Using Excel or Word Glossaries

WFC and WFP3 use a tab-delimited text file format for glossaries. WFP5 and above uses a SOLR database format for its glossaries; however, it can import glossaries that are in a tab-delimited text file format.

In other words, if you have a glossary in a Word document table or a glossary in an Excel document, you will need to start by converting it to a tab-delimited text file. The first column should contain source word(s), the second column target word(s), and the third column can optionally contain a description or other meta-data related to the terms.

Converting Excel Glossaries into Wordfast Glossaries (Tab-delimited Text File)

1. Make sure that your Excel file only includes 2 columns: one for the source terms and the other for the target terms.
2. Make sure that each field includes only the term (in the form expected to appear in original texts); omit any notes or unnecessary additions.
3. From the Excel File menu > Save as, choose "Tab-delimited" as your file type. Note: If your language pair includes special characters that are spoilt after converting into a txt file, you can select "Unicode Text", instead.
4. Click OK if a message prompts: "The selected file type does not support multiple workbooks that contain multiple sheets. To save only the active sheet, click OK."
5. Click Yes if a message prompts: "(The file) may contain features that are not compatible with Text (Tab-delimited). Do you want to keep the workbook in this format."
6. Now, you can close Excel without saving (as you have already saved the glossary).

Converting Word Table Glossaries into Wordfast Glossaries (Tab-delimited Text File)

1. Make sure that your table includes only 2 columns, one for the source terms and the other for the target terms.
2. Make sure that each field includes only the term (in the form expected to appear in original texts); omit any notes or unnecessary additions.
3. Word 2000, XP or 2003: From the Table menu, select: Convert Table to Text, and Separate text with: Tabs. Word 2007, 2010 or 2011: Go to Layout pane and click Convert Table to Text.
4. Click the File menu (or the MS logo of Word 2007), click Save as and from "Save As Type", and select "Plain Text" (or "Text Only"). (Note: Use "Other encoding" -> "Unicode" if your language requires that).

Loading a tab-delimited text file glossary into WFC or WFP3

To open a tab-delimited text (.txt) glossary file in Wordfast Classic:

1. Go to the Terminology tab and any glossary sub-tab.
2. Click Select, and select the (.txt) file you obtained from the conversion process above.

To open a tab-delimited text (.txt) glossary file in Wordfast Pro 3:

1. In your project, click Project Terminology > Import.

References

Version: Wordfast Pro 5.7
Operating System: macOS

--Yasmin Moslem, 29 December 2011

Updated by Byron, 10 January 2019