Problem opening large .doc file
Thread poster: Unchalind Phongsamai
Unchalind Phongsamai
Unchalind Phongsamai  Identity Verified
Thailand
Local time: 20:47
English to Thai
+ ...
Aug 17, 2015

Hi,

I received .doc file from client, its size is 10 MB. It contains texts to be translated and lots of images.
When I open it with my laptop, it takes ages and the program becomes 'Not Responding' every time I saved.

Can you please advise how can I deal with the case?

I'm now split the big file into a smaller one but the header is gone.

All your helps are appreciated.


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:47
Danish to English
+ ...
.docx Aug 17, 2015

You could try to save the complete .doc file as .docx, which is the current Word format. .doc is a legacy format, which does not offer the same facilities as the newer .docx. Autosave, for example, does not work nearly as well in .doc as in .docx.

 
Platary (X)
Platary (X)
Local time: 15:47
German to French
+ ...
Drop the images out Aug 17, 2015

Save if necessary the images in a special folder and just keep a proper reference to them in the text after removing them.

If you need to send the file back with the images, just insert them again.

Gook luck!


 
Unchalind Phongsamai
Unchalind Phongsamai  Identity Verified
Thailand
Local time: 20:47
English to Thai
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Confusion may occur Aug 17, 2015

Adrien Esparron wrote:

Save if necessary the images in a special folder and just keep a proper reference to them in the text after removing them.

If you need to send the file back with the images, just insert them again.

Gook luck!


Hi Adrien,

Thanks for advise. But the paper is technical manual so I'm afraid it maybe confused at the end.
However, I keep your advise in case there're no other ways.


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:47
Danish to English
+ ...
Removing images Aug 17, 2015

Careful removing the images, as removing the images also removes the sometimes complicated formatting and positioning of the images. I would not do that.

But if saving as .docx doesn't solve the problem, you could do the reverse of Adrien's suggestion and copy the text to a working document, then copy the translation back into the original document. There is much less risk of damaging any formatting this way.


 
Lourdes Barrientos
Lourdes Barrientos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:47
English to Spanish
+ ...
Contact Client Aug 17, 2015

Hello!

It may sound "basic", embarrassing or rudimentary... but you may want to contact the client.

Client has the ability to divide the 10MB into smaller email attachments.........

I would not try to do anything to the images, it may really ruin it. THEN it would be embarrassing to contact client.

It shows responsibility on your part to ask the client for help.

We are not "Wonder Woman", or some kind of magician to be able to tac
... See more
Hello!

It may sound "basic", embarrassing or rudimentary... but you may want to contact the client.

Client has the ability to divide the 10MB into smaller email attachments.........

I would not try to do anything to the images, it may really ruin it. THEN it would be embarrassing to contact client.

It shows responsibility on your part to ask the client for help.

We are not "Wonder Woman", or some kind of magician to be able to tackle every single issue thrown at us.

When it is workable, fine. Some things are just beyond our reach.

A brief - succinct note to Project Manager - should be sufficient.

Have you solved the problem? I may be too late, well I am in a different time zone.

Best,
LuLú : )
Collapse


 
esperantisto
esperantisto  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:47
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Apache OpenOffice Writer Aug 18, 2015

Try Apache OpenOffice Writer.

 
Meta Arkadia
Meta Arkadia
Local time: 20:47
English to Indonesian
+ ...
imagesoutin Aug 18, 2015

Lourdes Barrientos wrote:
I would not try to do anything to the images


Well, there's a macro that used to work very well. You can find it here, and to be sure, I uploaded it here as well. Be sure to use the same folder for "in" and "out."

I hope it still works.

Cheers,

Hans


 
Unchalind Phongsamai
Unchalind Phongsamai  Identity Verified
Thailand
Local time: 20:47
English to Thai
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you ! Aug 18, 2015

esperantisto wrote:

Try Apache OpenOffice Writer.


 
Unchalind Phongsamai
Unchalind Phongsamai  Identity Verified
Thailand
Local time: 20:47
English to Thai
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I just mentioned it to the project manager. Aug 18, 2015

Lourdes Barrientos wrote:

Hello!

It may sound "basic", embarrassing or rudimentary... but you may want to contact the client.

Client has the ability to divide the 10MB into smaller email attachments.........

I would not try to do anything to the images, it may really ruin it. THEN it would be embarrassing to contact client.

It shows responsibility on your part to ask the client for help.

We are not "Wonder Woman", or some kind of magician to be able to tackle every single issue thrown at us.

When it is workable, fine. Some things are just beyond our reach.

A brief - succinct note to Project Manager - should be sufficient.

Have you solved the problem? I may be too late, well I am in a different time zone.

Best,
LuLú : )


Hi LuLu,

Thanks for your advise

Actually, I thought so too, but I'm not sure if it's OK or not to ask client on this.
However, I decided to contact project manager and discussed with her.


 
Lourdes Barrientos
Lourdes Barrientos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:47
English to Spanish
+ ...
What was the outcome? Oct 11, 2015

How did it go with the 10MB file?
What worked out?
Best,
Lulú


 
Daryo
Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:47
Serbian to English
+ ...
no point in changing the format Oct 11, 2015

Thomas T. Frost wrote:

You could try to save the complete .doc file as .docx, which is the current Word format. .doc is a legacy format, which does not offer the same facilities as the newer .docx. Autosave, for example, does not work nearly as well in .doc as in .docx.


that would be totally pointless - not a single new feature available in the new format would be of any use to a file created in the previous format + if the client has submitted a .doc file, a .doc file should be returned. It's not the translator's business to decide what format the client should use.

Autosave works fine with any format IF the specs of your PC are appropriate - if enough RAM and processing power are available and if there are no tons of bloatware running in the background - changing to docx is not going to make much difference, more likely to make it worst.

OTOH making a copy of the document and working on it while leaving the original document untouched seems a sensible approach.


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:47
Danish to English
+ ...
In an ideal world, yes Oct 11, 2015

Daryo wrote:

Thomas T. Frost wrote:

You could try to save the complete .doc file as .docx, which is the current Word format. .doc is a legacy format, which does not offer the same facilities as the newer .docx. Autosave, for example, does not work nearly as well in .doc as in .docx.


that would be totally pointless - not a single new feature available in the new format would be of any use to a file created in the previous format.

Autosave works fine with any format IF the specs of your PC are appropriate - if enough RAM and processing power are available and if there are no tons of bloatware running in the background - changing to docx is not going to make much difference, more likely to make it worst.

OTOH making a copy of the document and working on it while leaving the original document untouched seems a sensible approach.


But the world is not ideal. You can sometimes solve minor problems in Office documents by saving them in different formats or copying everything up to the last paragraph mark. Changing .doc to .docx in a document with comment balloons I wanted to print last year was enough to make them print. It didn't work under .doc. Another user has described the reverse experience. So changing into format does sometimes have an effect even if we don't know why. It is not a question of features.

No, autosave does not always work fine with the old Office formats. That is a problem I have personally experienced repeatedly, and it has nothing to do with RAM, CPU or "tons of bloatware". It works very well with the new Office formats. I kept having problems with autosave with the old formats, and it only stopped when I began converting my files to the new formats.

Daryo wrote:

if the client has submitted a .doc file, a .doc file should be returned. It's not the translator's business to decide what format the client should use.


It is the translator's business to find a way to get the job done. If working on it in .docx worked, that would be a small price to pay. You can always save it as .doc again before returning it to the client, but in most cases, it would make no difference if you returned it as .docx, as both are Word formats, and converters are readily available for older Word versions. In many cases, the only reason they send it in .doc format would be that it's an old document nobody has ever bothered to convert to the newer .docx format.

I'm not sure why you so high-handedly reject all proposals to make it work. It is something one can easily try without causing any damage.


 


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Problem opening large .doc file






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