The following is only relevant if you convert between sdltb or xdt files and spreadsheets, not for other formats.


MultiTerm allows to embed cross references in fields, pointing to other terms or web sites. By default, these are lost when converting to another format, since not all formats have the concept of a cross reference. This means that if you convert from an sdltb file to another format and back, the cross reference (or hyperlink) will be replaced by just a plain text string.


This gets in the way of converting to a spreadsheet, editing it, and going back. You can choose to preserve links by exporting unprocessed XML. What does that mean? MultiTerm internally uses an XML format to store data. This means that tags have to be processed correctly, and some special characters like < or & have a special meaning. Normally, the converter handles the details and makes sure that all text is processed automatically, but the price for that is that links get lost, since they are not plain text.


If you choose to use unprocessed XML, the converter reads and writes content exactly as it is. This is fine for creating a spreadsheet, but you have to be careful when you create a termbase from a spreadsheet. Imagine you have a termbase with an entry like this (where underlined means cross reference):


German Term: Eingabetaste

English Term: Enter key 

Comment: Also known as <Return> key, see Wikipedia.


This would normally be exported as:


German

English

Comment

Eingabetaste

Enter key

Also known as <Return> key, see Wikipedia.


But if you choose unprocessed XML, you'll get this:


German

English

Comment

Eingabetaste

Enter key

Also known as &lt;Return&gt; key, see <xref Ulink=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return ">Wikipedia </xref>.


Note that you get the rather complex cross reference tags and that special characters are represented as XML entities. If you convert this to a termbase with the unprocessed XML option checked, the reference will be preserved.


If you create or modify a spreadsheet, it's your responsibility to ensure that all content is XML compliant; otherwise converting to a termbase will cause an error. For example the following spreadsheet would fail, since the special characters are not escaped properly.


German

English

Comment

Eingabetaste

Enter key

Also known as <Return> key, see <xref Ulink=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return ">Wikipedia </xref>.


It's therefore recommended to only use this mode to convert from an sdltb, make some careful edits, and convert back to sdltb.

Created with the Personal Edition of HelpNDoc: Benefits of a Help Authoring Tool