How to Import Revised Target Files in SDL trados studio: the Retrofit function

Receiving and implementing feedback are common practices within the translation industry: some people love it and some people hate it.
But when can this happen? Let's have a look at the possible scenarios:

• Your client may have an in-house team of native speakers, translators or revisers that make sure the company’s output is in line with certain guidelines or standards and that the final files do not contain any errors and typos.
• There may be distributors or in-country revisers who, again, before publishing the material may check the files just to make sure they are aligned with the standard content they produce and publish.
• Your client has requested you to amend the final file in order to be consistent with new guidelines or amended terms and you need to update this in your TM and project.

In my case, I have a couple of clients whose in-country distributors provide feedback for almost every project. It’s very constructive and useful feedback because they correct any sector-specific terms I may not know and that I would never have found just researching through the depths of internet. The “issue”, for me, is the format of the files I receive back: most of them come in a Word format with track changes. This would be fine if it wasn’t that the original file I delivered was an SRT used for producing subtitles to link to YouTube videos – but that’s my problem.
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As you can see, revised files can create a great number of challenges for translators, and PMs, on how to effectively and efficiently implement the final changes. Having worn both hats, I can say that how you tackle such situation depends on what file you want to work on: either the xliff file or the TM. Having said this, I will explain all the options here below.
 
XLIFF files
We all know what they are, or at least if you work with CAT tools, you should definitely have heard of them. In case you are not sure, have a look at this page.
If you have worked on a local project that you haven’t yet imported in your TM, you can:

1. Make manual changes in the file, maybe even using the Find and Replace function – it's easy, but it can be extra time-consuming, so I suggest this option if you need to make one or two changes,
2. Use the Retrofit function in SDL Trados Studio which essentially takes your final revised target file and overwrites the original XLIFF implementing the amends in your Studio project. This video explains the process very clearly; otherwise, you can use the following instructions (please note that the text used is from Wikipedia and was translated using Google Translate solely for the purpose of demonstrating this function).

Your target revised file may look like, so make sure you hit save and close it before proceeding to the following steps.

Select the Retrofit function from the Batch Tasks menu and follow the next steps.

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​Select a Specific Review Document.

Look for your revised file, select it and click Open (or Apri, if you are Italian).
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​Finally, follow the next steps, clicking on Finish and Close.

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At this point, you’ll see that the changes included in your revised file in Word will appear within the SDL Trados Studio environment.

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Then, accept or reject the changes using the appropriate buttons in the Review tab and you'll have your final file in Trados. You can import the final xliff in your Translation Memory or you can make sure your TM is attached to the project and then re-confirm the segments you modified. At this point, you will have a clean and extra approved resource to use for your future translations!
 
TM files
If you are not interested in changing the xliff file because you have already imported the relevant segments in your Translation Memory, you can:

• Again, make the changes manually and "committing to the changes", like so:

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• Use the magical world of filters in the TMs overview and filter out the segments that contain a certain word. This will allow you to get a “view” of all the affected segments and amend them manually (remember to "commit the changes").
• Otherwise, you can still use filters, but this time you can extract the segments imported in the TM on a certain date and delete them completely; then, work on the xliff and reimport it again. This is not the preferred option, but I thought of including it just in case someone wanted a grand tour of Studio. 

I hope you have found this useful – some people may already know how to go through this progress, but I think it’s always worth sharing any information I find useful for other fellow translators.