Simplify text formatting in IDML files
Discover ways to streamline IDML file segment tags for faster document processing.
If you upload an IDML file to Smartcat for translation, you might see segments with too many tags. If this happens, you can change tag settings to reduce their number.
Here is an example of the settings screen that you will see, using a simulation file upload.
Understanding the “Simplify text formatting” options
There are three options to choose from.
Option 1: Off
This is the default option. Choose this mode if you do not want to simplify formatting. It does not merge any CharacterStyleRange tags.
Option 2: Moderate
This option applies the following use thresholds.
Kerning: [-50..50]
Tracking: [-50..50]
Baseline Shift: [-2..2]
Option 3: Aggressive
Use at 2x option two's moderate thresholds.
At CharacterStyleRange processing time, if any of the kerning/tracking/baseline shift parameters are within a selected threshold, they are ignored – considered to be equal to zero. Then the standard logic applies: if there are two or more consecutive CharacterStyleRange elements with the same style, they are merged together.
Understanding the “Ignore empty applied languages” checkbox
This checkbox is switched off by default. It's used to ignore specific attributes around applied languages.
If turned on, two consecutive CharacterStyleRange elements that differ with this attribute will merge together. The first CharacterStyleRange value in the sequence wins.
FAQ
Can I translate InDesign files in Smartcat?
InDesign files can be translated in Smartcat but before the files can be processed for translation they need to be converted from a binary format to different formats. These formats are also InDesign formats and the conversion can be done from within InDesign itself. Depending on the InDesign version, files will need to be converted to the .inx format or the .idml format. Both these formats can be processed using Smartcat.
There is more information about InDesign formats and save options here.