How-to convert PO(T) files to XLS
There are several clients of ours, who come to us to translate PO(T) files. Allegedly, other translation agencies who they communicated with have no clue how to work with these files. So they just ask the client to deliver translation materials in Excel or Word documents.
What is a PO(T) file?
PO(T) stands for Portable Object (Template) and these files are used for storing strings in different kinds of languages in software applications. There’s one more file type — MO which stands for Machine Object.
To simplify things, let’s break it down to individual file types:
- POT — Portable Object Template. This is the file that you get when you extract texts from the web/mobile application. Normally, you send this file to your translators/agency.
- PO — Portable Object. This is the file that you receive back from the translators. It’s a text file that includes the original texts and the translations.
- MO — Machine Object. The MO file includes the exact same contents as PO file. The two files differ in their format. While a PO file is a text file and is easy for humans to read, MO files are compiled and are easy for computers to read. Basically, when you deploy your mobile/web application (or build your software) all PO files are converted into MO files, so the application is able to read the file faster and your application stays fast.
POT — Portable Object Template. This is the file that you get when you extract texts from the web/mobile application.
What is the difference between PO and POT?
When you finish your application and want to extract all texts for translation, the POT file is created by a script. This file contains all strings in the original language (let’s say English).
The PO file then represents a file with translated strings for individual languages. So if you translate to Spanish, German and French, you will have 4 files:
- EN.pot
- ES.po
- DE.po
- FR.po
If you update your application and you have new strings (or you deleted some obsolete ones), only the POT file is updated by the script. You send this file again to your translators (or agency) and they will only translate new strings, as they probably use Translation Memories (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_memory).
The PO file then represents a file with translated strings for individual languages.
Why convert PO(T) into XLS?
Working with PO(T) files is for a lot of translators (and also agencies) a serious issue. They don’t know how to open it (it’s a simple plain-text file and you can open it with any text editor such as Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac).
Also, translation agencies use Translation Management Software such as MemoQ or Memsource. None of these softwares support PO(T) file format, so there’s a need for some solution.
Which software do we use?
We at Localization Guru are really happy with a service called POEditor (https://poeditor.com/). It’s super-easy to setup, it supports multiple projects, multiple languages, it saves previously translated strings are much more.
The important feature is that it can export your PO(T) files into XLS files. XLS file is a much easier to use for translators.
We use export to XLS file for processing in MemoQ first, which generates bilingual language files for translators (more on this in another article). After the XLS file is translated, you can import it back into POEditor and then export PO file(s) for individual languages.
I hope this article will help you deal with PO(T) files. There’s more to say, so if you have any questions to this topic, leave a comment below!
Localization Guru (Professional Translation Services) is a on a mission to simplify translation services. Strongly supporting innovation, Localization Guru helps clients from over 15 countries translate into over 60+ languages. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies right through to start ups like Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (http://hyperloop.global/).
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