How much to charge for post-formatting of PDF/Word file
Thread poster: Heloísa Helena Benetton Costa
Heloísa Helena Benetton Costa
Heloísa Helena Benetton Costa  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 04:34
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Jun 22, 2020

Hello colleagues,

I client asked me to translate/review/reformat a PDF file and deliver it in Word format. I have Trados Studio 2017 and it was converted perfectly into Word. Now I will translate it and generate the target file in Word.

I need to know how much to charge for the final comparison of the original PDF with the target Word file and to make any necessary reformatting needed. In percentage would be nice (for example, 50% of the word rate).

Thank y
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Hello colleagues,

I client asked me to translate/review/reformat a PDF file and deliver it in Word format. I have Trados Studio 2017 and it was converted perfectly into Word. Now I will translate it and generate the target file in Word.

I need to know how much to charge for the final comparison of the original PDF with the target Word file and to make any necessary reformatting needed. In percentage would be nice (for example, 50% of the word rate).

Thank you very much for your help!

Heloisa
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Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:34
German to English
Hourly rate for formatting Jun 22, 2020

Extensive (re-)formatting should be charged by the hour. Charging based on words is potentially unfair to the customer, as you'll be moving around blocks of words. On the other hand, if a lot of reformatting is required, you could be shortchanging yourself.

Philippe Etienne
Sheila Wilson
Christophe Delaunay
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Chris Foster
Chris Foster
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:34
Member (2013)
German to English
+ ...
Hourly rate for formatting -caution advised Jun 24, 2020

Even if the client agrees an acceptable hourly rate for this job, you need to be careful that you are not opening the door to lots of difficult future word processing rather than translation. If the source document has been tightly designed with lots of graphics, captions, text boxes etc., you may find that the translated version throws everything out and you end up reformatting a long document! In this case, I would insist on translating a text-only version.

Christine Andersen
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 08:34
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Hourly rate - and be careful! Jun 24, 2020

I ended up doing a lot of formatting for free last week...

A year ago, I translated a CSR report, which my client, a small agency, sent me as a PDF file. I popped it into Trados Studio, delivered a Word file, and everyone was happy.

This year the end client made up a new report, re-using large sections of the earlier report, but somehow cutting and pasting to transfer goals from the previous year to results achieved, then updating and inserting new goals, and reorganizi
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I ended up doing a lot of formatting for free last week...

A year ago, I translated a CSR report, which my client, a small agency, sent me as a PDF file. I popped it into Trados Studio, delivered a Word file, and everyone was happy.

This year the end client made up a new report, re-using large sections of the earlier report, but somehow cutting and pasting to transfer goals from the previous year to results achieved, then updating and inserting new goals, and reorganizing the graphics.

I received a PDF file which, at first glance, looked very similar to last year's file, but Studio mixed it up completely.
Before I could translate it, I had to make a text file, cutting and pasting sections into a new Word file in the right order, and then, after translating it, I reinserted the translated text alongside the graphics. It was over a weekend, so I could not just ask for a new file, and it might have been difficult to produce anyway.

The formatting took me hours, and I barely had time to proofread it properly. Fortunately I am not too busy at the moment, and for various reasons I get very heavily taxed if I earn too much... so I did it for free and wrote it off as experience!
Earlier in my career I would have hated to ask a good client to pay for so much extra time, but would have needed the money. I might also have had trouble meeting other deadlines - I was usually busy!

I did tell the client and the DTP-person concerned about the problem, and we hope we have worked out a solution for next year. That remains to be seen, but it taught me a lesson!
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Jo Macdonald
Jo Macdonald  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:34
Member (2005)
Italian to English
+ ...
10%+ Jun 26, 2020

I charge 10%+ for page layout work depending on how much needs doing.

When you get the pdf, convert it, compare it, then send an estimate based on how much page layout work you think will be needed and how much text has been converted into images = missing test in the word count. So, if just a bit of page layout work 10%, if considerable page layout work and a few pages of missing text anything from 15-50%.

If the pdf was created from a Word doc and you get a perfect c
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I charge 10%+ for page layout work depending on how much needs doing.

When you get the pdf, convert it, compare it, then send an estimate based on how much page layout work you think will be needed and how much text has been converted into images = missing test in the word count. So, if just a bit of page layout work 10%, if considerable page layout work and a few pages of missing text anything from 15-50%.

If the pdf was created from a Word doc and you get a perfect conversion in Studio I wouldn't change more than usual for the translation unless checking will take a long time and the customer says they need it specifically when asked.

Sometimes if the quality of a scan is bad it's best to just say no.

If there's no text to count then an hourly rate (time taken when job done) or someone in the office can type it out and we'll use a word count.

You can get really handy in Word with text boxes that have no (invisible) borders and almost no margins. Once you've created one save it as a temple to use all through the file.

Sometimes Abby Finereader can give much better conversion results than Studio. Costs about 100 bucks and is well worth it if you're doing a bit of pdf/image work.
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How much to charge for post-formatting of PDF/Word file







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