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SDL Desktop Translator Help and FAQ

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General questions:

Payment questions:

Installation questions:

Using SDLDesktop Translator:

Account questions:

General questions:

topCan I use SDLDesktop Translator in Outlook Express?

No. Outlook Express is not part of the Microsoft® Office suite. The SDLDesktop Translator toolbar only works in Microsoft® Word and Microsoft® Outlook®.

topIs the free service still going to be available?

Yes. The free translation service will still be available in its present form.

topAre all the language directions currently available on FreeTranslation.com available in SDLDesktop Translator?

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer English to Russian, Russian to English, English to Japanese, Japanese to English, or English to Chinese (Simplified or Traditional) as part of SDLDesktop Translator.

topHow comprehensive are the specialized dictionaries?

The specialized dictionaries are always being updated. For instance, we will monitor the usage of the specialized dictionaries for untranslated words and will update the dictionaries at regular intervals with the top 100 untranslated words. This way we will be providing a continuing improvement in the quality of translations returned to you when you use the specialized dictionaries.

topWill the specialized dictionaries improve the quality of all my translations?

Not necessarily in every case. The specialized dictionaries are quite comprehensive but this does not mean that every word associated with a specialization is contained within them. We are constantly monitoring the system looking for unfound and mistranslated words within the specialized areas and we will be adding them to the dictionaries on a regular basis.

topWill my translations be 100% accurate?

No, only professional translation can give you 100% accuracy. The translations are intended to give a gist understanding of the original source language text. If you are intending to use the translations for external publishing purposes please ensure that you always get them professionally checked before publication.

topWill I be able to translate from within Internet Explorer?

No. The SDLDesktop Translator toolbar only works within Office 2000 and Office XP.

topWill I be able to use this service if I don't have Office 2000 or Office XP?

No. The SDLDesktop Translator toolbar only works within Office 2000 or Office XP. Previous versions of Microsoft® Office are not supported.

topWill I be able to translate from within PowerPoint® and Excel?

No. The SDLDesktop Translator toolbar will only be installed in Microsoft® Word and Microsoft® Outlook®.

topWill all the formatting in my Microsoft® Word documents be preserved?

Yes. If the whole document is translated all your formatting will be preserved in the returned translation.

topDo I have to translate whole documents every time?

No. You can highlight paragraphs, sentences, phrases or even single words and click the "Automatic Translation" button and you will get a translation of the highlighted section of your document. If you choose to translate your whole document you must save it first and ensure that nothing is highlighted. When you click the "Automatic Translation" button, the translation will be saved in the same directory as your original document with the correct language prefix for the target language you have chosen.

topIs there any limit to the size of document that I can translate?

Yes. The maximum size of document you can translate is limited to 800 Kbytes or 20,000 words. Please remember that every time you do a translation the whole document is sent to the translation server and back again. This will slow down the return of your translation. The translation process itself is extremely fast but we have no control over the time it takes to upload and download your document. The system may timeout if it is too large, which is why we have put a limit on the size of document you can translate.

topWill the toolbar work on my Macintosh PC?

No.

topIs there a limit to the number of translations I can make per day?

Yes. As described in the Terms and Conditions there is a daily limit of 50 translations per day for every subscriber. The counter is reset at midnight GMT each day.

topHow do I hide the buttons on my toolbar?

The left arrow button on your toolbar will hide toolbar buttons depending on which checkboxes are selected in the "Options/Settings" tab. The default setting is to hide all buttons except for the "Automatic Translation" button. To allow other buttons to be visible when using the left arrow button, select "Options", then the "Settings" tab and select the appropriate checkbox.

topWhat does the "Professional Translation" button do?

Clicking the "Professional Translation" button will take you to SDL International's Click2Translate website where you will be able to obtain a quote for a professional translation of your document.

Payment questions:

topWhy do I have to pay for something I can get for free?

You don't. What you are paying for is an added value service. When you go to FreeTranslation.com you get a free translation of approximately 750 words. You have to go to the website and type in the words or copy and paste them. With the subscription service this is no longer necessary. You will have a toolbar in your Microsoft® Office applications that allows you to translate directly from within the application, maintaining all your formatting. You will also get access to specialized dictionaries which will improve the quality of your translations in specific specialist areas, such as Business and IT.

topCan I pay by giving my credit card details over the telephone?

No. Only online transactions will be supported. The system we use is a secure online payment system.

topIf my card expires before my next subscription payment, what do I do?

If a payment request is made on a card number that has expired, your subscription will obviously not be paid. This will result in your access to the system being suspended. You will then need to subscribe again.

topHow do I cancel my subscription?

Simply visit https://secure.freetranslation.com/account/desktop/cancel/ and submit your request.

Installation questions:

topWhy couldn't I download and run the installer?

Some companies and individual PCs stop the download of an executable file. You will have been sent a link to download a zip file in your subscription acknowledgement email. Please click this link to download the zip file. If you have not kept this email, please login to your account and select the downloadable zip file. Once you have downloaded the zip file and saved it on your computer unzip it and run the setup file.

topWhy is the installation process not working on my Windows® system?

In order to install the SDLDesktop Translator toolbar on a Windows® 2000 or Windows® XP operating system you need to be a super user or above. Please see your Operating System manual for further details. Remember that the SDLDesktop Translator toolbar does not support previous versions of Microsoft® Office and will not install if you do not have Microsoft® Office 2000 or Microsoft® Office XP.

topWhat is a proxy server and why is it included in the installation procedure?

A company uses a proxy server to protect their internet connection. It is a device which sits between a PC within a company and the internet. If you are subscribing from home there is no requirement to specify a proxy server connection. If you are subscribing from within a company environment, please contact your system administrator for the details of your proxy server.

topWhat can I do if I can't see the toolbar in Microsoft Word?

Open Microsoft Word, click the Tools menu then - Macro - Security - Click the Trusted Sources tab - and check the box which says "Trust all installed addins and templates". Now click the Security level tab and set the security level to medium. Once installation is complete this can be reset to high. You then need to reinstall SDLDesktop Translator.

Using SDLDesktop Translator:

topWhy do I have to be connected to the internet when the SDLDesktop Translator toolbar is in my application?

The service we are providing comes from an internet server. This means that although you have the SDLDesktop Translator toolbar installed in your Office application you still need to be connected to the internet to use it.

topWhat do I do if I get the error "Unable to connect to SDL Translation Subscription Server at this time"?

Check that your Internet connection is currently available and you can connect to the Internet as usual. If you can, this probably means that you have a proxy server on your network or some type of firewall software.

You might be able to get all the information you need to set up the proxy directly from your computer.

  1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer
  2. Click on Tools \ Internet Options
  3. Select the Connections tab
  4. Click on the Lan Settings button

You probably have a check in either Automatically detect settings, or a check for Proxy Server.

If you are set with Automatically and nothing is under Proxy Server, you will need to contact your IT department for the appropriate information.

If you have a check in Proxy Server, there is either a computer name or IP Address in the box for Address and a number in the box for Port. This information needs to be placed in the Options \ Connection Tab of the SDLDesktop Translator. Also, under the Options \ Connection in SDLDesktop Translator, there is a radio button for HTTP or Socks. Start with HTTP. If that doesn't work, move it to Socks. If you need a username/password for the proxy you can also enter it here. If a username is required, the proxy is most probably a Socks server. Again, your IT Department can help with the appropriate information for the proxy.

If you have a personal firewall software installed on your computer, go through the procedure to set the firewall to allow WinWord.exe to access the internet. Depending on what your personal firewall is doing, you might also have to allow the SDLDesktop Translator dlls the same access.

topWhy don't I see the SDLDesktop Translator toolbar in my Outlook® program?

If you have installed SDLDesktop Translator, the toolbar will appear when you open an email.

topWhy is the SDLDesktop Translator toolbar not available when I write a new email or reply to an email?

This is a situation that occurs when your Microsoft® Outlook® application has been set up to use Microsoft® Word as its default editor. The solution is to remove Microsoft® Word as the default editor for Microsoft® Outlook® on your PC. This will not affect the operation of Microsoft® Outlook®. You can do this by opening Microsoft® Outlook® and going to the Tools/Options menu, select Mail Format and uncheck the box which says "Use Microsoft® Word to edit email messages". The SDLDesktop Translator toolbar will now be visible when you write a new email or reply to an existing one.

topWhere do I find the translated document?

When a translated document is returned to your computer, it is immediately opened in a new Microsoft® Word window so that you can view it easily. Translated documents are saved in the same directory as the original documents and use the following naming convention:

Original Document Language Direction Translated Document
agenda.doc English/Spanish Spanish_agenda.doc
Mitteilung.doc German/English English_Mitteilung.doc

topWhy is my Word document returned untranslated?

This problem commonly occurs when a document is produced by scanning a hard copy of a document without using an OCR program. (An OCR program is able to read the text in the document when it is scanned and convert it to editable text.) If the text cannot be edited then we cannot return a translation. Please check that the text in the word document is not part of an image before you send it for translation.

topWhat is to stop me giving my email address and password to other people?

Nothing. As described in the Terms and Conditions there is a daily limit of 50 translations per day. The counter is reset at midnight GMT each day. If you give your email address and password to another person they may use your daily translations before you get a chance to use the service.

Account questions:

topHow do I get to login to my subscriber account to view or change details?

Visit https://secure.freetranslation.com/account/.

topCan I change my email address?

Yes. Simply login to your account using your old email address and existing password and you will be able to change your email address. Remember you will also have to change your email address in your SDLDesktop Translator, SDLClipboard Translator and / or SDLChat Translator as well.

topCan I change my password?

Yes. Simply login to your account using your existing email address and existing password and you will be able to change your password. Remember you will also have to change your password in your SDLDesktop Translator, SDLClipboard Translator and / or SDLChat Translator as well.