Import/Export Errors

This page covers common problems when importing or exporting files.

“Cannot read file” / import fails

Common causes:

• The file is open in Word (or another app)
• The file is read-only or in a protected location
• The file format doesn’t match the workflow

Fix:

1. Close the file everywhere (Word, CAT tool editors, preview panes)
2. Copy it to a simple path (for example C:\Temp\) and try again
3. Re-export from the CAT tool using the recommended bilingual/package format

memoQ bilingual shows no segments

Cause: Export format doesn’t contain the expected bilingual table.

Fix:

• Re-export from memoQ as Bilingual DOCX in a two-column table format.
• Open the DOCX in Word and confirm it really contains a Source/Target table.

Trados SDLPPX fails to extract

Common causes:

• Corrupt/partial package
• Unsupported package structure

Fix:

• Ask for a fresh export from Trados Studio.
• Ensure the package includes all required files.

Garbled characters / encoding issues

Cause: Text encoding problems coming from the source file or export.

Fix:

• Re-export from the source tool with a modern Unicode/UTF-8-friendly path when possible.
• For Latin-1/Windows-1252 mojibake (e.g. “é” appearing where “é” should be), open the file in a text editor that supports re-interpreting the encoding (Notepad++ has Encoding → Convert to UTF-8) or run ftfy on it from the command line.

Segments don’t match on reimport

Cause: Segment structure changed.

Fix:

• Don’t merge or split segments in Supervertaler
• Export using the matching CAT format
• Avoid deleting placeholder/tag-only segments

“Source file not found” during export

Cause: The original source file/folder was moved after import.

Fix:

• Use Project → Export → 🔗 Relocate Source Folder and point it to the new location.
• If the original source is gone, re-import the project from the correct source.

Exported file has no translations

Cause: Targets are empty or the wrong export format was chosen.

Fix:

• Verify the Target column contains translations.
• Export the matching format for the workflow you imported.

Formatting lost on reimport

Cause: Tags not preserved.

Fix:

• Verify tags are balanced (for example <b>text</b>)
• Don’t delete CAT placeholder tags
• Re-export using the correct CAT workflow

Bilingual table reimport fails

Cause: Bilingual tables are great for review, but not always suitable for CAT tool reimport.

Fix:

• Prefer the dedicated CAT exchange formats (memoQ/Trados/Phrase/CafeTran).
• If you must use a bilingual table, don’t edit the table structure in Word.