Trados Studio

Trados Studio is a computer-assisted translation software tool which provides a comprehensive platform for translation tasks, including editing, reviewing, and project management. It is available both as a local desktop tool or online. Trados, owned by RWS, also provides a suite of intelligent machine translation products.

The UK-based company RWS, which offers technology-enabled language, content management and intellectual property services, was described in 2022 as "the largest publicly listed language service provider".

History
Trados Studio is the successor of Translators Workbench, originally developed by the German company Trados GmbH. It was renamed SDL Trados in 2005 when Trados was bought by SDL plc. The name reverted to Trados Studio after SDL merged with RWS in 2020.

Trados GmbH was founded as a language-service provider (LSP) in 1984 by Jochen Hummel and Iko Knyphausen in Stuttgart, Germany. The company began developing translation software in the late 1980s, and released the first Microsoft Windows versions of two of the suite's major components in the early 1990s – MultiTerm in 1992, and Translator's Workbench in 1994.

Trados was acquired by SDL in 2005, which was then acquired by RWS on 4 November 2020.

Configuration
Trados Studio 2022 includes several tools and applications:

Trados Studio

The main desktop-based application is designed for editing and reviewing translations, managing projects, organizing terminology, and integrating with machine translation. Trados Studio 2022 operates both locally and via the RWS Language Cloud. The entry-level offering enables users to connect to the cloud to back up Trados Studio work. There is an online editor allowing users to translate using a Web browser.

MultiTerm

A terminology management tool, available standalone or integrated with Trados Studio, for adding, editing and managing terms.

RWS AppStore

Trados products are available for purchase through an online store. The Application software offers various tools for translation, review, and terminology management. Additionally, a wide range of apps is available, with many designed specifically for use with Trados Studio. These apps can be accessed and managed from within the Trados Studio 2021 or 2022 interface.

Supported source document formats
Trados Studio supports many file formats including: various markup and tagged formats such as ML, XML, HTML, XLIFF, SDLXLIFF (Studio's native format for translation), OpenDocument files; text files; source code files, such as Java and Microsoft .NET; Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint; and some Adobe file formats, such as PDF, scanned PDF (OCR is supported), FrameMaker, InDesign, and InCopy. Support for other file types such as Multilingual Excel and Multilingual XML are also available through apps on the RWS AppStore.

Handling of translation memories and glossaries
The translation memory (TM) format of Trados Studio is SDLTM, which consists in a particular SQLite database.

When creating a new (file-based) translation memory, Trados Studio creates a database file in which all translation units are stored. The translation memory also stores structural and context information to link all the different segments and their position in a document. This allows the tool to select the most relevant translation memory segment.

Trados Studio can also work with server-based translation memories by connecting to Trados GroupShare, or cloud-based translation memories from Trados Team or Trados Enterprise.

Glossaries are handled by the MultiTerm application. Glossaries can be bilingual or multi-lingual, file-based or server based.

Integration of machine translation and post-editing
Trados Studio supports machine translation and post-editing, and can insert a machine translation of a translation unit (TU) if no match is found in the translation memory. The translator can then post-edit the machine translation. Trados supports Trados Language Weaver and many third-party machine translation providers through apps available on the RWS AppStore. Trados Studio also supports the integration of other MT providers through its open API.

Interoperability with other CAT tools
Trados Studio can open standard file formats, including XLIFF (1.2 and 2.0), TMX, TBX and OLIF.

It also natively supports file types from other CAT tools including; memoQ, XLIFF, Memsource XLIFF and PO documents from GNU gettext. Apps to support other formats are available:


 * Multilingual XML filetype- allowing users to create multilingual Trados Studio projects for any bilingual or multilingual XML-based format (including XLIFF flavours from other tools).
 * Trados Compatibility and Migration Power Pack - for compatibility with Bilingual DOC(X) (Trados 2007 and earlier, Wordfast Classic), TTX (Trados 2007 and earlier), ITD (SDL TMS and SDLX),
 * Wordfast TXML
 * WorldServer Compatibility Pack for Trados Studio - enabling WorldServer packages to be handled
 * Lingotek TMS plugin for Trados Studio – providing support for workflows using Lingotek TMS

RWS Community
RWS has a free-of-charge online community for users, with a specific community for the Trados product portfolio, split into product forums. RWS employees also monitor and respond to customer posts.

Support for developers
All products within the Trados product portfolio have public APIs, enabling users to develop their own integrated applications if required. Trados has a developer community; its hub provides links to developer information.