Excluding Excel Columns/Rows from Translation in WFP

When you translate Excel files in Wordfast Pro, there are several ways to exclude test:

Selecting columns and rows while opening Excel files

• From “File” menu, select “Open” and open the Excel file you want to translate.
• A wizard appears helping you to select columns and rows you want to translate. Select “Advanced Wizard”.
• You can select one row to be the header or you can uncheck “Use headers”.
• Check the column(s) you want to translate.
• Select the row from which you want to start text extraction.
• Apply the same to other sheets, if any. Click “Finish”.
• Only the columns and rows you have selected will be displayed.
• Start translation as usual. Use Alt+Down to move to the next segment and Ctrl+Alt+End to end the translation. You can even pre-translate the file.
• Save. Then “Save translated file” to get the target Excel file.

Related video: How to translate Excel columns with Wordfast Pro, demonstrated by: Dominique Pivard.

Excluding columns and rows using Excel

To exclude some columns and/or rows, you can hide the whole columns and rows in source Excel files to exclude them from WFP TXML files. In MS Excel, right-click those columns, select "Hide" and save. When you finish translation and Save Translated File, you right click again all the columns and rows and select "Unhide". Note: This is the default behaviour of Wordfast Pro unless you change that at Edit > Preferences > Filters > Excel Filter.

Moreover, now in WFP 2.4.3.1 and later versions, you can also exclude separate cells by hiding them in the source Excel file. The question is how to hide cells in Excel. This is a format: right-click the cell you would like to hide > select "Format Cells" > Custom > and type ;;; instead of "General". This will only hide the text but will NOT delete it. You can also see this video (by Yasmin Moslem) for the whole process.

Excluding sheets using Excel

You can exclude complete sheets by protecting them: Excel "Tools" menu > "Protection" > "Protect Sheet" (or MS Excel 2007 > "Review" > "Protect Sheet")

Wordfast Pro will not import protected sheets. When you finish the translation, you can unprotect them again.