If you manage your terminology in a spreadsheet application, you can save it in a CSV format and import it into the Acrolinx Terminology Manager. There’s no formal standard for terminology storage in a CSV file or for the CSV format itself. This means you should consider a few things before you begin a CSV file import.
A CSV file accepts an arbitrary range of values for column headers and cells. When you import CSV files into the Terminology Manager for the first time, there are several steps to confirm or define the identity of all columns and values within them. Often, these steps aren't necessary when you use XML-based terminology interchange formats like OLIF, ACTIF, or TBX.
The term import wizard provides two CSV format options: CSV and CSV (Translations only).
The CSV option is the standard option for importing new terms from a CSV file.
The CSV (Translations only) option makes sure that Acrolinx ignores the source terms in the CSV file and only imports the terms in the target language. Acrolinx uses the term entry ID in the import file to add the new translated terms to existing term entries.
If you export a CSV file from the Terminology Manager and add extra translation columns to the file, select CSV (Translations only) to import the new translated terms into existing term entries. You can use this format to edit your source terms in the Terminology Manager while they’re translated externally.
Learn how to import terms in this format.
When you use the term import wizard, it’s important to understand the structure of the term entries in your CSV file. The structure of your CSV file influences how you use the term import wizard.
For every term, the term import wizard requires system field information such as language and status. Some file structures already have this information, and other file structures require you to set this information globally. If your CSV file has several columns that include terms, you must configure the system field information separately for each term column.
The following examples show common CSV file structures and the main system field configurations necessary to import the file.
Example 1: A single-language CSV that has two term columns for preferred and deprecated terms.
Since there are no language or status columns in the file, you need to configure the language and status of the terms globally for each column. Note that the status is configured differently depending on the column.
Example 2: A multilanguage CSV that includes two term columns for English and German terms.
Again, since there are no language or status columns in the file, you need to configure the language and status of the terms globally for each column. Note that this time, the language is configured differently depending on the column.
Example 3: A multilanguage CSV that has one column for all terms.
You'll see the language and status of the terms in secondary columns. The only global setting for this type of structure would be the source language that defines the head terms. In this example, you could set the source language to English, which would mean that "Aborted" becomes the head term for the term entry "1001".
Example 4: An exported CSV file with a new column for Japanese translations.
In this case, the Terminology Manager uses the term entry ID to import the new Japanese terms into the existing term entries. The head terms are present to assist in translation only and don’t get imported. The status and language are configured globally for the column "JP Translation".
Tip
Use the format option CSV (Translations only) to import this type of CSV file
You'll see the Format-specific Options on the term import and term export pages.
Use the advanced CSV options to make sure the Terminology Manager interprets or exports your CSV file correctly.
The Format-specific Options have the following fields:
|
Name |
Default Value |
Use to |
|---|---|---|
|
Has header |
Yes |
Inform the Terminology Manager if the first row of your CSV file has column headers. |
|
Delimiter |
, |
Select the character that separates field values in your text file. |
|
List delimiter |
; |
Delimit a list of values for fields that can accept multiple values. For example: The field Domain can accept multiple values per term. You can use the value list syntax If you don’t set a list delimiter, the Terminology Manager would interpret the value |
|
Text qualifier |
" |
Select the character that encloses values in your text file. When the Terminology Manager finds the text qualifier character, it'll import all of the text that follows that character and precedes the next occurrence of that character as one value. It'll do this even if the text has a delimiter character. For example: If the delimiter is a comma (,) and the text qualifier is a quotation mark ("), the value If you don’t specify a qualifier or if you specify the apostrophe (') qualifier, the value |
|
Use text qualifier |
Yes |
Instruct the Terminology Manager to detect text qualifiers. |
|
Comment delimiter |
# |
Select the character that hides comments in your CSV file. You can use comments to store meta information about the contents of the file. If you use the comment delimiter (#), the Terminology Manager ignores any text between two (#) characters. |
|
Use comments |
No |
Instruct the Terminology Manager to detect comment delimiters. |