How to work from autocad files (.dwg) in wordfast?
Thread poster: John Fennar
John Fennar
John Fennar
Local time: 15:53
English
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Mar 11, 2019

Can anyone help: I have to find best way to translate autocad plans (in .dwg format ). As a CAT tool, I normally use wordfast. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 15:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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@Jo Mar 11, 2019

jofennar wrote:
I have to find best way to translate Autocad plans (in .DWG format ).


I don't have AutoCAD on my current computer, so I can't guarantee my answer is correct, but AFAIK there is no functionality in AutoCAD that would make it possible to translate the text. However, you can install a plugin that exports the text to Excel, and then you can import the updated text from Excel again. See here.

A second option is to convert the DWG file to DXF (there are online and offline converters available of varying quality), but not all features are supported in DXF format, so the round-trip may not be lossless. If you want to take the DXF route, and you have AutoCAD, then it may be best to just use AutoCAD to export the DXF files. It may be that your client is happy to receive DXF files and that the client can even supply you with the DXF files himself (but he should be warned that the round-trip may not be lossless).

[Edited at 2019-03-11 10:25 GMT]


 
kd42
kd42
Estonia
Local time: 16:53
English to Russian
Free CAD package + dedicated tool Mar 11, 2019

jofennar wrote:
Can anyone help: I have to find best way to translate autocad plans (in .dwg format ). As a CAT tool, I normally use wordfast. Any advice would be much appreciated.

There is a free Russian equivalent which does all that you need: open/view/edit DWG files and export them as DXF. Link == https://nanocad.com/products/nanoCAD/

If it is economically feasible (should be), the best way is to buy a licence of TranslateCAD, which is perpetual and, together with NanoCAD, will allow you to translate DWG files in Wordfast or any other CAT tool.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:53
Member (2008)
Italian to English
You may need to buy TranslateCAD Mar 11, 2019

Video: Translating an AutoCAD drawing (DXF or DWG) with Wordfast or Trados

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9n_QvOHHZY

BUT READ THE COMMENTS

[Edited at 2019-03-11 13:12 GMT]


 
Jean Lachaud
Jean Lachaud  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:53
English to French
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The problem with TranslateCAD Mar 11, 2019

One additional problem with TranslateCAD is that, when text in the original AutoCAD drawing was not entered as Multiline Text (when applicable, of course), then the various lines of a same paragraph are spread randomly in the text file created with TranslateCAD.

The only way to properly translate DWG/DXF files is to do it manually in a CAD program. It is tedious and slow, and should be charged accordingly.


 
John Fennar
John Fennar
Local time: 15:53
English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all! Mar 13, 2019

I very much appreciate your comments and will start by trying the conversion to .dxf.
I'll report back on successor otherwise...Thank you all!


 
Stanislav Okhvat
Stanislav Okhvat
Local time: 18:53
English to Russian
You can use TransTools for AutoCAD Apr 3, 2019

Hello jofennar,

You can translate DWG drawings with TransTools for AutoCAD, a special plug-in for AutoCAD (link). The plug-in has two macros: 1) extract translatable text into a Word or Excel document, 2) merge the translation back into the drawing. If this is a one-off job, you can simply use the trial version of AutoCAD for this. You will need to install VBA Enabler plug-in for your vers
... See more
Hello jofennar,

You can translate DWG drawings with TransTools for AutoCAD, a special plug-in for AutoCAD (link). The plug-in has two macros: 1) extract translatable text into a Word or Excel document, 2) merge the translation back into the drawing. If this is a one-off job, you can simply use the trial version of AutoCAD for this. You will need to install VBA Enabler plug-in for your version of AutoCAD, which can be downloaded from Autodesk free of charge.

Best regards,
Stanislav Okhvat
TransTools – Useful tools for every translator
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Jorge Payan
 


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How to work from autocad files (.dwg) in wordfast?







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