This chapter describes how to make the best of SDL Trados Studio during the review process by introducing you to a number of features designed specifically to help you edit and check your work, such as the Display Filter, Track Changes, Comments, and the QA Checker. You will also learn how to work in Review mode and to adapt the Auto-propagate settings to make them more effective during review.
The sample file for this chapter (Chap_06_SampleFile_01.docx_en-US_en-GB.sdlxliff) is an SDLXLIFF that uses a pseudo translation between U.S. and U.K. English (on the basis that most users of the Freelance version will have English as one of their five installed languages and will not therefore be excluded from using the file).
SDL Trados Studio has three modes of working, Translation, Review, and Sign-off, which are intended to reflect the stages of the translation process itself, namely translation by a translator, review by a reviewer, and sign-off by a project manager or second reviewer. When you open a file for translation, it opens by default in Translation mode. In practice, many users work only in Translation mode. There is nothing to stop you from working in Translation mode even when you are reviewing or editing a document, but Review mode has certain advantages in this situation.
For example, Review mode has a different screen layout from Translation mode. It is designed to facilitate the review process by giving greater prominence to the side-by-side editor, with the Comments, Messages, and Translation Results windows at the bottom of the screen. Also, instead of the three Translation-mode segment statuses of Not Translated, Draft, and Translated, in Review mode the status Translation Approved (green tick) and Translation Rejected (red cross), shown in the following screenshot, are activated when you confirm or reject segments:
One obvious benefit of working in Review mode is therefore that you can track your progress through the review of the document with the review status icons, as shown in the following screenshot of the progress bar under the side-by-side editor. If, on the other hand, you review your work in Translation mode, the status icons in the progress bar will not differentiate between previously translated segments and those you have reviewed.
The Confirmation Statistics tab in the Files view also shows the review statuses.
Once assigned to a segment, the review status icons remain in place when the file is closed and reopened in any mode. You can therefore use the review icons to keep tabs on which segments you have reviewed or, by rejecting segments, to indicate those that require attention, such as when returning the SDLXLIFF to the original translator for correction.
Note that Track Changes is activated by default in Review mode, so you may wish to turn it on and off depending on whether a particular segment requires it.
Sign-off mode is similar to Review mode in having its own statuses (Signed off and Sign-off Rejected), but is intended for project managers to indicate their final approval once a document has been reviewed.
You cannot open a single file directly for review from the File menu. To open a single file for review, first open it with File | Open | Translate Single Document, and then save and close it. This automatically generates an SDLXLIFF for the file and takes you back to the Files view, where the file is selected in the right-hand pane.
From the Home tab, choose the Open For Review button (outlined in the following screenshot) or right-click the filename itself and choose Open For Review. You can try this now with our sample file (Chap_06_SampleFile_01.docx_en-US_en-GB.sdlxliff).
To open a file in a project that you created in the New Project wizard for review (see Chapter 7, Working with Projects), in the Projects view, double-click the name of the project to jump to the Files view, select the desired file, and open it for review as described in the preceding paragraph.
When you open a document in the Editor view, the Review tab appears in the ribbon. The Review tab houses many of the main commands that you will be using when you review and edit bilingual documents, and which are described in the rest of this chapter.
In Review mode, you have the option of confirming (approving) or rejecting the segments. The Home tab contains the following buttons for approving and rejecting segments:
The main actions are as follows:
- To approve a segment, click the Confirm button or press Ctrl + Enter.
- To reject a segment, click the Reject Segment button or press Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
- To approve all remaining unreviewed segments in the document in one go, click the Complete Review button.
When you exit a document open in Review mode, you will be prompted to decide whether you want to mark all unreviewed segments as approved. To approve all remaining unreviewed segments, click Yes. To leave the unreviewed segments in their current state (so that you can come back and review them later, for example), click No. This leaves all rejected segments with rejected status (which also makes them easier to work with if you decide next to have a final check made on the document in Sign-off mode).
In the sample file, try confirming (approving) and rejecting Segments 1 and 2 respectively, then save, close (choosing No when promoted to approve all remaining segments), and reopen the SDLXLIFF for review as described in the preceding section.