Problem with docx files with tables Thread poster: inkweaver
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inkweaver 
Germany
Local time: 18:46
French to German
+ ...
Dear all,
One of the agencies I work with on a regular basis uses bilingual .docx docs with tables (left column: source language, middle column: matches from glossary or TM, right column: target language). Since I still work with MS Office XP I installed Microsoft's converter to work with their files and have done so without any reported problems for a few years.
After I had completed a project a week ago, the PM wrote to me to inform me that the longer files were "misa... See more Dear all,
One of the agencies I work with on a regular basis uses bilingual .docx docs with tables (left column: source language, middle column: matches from glossary or TM, right column: target language). Since I still work with MS Office XP I installed Microsoft's converter to work with their files and have done so without any reported problems for a few years.
After I had completed a project a week ago, the PM wrote to me to inform me that the longer files were "misaligned" so they couldn't process them in their system.
What she meant was that halfway through the longer docs the left edge of the left column seemed to be "indented", like it had been moved further to the right. Apparently simply dragging the edge to the position that was used from the start of the doc didn't help.
She then told me that there was a "hidden column" and gave me instructions on how to remove it (place the cursor there, highlight the part left of the left column with the source text in it right to the end, right click, remove). Simple, I thought. Well, I was mistaken. I simply can't place the cursor where I should be placing it according to her instructions. It keeps jumping to the right into the first visible column.
The problem is that this wasn't a one-off problem, it happened again with another batch of files I returned yesterday. Again the PM had to fix them and she didn't seem too happy about that. I thought the problem with the first batch might have been due to the fact that I used Open Office Writer to work with them (Word tends to crash quite frequently, OO Writer is much more stable). However, I didn't to that with the last batch, so that can't have been the cause.
I'm a bit at a loss as to what to do now. I definitely wouldn't want to lose that client, but I suppose I can't expect the PMs to fix formatting problems which seem to have been caused by me.
To cut a long story short: Has anyone got any ideas what might be causing this problem and is there anything I can do about it since the suggested way of fixing the error does not work for me? Or will the only way to fix this will be buying a more recent version of MS Office as I suspect that the MS file format converter might be causing the problem (but of course I'm not sure)? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 18:46
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
I work in just the same way as you, converting incoming .docx files into .doc files so I can work on them in Word XP. However, I do not convert back to .docx to output
I have never had any problems at all working with even the most complex tables.
One thing I would suggest immediately is perhaps not performing the .docx conversion at the end, and seeing if your PM can open the straiught .doc file OK?
As a workaround, I would suggest converting the table imm... See more I work in just the same way as you, converting incoming .docx files into .doc files so I can work on them in Word XP. However, I do not convert back to .docx to output
I have never had any problems at all working with even the most complex tables.
One thing I would suggest immediately is perhaps not performing the .docx conversion at the end, and seeing if your PM can open the straiught .doc file OK?
As a workaround, I would suggest converting the table immediately upon receipt to text (separated by e.g. tabs) [Select table > convert table to text], then trying to convert the text back into a fresh table in your .doc file. It might be instructive to dispay hidden characters in order to see, for example, if there are spurious tab characters that would idnicate this 'spare' column; before converting text > table, you could always do a search-&-replace to get rid of any [tab][tab] combinations, for example.
I was wondering if this was something to do with manual line breaks within cells? I've not encountered this problem with Word tables, but it DOES wreak havoc if you go .xls > .doc table > .xls, as manual line breaks within Word table cells convert back to hard returns in the .xls, which does add extra cells.
There is a simple enough workaround for this problem too, but I won't go into details here unless you think that ight be your problem. I did just wonder if the Word table your PM is sending you may have actually come originally from an .xls? (this does happen with some of my PMs!)
PS: feel free to send me one of the corrupted files privately, and I can take a look at it for you.
PPS: I have, however, experienced serious formatting corruption problems when using OO, to the extent that I had to abandon that route. Word does not often crash on my system, so maybe you have some underlying problem there...?
[Edited at 2012-06-19 08:40 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 18:46
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you, Tony | Jun 19, 2012 |
Thank you for your reply, Tony.
I actually asked the PM to resend one of the misaligned files just to check when the problem actually occurs. Since it was already there when I downloaded and opened the file, I suspect it must already happen during conversion. So perhaps I should consider buying a more recent version of MS Office...
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 18:46
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Not necessarily! | Jun 19, 2012 |
I wouldn't rush to go down that route just yet!
For a start, if like me you know and love Word XP, then also like me, you may find yourself completely unable to come to terms with Word 2007 and 2010, which implement a wholly different concept of interface, which I for one cannot even begin to master. All I want is a simple tool that is able to quickly and efficiently carry out the basic tasks I need it to. I don't really care if my word processor is unable to make the tea or put the... See more I wouldn't rush to go down that route just yet!
For a start, if like me you know and love Word XP, then also like me, you may find yourself completely unable to come to terms with Word 2007 and 2010, which implement a wholly different concept of interface, which I for one cannot even begin to master. All I want is a simple tool that is able to quickly and efficiently carry out the basic tasks I need it to. I don't really care if my word processor is unable to make the tea or put the cat out... just so long as it lets me process words!
One thing did occur to me, though probably not relevant in your context. But in the past, I have noticed that even opening and then closing a .doc file in OO corrupted it! It almost sounds like something similar is going on here... If the file you sent to the PM wasn't corrupted when it left you, then what has happened in between? Assuming you converted back to .docx before sending, have you ever tried re-opeing that .docx file before you send it? It sounds to me rather as if your PM has the problem, not you!
Like I said, I would advise doing a trial with your PM, sending back a non-.docx converted file, and seeing if THAT is OK. There's no real need for you to convert it back to .docx, unless it's the file size that is the issue.
Also like I said, by all means send me the original and corrupted files, and i'll try and see what is going on for you. ▲ Collapse
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inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 18:46
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Colleague working with Word 2007 or 2010 needed | Jun 20, 2012 |
First of all, thank you so much for trying to help me, Tony.
Since we haven't managed to find a solution to the problem I was wondering whether any colleague working with Word 2007 or 2010 would be kind enough to take a quick look at one of those "corrupted files" for me so I can determine whether my software (Word XP) is actually to blame for this.
Any help would be really appreciated.
| | | | inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 18:46
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Solution found | Jun 22, 2012 |
I just found out that it was the conversion from docx to doc files that was to blame for the corruption of the files.
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