Extract translatable text from the current CAD drawing file or multiple files for translation in a CAT tool, and translate the drawings with the resulting translation table once it has been translated.

This tool is part of TransTools

Extract Translatable Text and Translate using Translation Table tools provide an easy workflow for translating all translatable text in AutoCAD drawing(s) using a CAT tool or with the help of a standard two-column translation table.

Extracting translatable text from a CAD drawing

Features

• Process the model and/or selected layouts of the current CAD drawing file, selections, or multiple CAD files.
• Do not extract repetitions.
• Option to extract all text including repetitions for word count analysis.
• Choose which layers need to be processed in order to translate specific layers only or create a dual-language drawing.
• Use a translation table in Excel or Word format.
• Option to create translation tables for a specific CAT tool for correct handling of non-translatable text depending on the CAT tool.

BricsCAD drawing translation tools: screenshots

Extract Translatable Text and Translate using Translation Table tools (TransTools for BricsCAD) provide an easy workflow for translating all translatable text in CAD drawing(s) using a CAT tool or with the help of a standard two-column translation table.

Detailed information about Extract Translatable Text and Translate using Translation Table tools for BricsCAD

Quick Navigation

• How Extract Translatable Text and Translate using Translation Table tools can help you in your work
• Using Extract Translatable Text and Translate using Translation Table tools
  • How to run the tools
    • Prerequisites: Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) support in BricsCAD
  • Extracting translatable text using Extract Translatable Text tool
    • CAD drawing formatting
    • Conditional filter
    • Extracting text from proxy entities (proxy objects)
  • Translating the translation table
  • Translating drawing(s) using Translate using Translation Table tool

How Extract Translatable Text and Translate using Translation Table tools can help you in your work

Extract Translatable Text and Translate using Translation Table tools dramatically improve your translation speed and quality when dealing with CAD drawings. Extract Translatable Text tool extracts all non-repetitive text shown on the drawing into a translation table in Word or Excel format, while Translate using Translation Table tool merges the translations from the final translation table back into the drawing, producing a fully translated drawing. Since CAD drawings are not supported in CAT tools, this workflow will be very useful to all translators who need to translate CAD drawings. It will also be useful for translators who do not use a CAT tool, since it allows to minimize time translating repetitive text.

TransTools for BricsCAD has the following features:

• Process multiple layouts in the current drawing and/or multiple selections within the current drawing.
• Batch-process multiple drawings opened in BricsCAD.
• Support for TEXT, MTEXT, TABLE, DIMENSION, MULTILEADER and EXTERNAL REFERENCE objects.
• All text is sorted by coordinates in top-to-bottom, left-to-right order (by X, Y and Z coordinates).
• Text is extracted with formatting codes, making it easy to preserve formatting when the text is imported back into drawings with Translate using Translation Table command.
• Formatting codes are specially formatted to make it easy to differentiate between them and translatable text. Most formatting codes are marked with special non-translatable formatting (style or hidden formatting) in Microsoft Word translation tables, which is handy for Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) tool users.
• Option to process specific layers only (e.g. if the text you need to translate is in 'TXT_EN' layer).
• Option to process text only (i.e. text objects containing letters as opposed to digits, punctuation marks, etc.).
• Option to exclude text based on specific conditions (e.g., to ignore text like 'LG-123-456').
• Configure the format of translation tables (optionally add layer or object type information).

Using Extract Translatable Text and Translate using Translation Table tools

How to run the tools

Before running TransTools for the first time, make sure that VBA support is installed as instructed here.

To run TransTools for BricsCAD in BricsCAD, you can do so from several places: the top menu, the ribbon, or even the command line (for more advanced users):

1. Using the menu bar:

   If the menu bar is not displayed at the top of BricsCAD window, right-click the top-most ribbon panel and select Menu Bar item in the menu:

   

   Once the menu bar is displayed, you can do the following:

   • To load TransTools for BricsCAD, select Tools -> Load Application..., then use the instructions below for loading TransTools for BricsCAD application file.
   • To run the tools, open the Macros dialogue by clicking Tools -> VBA -> Macros..., then follow the instructions below for running Extract Translatable Text or Translate using Translation Table tools.

   

2. Using the ribbon (toolbars):

   The ribbon interface is enabled in BricsCAD by default.

   To load TransTools for BricsCAD, click Load Application... button located under Manage tab, then use the instructions above for loading TransTools for BricsCAD application file:
   

   To run a TransTools command from the ribbon, you will need to add Macros... button to the ribbon, as it is not there by default. The procedure is not straightforward, but needs to be performed only once. To add VBA Macros button to the ribbon, follow these steps:

   1. Right-click any BricsCAD ribbon panel and select Customize....
   2. In Customize dialogue, make sure that Ribbon tab is selected, scroll down in the list on the left, and expand the tree to select Ribbon panels > Applications > Row item.
   3. Right-click this expanded Row item and select Append command button.
   4. In Add ribbon command button dialogue, leave Select available tool checked, then select VBA > Macros... from the list and click OK.
   5. When Macros... item has been added to the tree on the left side, select it.
   6. For Button Style attribute in the list below, select Large with text (vertical).
   7. For Image attribute in the list below, select it, then click ... button on the right side and select vba icon from Tool Image dialogue.
   8. Click OK button in Customize to finish. Macros... will be added to the ribbon under Manage tab:

   Once Macros... button has been added to the ribbon, switch to Manage tab and click Macros... button, then follow the instructions below for running Extract Translatable Text or Translate using Translation Table tools.

   If you cannot add this button for any reason, use the alternative methods (menu bar or command prompt) as explained in this section.

3. Using the command line:

   • To load TransTools for BricsCAD, type APPLOAD at the command prompt, then use the instructions above for loading TransTools for BricsCAD application file.
   • To run the tools, type VBARUN at the command prompt, then follow the instructions below for running Extract Translatable Text or Translate using Translation Table tools:
     

Loading TransTools using Load Application dialogue

When you have opened Load Application Files dialogue using the menu bar, ribbon or command line as explained above, unless TransTools for BricsCAD.dvb file is already shown in the list, click the + button to select TransTools for BricsCAD.dvb from disk (if you used the automatic installer, this should be in your Documents\TransTools folder).

Then, load TransTools for BricsCAD by checking the checkbox in Loaded column. If you would like TransTools to be loaded automatically every time BricsCAD starts, check the checkbox in AutoLoad column.

Running the tools

When TransTools for BricsCAD has been loaded, you can finally run one of the tools. Open the Macros dialogue from the menu bar, ribbon or command line as explained above.

In the Macros dialogue, select either Trans_CollectUniqueValues (Extract Translatable Text tool which extracts text from the drawing) or Trans_Replace (Translate using Translation Table tool which merges text back into the drawing) and click Run.

Prerequisites: Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) support in BricsCAD

By default, VBA support is not installed when you install BricsCAD. In order to install it, follow the instructions below:

• Close BricsCAD if it is open.
• Open BricsCAD installation folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\Bricsys\BricsCAD V21 en_US for BricsCAD v.21).
• In this folder, locate a subfolder called VBA and open it.
• Run BricsCAD-VBA-Runtime.exe installation file and follow the prompts to install VBA support into BricsCAD.

Extracting translatable text using Extract Translatable Text tool

To extract translatable text from a drawing, run Extract Translatable Text tool as described above. You will see the following dialogue:

1. Select one of the options depending on where the text is located:

   1. Option 1 – Full Layout(s) (default) – choose this option if you want to extract all text from specific layouts of the current drawing.

      

      Check (tick off) the appropriate layouts. Use All and None buttons to check or uncheck all layouts at once.

   2. Option 2 – Selection(s) - choose this option if you would like to process multiple selections or layouts in the current drawing. This should be useful if your drawing has viewports and only portions of text need to be translated.

      

      Select the appropriate layout from the drop-down list and click Select Objects... to select specific objects on this layout (see below for more information) or Select Layout to select everything on this layout. Each selection will be added to the list below, so you will be able to select as many layouts or selections as you want.

      Selecting objects:

      When you click Select Objects..., the dialogue will temporarily disappear and you will be able to select the desired text.

      • Left-click at the top-left corner of the area you want to select, a small distance away from the very top-left object that you want to include in the selection. Then, move the mouse down and to the right until the selection fully covers the text objects, and then release click the left mouse button again. You may use the mouse wheel while dragging the mouse in order to zoom in/out on a specific area of the drawing.
      • Left-click at the bottom-right corner of the area you want to select, move the mouse up and to the left until the selection at least partially overlaps all text objects you want to select, and then click the left mouse button again. With this selection method, unlike the one above, you only need to select a part of a text object and it will be included in the selection.
      • Rotate the mouse wheel up or down to zoom in/out. While you do this, try to move the mouse closer to the objects you want to center the view on.
      • Left-click individual objects to add them to the selection set.
      • Hold down the Shift key and left-click individual objects to remove them from the selection set.
      • Hold down the mouse wheel and move the mouse cursor in any direction to scroll (pan) up/down/left/right.
      • Double-click the mouse wheel to zoom the drawing to its extents (i.e. zoom the screen to include the entire drawing).

      Press Escape if you have selected wrong objects and would like to start again (this will return you to the Options dialogue). Press Enter when you have fully selected all objects to process (this will return you to the Options dialogue).

      To remove a specific selection you made, select the item from the list and click Remove. Click Clear to remove all items if you would like to start from scratch.

   3. Option 3 – Many drawings – this option allows batch processing of several drawings opened in BricsCAD.

      

      In the list you will see layouts of every drawing currently opened in the same BricsCAD application window (i.e. all drawings you can see under BricsCAD Window menu).

      Check the appropriate layouts manually or click All / None buttons to check or uncheck all layouts at once.

2. Extract all text (including repetitions) for calculating statistics: By default, only unique text is extracted from the drawings. However, if you need to calculate the amount of text for charging your clients, you need to see all the translatable text, including repetitions. To do this, check this option. Note: when you use Translate using Translation Table tool to translate the drawing based on such translation table, only the first occurrence of each repeating entry will be used for translation, all others will be ignored.
3. Export basic formatting only: By default, meaningful text is extracted along with format codes that control the formatting of CAD drawing objects. This allows to restore the original CAD drawing formatting during the translation operation. However, sometimes you may need to put text back in the drawing manually, i.e., without using Translate using Translation Table tool (for example, your company has a large drafting department with people who are responsible for this). In such cases, click this option.
4. Extract text only: If this option is checked (default), the program exports only text containing alphabetic letters. If it encounters text that contains only numbers, punctuation characters or special symbols, it skips such text. If you want to process all text, including fully numerical text, etc., uncheck this option.

5. Process specific layers only: Use this option if you need to translate text that is located in specific layer(s).

   

   When you select this option, you will see two lists.
   The left-hand list is the list of layers that need to be processed. If this list is empty, all layers will be processed.
   The right-hand list contains all layers within the current drawing.
   Click <-Add to add a specific layer to the list of layers you want to process (left-hand list). In batch-processing mode, you can also use Add custom button to add a layer that is not present in the current drawing. Click Remove-> to remove a layer from the list of processed layers.

6. Process text in hidden layers: Use this option if you need to translate text located in all layers (both hidden and visible ones) or in visible layers only. By default, Process text in hidden layers checkbox is unchecked, so TransTools will only extract text located in layers that are visible in the entire drawing (i.e. layers that are turned-on and thawed), ignoring text in frozen and turned-off layers. In Layers panel, these visible layers will have appropriate status as shown below:
   

   If you would like to translate text in both hidden and visible layers, check this checkbox.

7. Exclude text objects matching specific conditions: Use this option if you would like to skip objects whose text satisfies certain conditions (specified by a regular expression). E.g., you do not want to translate equipment numbers like 'PT-289' or line numbers like '067-DDD-056-D28', etc.

   

   When you select this option, you will see a list of 'masks', or conditions. There is one default condition that excludes equipment tag numbers like 'PT-255', 'L-2455', etc from the Translation Table.
   Click Add to add a new condition; Edit to modify a condition from the list; Remove to remove a condition; To Clipboard to save all conditions to the clipboard for use later; From Clipboard to import conditions that were created earlier.
   For more information on creating such conditions, refer to the conditional filter section at the bottom of this page.

8. Translation Table format: the format of the translation table generated by this command can be configured.

   

   Click Modify to change the translation table format settings.

   You have the following options:

   1. Format: Word or Excel.
   2. Include file path: this prints the full path to the processed drawing inside the translation table for easy reference.
   3. Include text information: this exports additional information on extracted text (layer and type of object, i.e. TEXT, TABLE CELL, DIMENSION, etc.).
   4. Prepare for CAT tool (Word format only): use this setting to prepare the translation table for importing into a CAT tool. You have several options:
      
      • Do not prepare (No CAT tool) – Use this option if the translation table does not need to be prepared for a CAT tool. If you use a CAT tool, the best way to translate the table is to copy the Translation column into a new document, translate the document, and then paste the translated cells over the cells in the Translation table so that you have source and translation side by side.
        This is the default option.
      • SDL Trados Studio, memoQ, Wordfast Pro, Wordfast Classic – If you use one of these options, TransTools will use tw4winExternal style to hide non-translatable parts of the table (i.e., instructions, heading row, original column and columns with extra information) and tw4winInternal style to mark formatting codes as non-translatable text. These options are recommended if you use one of these CAT tools. The translation table can be used inside your CAT tool without any extra preparation. After the translation table is translated and exported from your CAT tool, you can use it to merge translations into the drawing without any extra steps.
      • Memsource Cloud, Déjà Vu X3, Cafetran Espresso, CAT tool with hidden text filtering support – If one of these options is used, TransTools will use hidden font formatting to hide non-translatable parts of the table and hidden font formatting to mark formatting codes as non-translatable text. The translation table can be imported into your CAT tool without any extra preparation. When you import it into your CAT tool, make sure that hidden formatting is ignored in the file import settings.
      • Other CAT tool – When this option is selected, no extra formatting is applied to the translation table (besides special formatting of the formatting markers), so it is recommended to copy the Translation column into a new Word document, translate this document in your CAT tool, and then paste the translated cells over the cells in the Translation column before copying source and translation columns to the clipboard.
   5. Automatically save generated table in drawing's folder: if you check this box, TransTools will save the generated Word document automatically under the same location as the current drawing (with the same file name but with DOCX/DOC extension). This is possible if you use Option 1 (Full Layouts) or Option 2 (Selections).

When the appropriate options have been selected, click Start to generate a translation table which will be opened inside Microsoft Word or Excel (and saved if the appropriate option is activated). To exit, click Close.

When the translation table is created, you will see a notification. If any text was excluded using the conditional filter (item 6 above), you will see View Exclusions... button. When you press it, you will see all text that was skipped due to the conditional filter. Review this list to make sure your conditional filters work as intended.

CAD drawing formatting

When the drawing is output into Microsoft Word or Excel, you will see specially formatted codes inside the text. These are CAD drawing formatting codes and special codes used by TransTools for BricsCAD:

Original text:
This is standard text
This is bold text
This is italics
This is pink text

Extracted text:
\A1;\pxsm1,qj,t62;This is standard text\P\ps*,q*,tz;{\fVerdana|b1|i0|c0|p34;This is bold text\P\fVerdana|b0|i1|c0|p34;This is italics\P\fVerdana|b0|i0|c0|p34;\H1.4x;\C6;This is pink text}

These codes are very important, since they are used to restore the original formatting when the translated text is merged back into the drawing with Translate using Translation Table tool. When you translate the translation table, do not touch these codes unless you know how to remove them and you find them unnecessary (e.g. you can remove \P which means a line break).

Here is a list of codes you can remove or add depending on context:

• \P – line break
• %%D – degree symbol

When the translation table is exported to Word format, formatting markers will have special formatting making it easy to translate the text in CAT tools. If you have selected SDL Trados Studio, memoQ or Wordfast Pro / Classic in Prepare for CAT Tool list, TransTools will use tw4winInternal style for CAD drawing formatting markers. For most of the other CAT tools (Memsource Cloud, Déjà Vu X, CafeTran Espresso, among others), it will use hidden font formatting instead. This way, formatting markers are converted into tags inside your CAT tool, making them easier to handle during translation and enabling tag verification inside your CAT tool or an external QA tool.

For memoQ users:
If you use memoQ, I have prepared a special import filter for you which will make it easier to translate the generated translation tables in Word format. In addition to handling CAD drawing formatting markers, it also converts additional codes (\P, <br>, <tab> and %%D) into blue memoQ tags. Follow these instructions to obtain and use the import filter:

1. Download the filter and then extract the MQRES file from the ZIP archive.
2. In memoQ, open the Resource Console and switch to Filter Configurations section.
3. Click Import New.
4. Choose the extracted “autocad-tables-cascading-filter.mqres”, optionally rename the filter in the next window and click OK. In the future, steps 1–4 will not need to be performed because the filter will now reside in your memoQ configuration.
5. In your project, load the translation table document using Import With Options command. You will see Document Import Options dialogue. For the document, choose Cascading Filter in the Filter column, and “AutoCAD Translation Tables (cascading)” from the Configuration column. Click OK to import the document.
6. Now \P and %%D codes will be shown as blue tags, while formatting codes will be shown as pink tags ({0}).

Conditional filter

Conditional filters (under “Exclude text objects matching specific conditions”) provides you with a lot of control over what text is extracted from a drawing.

When a condition matches the entire text of a CAD drawing object (like MTEXT, table cell, DIMENSION, etc.), such text will not be added to the generated translation table.

Conditions (masks) are defined using VBScript Regular Expressions syntax. For more information on how to create custom conditions, click here.

When you click Add or Edit buttons in the conditional filter (item 6 above), you will be presented with the following dialogue:

Enter the name of the condition in the Name field.

The condition itself must be entered in the Mask field. A condition is composed of segments that match a number of characters in the text. For example, 'C' matches letter 'C', and C{2,3} matches 2 or 3 letters 'C' in a given position within the text. If all segments sequentially match parts of the complete text, the condition matches the text and this text will be excluded from the Translation Table.

The Exclusion Condition Editor provides a rather basic interface for constructing conditions, but it should be adequate for most users:

• Letter(s): click this button to insert a letter, either an English letter or any letter from any alphabet. Specify how many times this letter can occur in the position within the complete text. Click Insert to insert the segment in the condition at the position of the caret;
• Digit(s): click this button to insert any digit (0-9) or one of specific digits;
• Character(s): click this button to insert any character or one of specific characters (including punctuation, special symbols, etc.).

Here are some examples of conditions that may come in handy:
[0-9]{3}\-[a-z]\-[0-9ABC/]{3,9} – this condition matches equipment numbers like '040-H-001A/B/C';
40(\-[A-Z0-9]{1,5})+ – this condition matches line numbers like '40-AM-50-50012-J10A';
(AG|UG) – this condition matches 'AG' (aboveground) or 'UG' (underground)
[a-z]{2} – this condition matches 2-letter tag numbers like 'LG' (level gauge), 'PT' (pressure transmitter), etc.

Be careful, it is better to remove unwanted rows from the generated translation table manually than to create 'loose' conditions that can prevent some translatable text from being added to the translation table.

To test the expression you created, type the text you want to skip. If you see 'Text matches mask', your condition should be complete. However, make sure your condition works correctly by clicking View Exclusions button at the bottom of Extract Translatable Text dialogue after you generate the translation table.

Click Save to save the condition, or Cancel to exit without saving changes.

For more information on Microsoft Regular Expression syntax used to construct conditions, refer to this page.

Extracting text from proxy entities (proxy objects)

There is one type of CAD drawing elements which cannot be translated using TransTools for BricsCAD if these contain text. These are proxy entities, also called “proxy graphics” or “proxy objects”. When these are present in a drawing, you will see the following dialogue upon opening a CAD drawing:

Proxy entities are drawing objects which cannot be edited in-place within BricsCAD and require a special module called “object enabler” in order to edit them. Commonly, proxy entities come from an AutoCAD product such as AutoCAD Civil 3D or an AutoCAD-compatible program. Since proxy entities cannot be edited, TransTools cannot extract text from them unless you install the appropriate object enabler or use TransTools inside an AutoCAD product that was used to prepare the drawing. To translate text inside proxy entities without an object enabler, you must find them in the model or layouts and explode them in order to split them into more primitive objects, including TEXT or MTEXT blocks. This operation changes the structure of the drawing, so you should only do this if you are sure that the translated drawing will not be used for further drawing creation. If the translated drawing is in dual language, i.e. the translated text is side by side with the source text, you can create a copy of the original proxy entity and explode that copy, from which you can get access to the internal text blocks.

At the end of text extraction, TransTools will report the number of proxy entities which were encountered within the scope of the extraction operation.

Here is a step-by-step procedure for preparing proxy entities so that you can extract translatable text and subsequently merge translations back into the drawing, using the explode technique:

1. Make sure that “Show proxy graphics” option is checked in the Proxy Information dialog when you open the drawing:

   

   If you did not check the appropriate option, proxy entities will be hidden. You need to display them by typing the following command at the command line:
   PROXYSHOW
   and then typing 1 to change the value. This will display proxy entities on the screen provided that the layer they are in is not hidden.

2. Both in the model and in each layout, find proxy entities and explode them, or, for dual-language drawings, explode their copies.

   To find all proxy entities in the model or the current layout or in the entire drawing, you can select all of them simultaneously as follows:

   First, run Quick Select command by opening Properties panel and clicking the Funnel icon:
   
   You can do the same by typing QSELECT at the command line:
   

   In Properties panel, open the dropdown list which displays All (...) by default, and select Proxy Entity (...) from this list. All proxy entities will be selected in the entire drawing.

   To explode all selected proxy entities, click Explode button located under Home tab > Modify panel:
   

   To process proxy entities one by one, you will need to find them on the screen based on their appearance as selected objects (selected objects have a dashed outline):
   

Translating the translation table

There are several efficient ways to translate the translation table:

• If you do not use a CAT tool, simply translate the source text inside the 2^nd column.

• If you use a CAT tool:

  • If the translation table is in Word format, simply import it into your CAT tool like any document. For this to work, make sure that Extract Translatable Text tool is configured to generate a translation table for your CAT tool.
  • If the translation table is in Excel format, copy the translatable cells from the 1^st column to the 2^nd column, then hide rows 1 to 3 and all columns except the Translation column. Translate the document in your CAT tool (the CAT tool should ignore hidden rows and columns by default). When the translated document is exported from the CAT tool, unhide the first column so that you can see both source and translation columns side by side in order to be able to copy both to the clipboard.
  • If your CAT tool is not listed among the options in Extract Translatable Text tool (for translation tables in Word format) or if your CAT tool does not support hidden rows/columns in Excel, you can copy the translatable cells from the 1^st column into a separate document, translate it, then paste the translations into the 2^nd column of the translation table, making sure that the source and target cells align correctly.

Translating drawing(s) using Translate using Translation Table tool

To translate a drawing using the final translation table, run Translate using Translation Table tool as described above. You will see the following dialogue:

1. Select one of the options depending on where the text is located:

   1. Option 1 - Full Layout(s) (default) – choose this option if you want to extract all text from specific layouts of the current drawing.

      

      Check (tick off) the appropriate layouts. Use All and None buttons to check or uncheck all layouts at once.

   2. Option 2 - Selection(s) - choose this option if you would like to process multiple selections or layouts in the current drawing. This should be useful if your drawing has viewports and only portions of text need to be translated.

      

      Select the appropriate layout from the drop-down list and click Select Objects... to select specific objects on this layout (see below for more information) or Select Layout to select everything on this layout. Each selection will be added to the list below, so you will be able to select as many layouts or selections as you want.

      Selecting objects:

      When you click Select Objects..., the dialogue will temporarily disappear and you will be able to select the desired text.

      • Left-click at the top-left corner of the area you want to select, a small distance away from the very top-left object that you want to include in the selection. Then, move the mouse down and to the right until the selection fully covers the text objects, and then release click the left mouse button again. You may use the mouse wheel while dragging the mouse in order to zoom in/out on a specific area of the drawing.
      • Left-click at the bottom-right corner of the area you want to select, move the mouse up and to the left until the selection at least partially overlaps all text objects you want to select, and then click the left mouse button again. With this selection method, unlike the one above, you only need to select a part of a text object and it will be included in the selection.
      • Rotate the mouse wheel up or down to zoom in/out. While you do this, try to move the mouse closer to the objects you want to center the view on.
      • Left-click individual objects to add them to the selection set.
      • Hold down the Shift key and left-click individual objects to remove them from the selection set.
      • Hold down the mouse wheel and move the mouse cursor in any direction to scroll (pan) up/down/left/right.
      • Double-click the mouse wheel to zoom the drawing to its extents (i.e. zoom the screen to include the entire drawing).

      Press Escape if you have selected wrong objects and would like to start again (this will return you to the Options dialogue). Press Enter when you have fully selected all objects to process (this will return you to the Options dialogue).

      To remove a specific selection you made, select the item from the list and click Remove. Click Clear to remove all items if you would like to start from scratch.

   3. Option 3 - Many drawings – this option allows batch processing of several drawings opened in BricsCAD.

      

      In the list you will see layouts of every drawing currently opened in the same BricsCAD application window (i.e. all drawings you can see under BricsCAD Window menu).

      Check the appropriate layouts manually or click All / None buttons to check or uncheck all layouts at once.

2. Translation Table: Select the fully translated translation table file in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel format.

3. Change characters that are not supported in every font:
   Use this option if your drawing uses a font like “romans” which does not include some Unicode characters like EN-dash and №, displaying question marks (?) instead. When this option is checked, TransTools will modify the translation text, replacing the specified characters with alternative text. For example, you can replace EN-dash (–) with a regular hyphen (-).
   To specify replacement characters, press Configure... button. You will see the following dialogue:
   
   
   All changes made in this list are automatically saved for future sessions.

4. Process specific layers only: Use this option if you need to translate text that is located in specific layer(s).

   

   When you select this option, you will see two lists.
   The left-hand list is the list of layers that need to be processed. If this list is empty, all layers will be processed.
   The right-hand list contains all layers within the current drawing.
   Click <-Add to add a specific layer to the list of layers you want to process (left-hand list). In batch-processing mode, you can also use Add custom button to add a layer that is not present in the current drawing. Click Remove-> to remove a layer from the list of processed layers.

5. Process text in hidden layers: Use this option if you need to translate text located in all layers (both hidden and visible ones) or in visible layers only. By default, Process text in hidden layers checkbox is unchecked, so TransTools will only extract text located in layers that are visible in the entire drawing (i.e. layers that are turned-on and thawed), ignoring text in frozen and turned-off layers. In Layers panel, these visible layers will have appropriate status as shown below:
   

   If you would like to translate text in both hidden and visible layers, check this checkbox.

When the appropriate options have been selected, click Start.

If some text from the drawing was not found within the Translation Table, you will see View Skipped Text button at the bottom of the dialogue. Clicking this button will open a dialogue with a list of all such text.

To exit, click Close.

Analyze and count tracked changes in a Microsoft Word document.

This tool is part of TransTools+

Tracked Changes Assistant provides a detailed word count report to help you estimate the translation effort and understand the extent of changes in the new revision of a Word document.

Tracked changes word count report displayed within Tracked Changes Assistant panel

Features

• Use calculated word / character counts and number of distinct additions and deletions to get a rough idea of the required translation effort.
• Use the detailed analysis report to understand what type of changes were made in order to determine the required translation effort more accurately.
• Export the tracked changes word count report to Excel or CSV (tab-delimited or semicolon-delimited) format for quote preparation.

Tracked Changes Assistant screenshots

Miscellaneous tools

TransTools

• Accept all revisions and turn 'Track Changes' off – accept all revisions in the document and deactivate Track Changes mode

Tracked Changes Assistant provides a detailed word count report to help you estimate the translation effort and understand the extent of changes in the new revision of a Word document.

Detailed information about Tracked Changes Assistant

Quick Navigation

• How Tracked Changes Assistant can help you in your work
• Where to find the tool
• Using Tracked Changes Assistant
  • Tracked changes word count report
  • Exporting the word count report
• Related tools

How Tracked Changes Assistant can help you in your work

• Analyze the translation effort required to transfer tracked changes into a previous revision of a translated document: Tracked Changes Assistant displays the number of distinct changes (additions, deletions and moves) and word/character counts for these changes so you can get a rough idea how much time it will take for you to translate these changes. In addition, the report contains information about the types of changes made: how many of these changes are full paragraphs or full sentences (which can be translated in their entirety without reviewing the surrounding sentences in most cases) and how many of the changes are words or characters in the middle of existing sentences (which means that you may need to rewrite the translation of the entire sentences).
• Export the analysis report into Excel or CSV format: the word count report can be exported into Excel or CSV (tab- or semicolon-delimited) format in order to prepare accurate quotes for your customers. For example, you can use formulas inside Excel to apply special weight factors to calculate the approximate translation time.

Where to find the tool

To run Tracked Changes Assistant, click Tracked Changes Assistant button on TransTools+ ribbon:

This will open Tracked Changes Assistant pane to the right of the current document.

Using Tracked Changes Assistant

Tracked changes word count report

To generate a tracked changes word count report for the current document, open Tracked Changes Assistant panel by clicking Tracked Changes Assistant button on TransTools+ ribbon and then click Create tracked changes word count report... button. When the operation is completed, you will see a report displayed below the button:

The report provides detailed information about tracked additions (insertions), deletions and moves (when text is dragged from one place to another) in the current Word document. The information is grouped by type of change (addition, deletion or move), and you can expand or collapse individual groups if necessary. For each type of change, the report is broken down by the type of text within those changes: whole paragraphs, whole sentences, multi-word phrases, single words, characters inside words, punctuation and spaces/breaks. This information is very useful for estimation purposes because translating large changes, such as new paragraphs or sentences, is always easier than translating small changes inside existing sentences where you may need to re-translate the surrounding context as well. For each of those elements, the report provides the number of such elements, number of words, number of characters (without spaces) and number of characters with spaces, as well as the percentage of such elements among all elements. The total line provides the total word and character counts for additions, deletions and moves. Finally, for each type of change, the total number of distinct changes is provided to help you estimate the translation effort more accurately: again, translating a single 2-paragraph block inserted into the text is easier than translating the same paragraphs which are inserted into 2 different parts of the document, since it will take you extra time to insert them correctly.

Word count report details

If additional tracked changes are introduced in the document, you can always refresh the word count report by clicking Update tracked changes word count report... button.

Exporting the word count report

To export the word count report, click Export... button at the bottom of the Tracked Changes Assistant panel. This will open the Export Options dialogue:

Using the Export Options dialogue, you can specify the format of the export file:

1. To export the report in CSV format which can be opened in Microsoft Excel, other spreadsheet editing programs or even a simple text editor, select CSV option. CSV files can be generated using two different separators: tab character or semicolon. By default, Tracked Changes Assistant will use tabs as a separator, but you can select semicolon if needed.
2. To export the report in Microsoft Excel format, select Excel option. The export file can be saved in XLSX (default) or XLS format depending on the file extension you specify and the version of Microsoft Excel you are using.

Once you export the word count report and open it in your spreadsheet editing application like Excel or Google Sheets, you can create a weighted word count using formulas in order to estimate the translation effort more accurately. Here are some ideas for weight factors:

• The number of distinct additions, deletions and moves can be multiplied by some fixed rate or word count since it will take you time to review each change before creating or updating the translation.
• Use a custom weight factor for multi-word phrases, single words, characters inside words, punctuation and spaces/breaks inside additions in order to calculate the weighted number of words/characters. Note that the word count for characters inside words, punctuation and spaces/breaks is 0, so your weight factor should be based on the number of characters with spaces, not words.
• For deletions, the word count has little importance, and the number of distinct deletions is much more important for determining the amount of work. However, the count of words in deletions is somewhat important for small changes like multi-word phrases, single words, characters inside words, punctuation and spaces/breaks because this means that you will need to update the translation of the existing sentences.

Miscellaneous tools

TransTools

• Accept all revisions and turn 'Track Changes' off – accept all revisions in the document and deactivate Track Changes mode