Translating PDF Files Explained
It’s hard to imagine life without pdf files. They excel at sharing and presenting information but are not meant to be edited or altered. The question is, are they useful for translation? The answer? Yes but…
Normally, PDF files are created in other software programs like Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc) or Adobe (InDesign, Illustrator, Framemaker, etc). When it comes to translation, it is always best for us to work with the files in their original format. This way, our in-house graphics team can overwrite text and edit the files so when they are translated, they look identical to the original file.
Translation is most easily done when the files were originally created in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, or other Office programs. If your pdf was created in one of these software programs and you have the original file, it would be much better for us to receive the original for both quotation and translation.
The same is true of more complex graphics software like Framemaker, Illustrator, InDesign, etc. If you would like our graphics team to work on your files directly, please send us the packaged files (with links and fonts) and we can deliver to you a translated document that looks identical to the original file.
That being said, it is perfectly fine if you only have the PDF! We can still work with it. We will just need to recreate it in another one of these programs (like Excel, Word, InDesign, or Illustrator) and this is more expensive because it is like starting from scratch.
So in conclusion, you can send us PDFs for quotation purposes and for translation purposes, but if you have the original format of the file, that is always best.