, based on my testing of XLIFF with Arabic, it behaves the same way as Word for scrambling word order, so I don't expect it to be any better for line/paragraph spacing.

What is strange with the Word import problem is that Storyline exports to Word maintaining the spacing. It's only an issue when importing back into Storyline.

Is there anyone on your team who can give me a rough timeline for this fix so I can at least know what's coming? This is very significant for me.

Also, is there a place where I can access the feature requests and bug reports that I've made in the past? I don't see it anywhere.

Hey Charles,

I see that you worked with Vevette on our support team on this issue as well and she filed a bug report detailing the behavior to share with our team.

I wanted to share some information on how we define bugs and how we tackle them when they occur and also how we manage these feature requests when received. That said, I do not have a timeline to provide on the issue filed.

A public-facing listing or index of issues and requests has been an idea that we've tossed around, but not something we have at this time. We try to keep in touch with the users directly affected when we have updates to share as well as posting in any relevant forum conversations.

I hate to keep asking, but what progress is there regarding my original post about line & paragraph spacing being lost when importing translations via Word.

Please give me some indication that this issue is being addressed. Not knowing compounds my frustration.

Hi Charles,

I do not have an update to share with you at this time, but I wanted to share some information on how we define bugs and how we tackle them when they occur.

We have both your support case and this conversation linked to the report so that we can update you when we can.