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working with PDF in memoQ
Thread poster: Angel Llacuna
Angel Llacuna
Angel Llacuna  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 17:05
English to Spanish
Oct 24, 2024

I see that the requirement of a job offer is
Output format of the files is PDF , Delivery format is docx

what is the best approach to handle these files in memoQ ?

Should I convert first the PDF to a Word file and then work with the latter in memoQ?
 
Rachel Waddington
Rachel Waddington  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:05
Dutch to English
+ ...
Yes Oct 24, 2024

I would convert it to Word first, but you will probably find issues like paragraph breaks in the wrong place, etc. even after you have converted.

I have a (paid) subscription to Adobe Acrobat Export PDF for this which does a reasonable job, but I still need to spend some time cleaning up the file after I convert it.

The Reimport function in MemoQ is useful if you start translating and then find that there are issues you need to fix in the Word file.

Stepan Konev
 
Charlie Bavington
Charlie Bavington  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:05
French to English
Test what memoQ does? Oct 24, 2024

As far as I know (i.e. this is what I do ), you can import a PDF directly into memoQ, and by default the export format will be a Word document.

It must be said the exported Word document is not always glorious in terms of layout.

You can test memoQ's default export by just exporting immediately after import. No need to translate anything. Just export, and look at the layout of the result Word document.... See more
As far as I know (i.e. this is what I do ), you can import a PDF directly into memoQ, and by default the export format will be a Word document.

It must be said the exported Word document is not always glorious in terms of layout.

You can test memoQ's default export by just exporting immediately after import. No need to translate anything. Just export, and look at the layout of the result Word document.

Then compare that with the Word document that is output from your favourite PDF conversion tool.

See which one requires less work to get a decent page layout.

True, 8 times out of 10 I use my PDF converter (an ancient version of Abbyy in my case) but it's always worth checking what memoQ itself will produce for you. Especially if you are not too familiar with PDF conversion tools. ▲ Collapse


Rachel Waddington
 
AllegroTrans
AllegroTrans  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:05
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
Yes Oct 25, 2024

Only a "clean" PDF can be properly handled in MemoQ. The fact is that most PDFs that I get sent by clients are scans, and these won't work reliably.
I always try asking for a Word doc, but if this isn't forthcoming I convert the PDF to Word using Abby Finereader.
 
Angel Llacuna
Angel Llacuna  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 17:05
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
thanks all, for your input.... Oct 25, 2024

What free converter would you recommend to convert PDF to the Word format ?

I am not satisfied with the default conversion done by memoQ
 
Rachel Waddington
Rachel Waddington  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:05
Dutch to English
+ ...
Free tools Oct 25, 2024

https://www.ilovepdf.com/ has been mentioned on the other pdf thread.

I pay £21 a year to Adobe, which does a reasonable but not perfect job.
 
AllegroTrans
AllegroTrans  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:05
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
Free PDF conversion tools Oct 25, 2024

I spent several days trying all the available free tools (a few years ago) but they could not handle accented letters and most of them were poor with layouts.
Everything depends on how often you are translating from pdfs, but if you get alot of them consider how much time and effort you could save by investing in a paid solution. ABBY Finereader is my preference but there are alternatives of course. Many have free trial editions so you can test them first.

Rachel Waddington
 


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working with PDF in memoQ






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