Troubleshooting
What you can do to find the source of the problem
Angelika Zerfaß, [email protected]
My [insert name of tool] doesn’t work…
All my text is gone…The system crashes
all the time…
I get an error and can't work any more!
Messages to PM, colleague, support hotline…
Troubleshooting�Does that somehow sound familiar?
�Time to get the detective work started
�How to find out what the issue REALLY is
�Strategies to find solutions
As a user…
�READ THE ERROR MESSAGE
– When trying to open a Word file in Trados Studio– Studio can deal with regular Word files and bilingual
Word files from older Trados versions or Wordfast– The style tw4winMark is used for the Workbench
markers {0>xxxxx<}0{>yyyyy<0}– If the style is there, but no markers that the style is
applied to, Trados gets confused– Open the file in Word and delete the style
As a user…
�READ THE ERROR MESSAGE
– The names of worksheets in Excel may not be longer than 31 characters.
– The worksheet name is marked in Studio in the structure column
If the error message is unhelpful
�Object reference not set to an instance of an object�Make a screenshot of the error message�If there is a save button or an expand button, use
them to get the full error message�Try to reproduce the error message and
document the steps
�What does it mean?�The system is trying to access something
that is not there any more �This could be anything, from a TM file that
has been moved to the user profile file that has not been saved correctly last time
Object reference not set to an instance of an object
�Trados Studio�Restore the layout of the windows in the editor (View
menu -> Reset Windows Layout
Object reference not set to an instance of an object
�Trados Studio�Delete the projects.xml file
(C:\Users\username\Documents\Studio 2014\Projects) �Open the projects again via
File -> Open -> Open project
�The error could occur because the folder of a project was deleted, but not from within Studio, but in Windows Explorer. This means the projects.xml lists a project that is not there any more.
Object reference not set to an instance of an object
�Trados Studio�Delete the profile files�Close Studio and go to
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\SDL\SDL Trados Studio\XX.X.0.0\�BaseSettings.xml�Plugincache.xml�UserSettings.xml
Object reference not set to an instance of an object
�memoQ�memoQ does not start�Go to
C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\memoQ, and delete the Preferences.xml file.
If the error message is unhelpful�Look up the error message in the support
databases of the tools providers, mailing lists, translator portals�http://kb.sdl.com�http://kb.memoq.com�Proz.com (Forums on Trados, memoQ, Worfast…)�Tools groups on yahoogroups (tw_users, déjà vu…)�Google the error message�If you have a support agreement, send the
full error message text and the steps to reproduce to the tools provider (send them the file or a part of the file as well, they will ask for it anyhow)
If you try to solve an issue for someone else
�Try to reproduce the issue�Ask for all files and settings involved�Ask what the user was doing (exactly)�Ask for the configuration of the system
(OS, Office, translation tool version)�Ask for a screenshot of the error message
and when exactly it showed up
�If you can reproduce the error, it often rules out simple user errors ☺
Be systematic
�Try to rule out as many areas as possible�Could it be that the user is trying to do
something that the tool cannot do�Trying to open a translation from within a zip
file without unzipping it first
�Could it have to do with the input file�A file with the extension DOC which is actually
a DOCX or RTF file (because it was not re-saved but only the extension was changed)
�Could it have to do with settings�Could it be the version of the tool
Error Categories�User error
�Trying to open a file for translation from the TM’s file menu instead from the editor’s file menu
�Feature not supported in the application�Trying to open a file format that is not directly
supported like INDD, FM, IDML for older tool versions
�Bug in the application
Error Categories�Input file
�Invalid XML file, corrupt Word file�File size�Password protected�Scanned PDF�Track changes still activated
�File handling�Unexpected file corruption through
unintentional processing�-> zip all files that are to be sent by e-mail,
especially XML files and text-based files�Opening a file from within an e-mail, instead
of saving the file to a folder first
Error Categories�Incompatibilities between installed versions
of the tool and/or other tools�Certain add-ins in Word were problematic with the Trados toolbar�Multiple MultiTerm versions don’t work together�Working with Workbench and Studio in parallel might stop term
recognition from working
�Incompatibility with Frameworks like Java Runtime Environment, .Net framework or a new Windows update�MultiTerm needs a specific Java version and the
Next Generation Java plugin deactivated
Error Categories�Other, recently installed software
�Especially anti-virus software like Kaspersky or McAfee
�Windows related�Path to file too long (up to 260 are allowed)�This does not have to be the path to the translation
file but could be the path to a file created by the translation tool, such as a preview file in memoQ)
�Tool not installed with administrator rights�Random phenomenon�First time the error occurs, the next time it doesn’t
User errors
�Sometimes users make incorrect assumptions on what the function will do, so they do not provide the input in a meaningful way for the machine�Renaming files that must not be renamed (for
example in HTML projects)�Leaving text untranslated�Trados will keep the original text�memoQ will NOT keep the original text
Settings in the tool
�Try changing the parameters�Activate / deactivate other options of the
function you are trying to use�Try an alternative way�Save a DOC file to RTF or DOCX�Save an XLS to XLSX
�Try the same file with a different translation tool
File / File Name / File Format�Office�Open and Repair�Save in different format (DOC <-> DOCX/RTF…)�Copy content to new file� InDesign / FrameMaker�Save file again to interchange format from original file (INX
or IDML for InDesign, MIF for FrameMaker)�To save to INX, IDML or MIF, the original application is
needed in the correct version and with the customer fonts�File is too large -> split file�Shorten file name/path�File name is invalid (demo.docx_trans)�Note: make sure that you can see the file extensions on
your computer, a demo.docx file might just be a demo.docx.sdlxliff file if the file extensions are not shown
Tools / Tool Versions�Check if the version of the tool you use
supports the feature you are trying to use�Support for new file formats like IDML, MIF10,
Office 2007/2010�Ex: Trados 2007 supports DOCX, Trados 5.5 does not,
but 5.5 can read TTX -> when saved in 5.5, TTX header will be corrupted, file will not open any more in Trados 2007
�Different tools (sometimes even different versions of one tool) create different word counts and statistics which are NOT comparable
�Backup projects with memoQ 4.5 cannot be opened in version 5.0
Computer�Memory issues might be resolved by
�Closing memory hungry applications (Word, Outlook)
�Closing some of the 20 applications open at the same time
�Clearing the memory by restarting the machine
�Deleting the content of the waste basket and temporary files from your browser as well as not saving everything on the desktop ☺
Computer�Check if the version of Windows makes a
difference�Trados 2007 works fine on XP, but needs to
be installed explicitly with admin rights on Win7 and does not work at all on Win8
�MultiTerm 2011 does not work well on Windows 8, MultiTerm 2014 does
Be systematic in testing, too
�Whenever you try out something, make a note of �what you tried�in what sequence�with what settings�with which file
�And note the results�what you expected�what actually happened
For the future
�To avoid having to troubleshoot the same things over and over again, consider…�documenting the errors, their causes and their
solutions in a WIKI, database…�creating instructions for your customers�creating processing instructions for users of a
certain tool/version/OS combination�creating checking utilities for pre-processing
and post-processing files�using existing QA checking tools to the fullest
Support Database
�Sammlung von Supportfällen und weiteren Beschreibungen in einer Lexican Datenbank (netzwerkfähig)
Some of my “favorites”�Word file does not export�Error while writing breaks�The original file has page or section breaks where
there is no paragraph mark before the break
�Word file does not import�File type not found�When DOC file is to be imported into Studio, MS Word
has to be installed (DOCX works without a Word installation)
�InDesign file imports only partially�Tracked changes were not accepted -> all text
that contained tracked changes was not imported and therefore not translated
What are our first steps?
�Import/Export issues�Import the file, copy source to target and
export again. �If this works, the file is OK. �If not, the file might be the problem.
�Resaving to a different format�DOC/PPT/XLS to RTF or DOCX/PPTX/XLSX�Copy content to a new file�Open and repair
�Split the file to see which part works
What are our first steps?
�Import/Export issues�Take the bilingual file to another tool�SDLXLIFF from Studio 2011 saves to target in
Studio 2014, but not in Studio 2011�SDLXLIFF creates a TM in memoQ, original file
pre-translated in memoQ