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How to prepare a QuarkXPress project for translation

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How to prepare a QuarkXPress project for translation?

To translate QuarkXPress files, you need to convert the text in the files to a format that is easily translated.

Story Collector for QuarkXPress facilitates the export of tagged text from QuarkXPress and the subsequent re-import of text after translation, minimizing the amount of time that needs to be spent on preparatory and post-translation work.

TIP: Story Collector for QuarkXPress works with QuarkXPress 4.1, 5.x, and 6.x. It converts files in QXD and QXT format to a text format (QSC) that can be easily translated using Translator's Workbench and TagEditor.

NOTE: You can also easily translate XTG, TTG, and TAG file formats. These are produced directly by QuarkXPress and CopyFlow export functionality. See QuarkXPress documentation for more details.

Story Collector for QuarkXPress is a QuarkXPress 4.1, 5.x, and 6.x XTension. This means that it uses the Application Programming Interface (API) provided by QuarkXPress to add extra functionality to QuarkXPress itself. Once you have placed certain files in the XTension of QuarkXPress, you can access Story Collector functionality via the TRADOS menu.
Story Collector has three basic functions which are presented in the TRADOS menu in QuarkXPress. These are the story order, export and import functions. These functions are duplicated for batch operations.

  • Story Order: Before exporting stories from your QuarkXPress document, you can determine the order in which they appear in the export file. This means that stories are presented for translation in a sequence that is as logical as possible.
  • Exporting Stories: After setting the story order, you specify a name and location for the tagged text export file. After exporting all stories to this file, you then open the file in TagEditor. The file is translated in the normal way, using Translator's Workbench.
  • Importing Stories: After translation, you save the file to QuarkXPress tagged text format, and import the translated stories into a copy of the original QuarkXPress file, using Story Collector.


XTG files

In SDL TRADOS 7.1 TagEditor can also open XTG files created with SDLXtract. SDLXtract is a standalone application, available from SDL, that exports Mac-based Quark documents into XTG text files, which can then be opened in SDL Edit or TagEditor.

Key Term Definition

The following key terms occur frequently in this chapter:

  • QXD - QuarkXPress files have a QXD extension.
  • QXT - QuarkXPress files have a QXT extension.
  • QSC - a tagged text format that used for the export and import files.
  • Export file - a tagged text file in QSC format containing untranslated text. This file is produced when you export stories from a QuarkXPress file.
  • Import file - a tagged text file in QSC format containing translated text. You import this file into a copy of the source QuarkXPress file overwriting the source language text contained in it.
  • Log file - a file containing information on export, import, batch export and batch import operations. You can choose to create a log file while exporting or importing single or multiple files.
    • For export and import operations, it contains details on whether the operation was successful or not and the number of stories exported or imported.
    • For batch export and import operations it contains the time and date of the operation, details on whether the operation was successful or not for each batch file and the number of stories in each batch file exported or imported.
  • Inline frame - a frame containing text or graphics placed in a sentence or word. It behaves as if it were a single character of text. Story Collector for QuarkXPress relies on the QuarkXPress Application Programming Interface (API) to collect and export/import the translatable text from QuarkXPress documents. Inline frames, however, cannot be manipulated via the API, which is why Story Collector cannot export or re-import them.


NOTE: QuarkXPress places inline frames at the start of the translated file when you import your translated file back into QuarkXPress. Use your source QXD files as a reference to move these inline frames back into their original position.

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