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Using MS Office on Mac for translating
Thread poster: Ivona McCormick
Ivona McCormick
Ivona McCormick
United States
Local time: 02:54
English to Polish
+ ...
Apr 7, 2015

Hi,

I have been using a PC for years, but due to constant virues, fixes, lack of reliability, I am considering getting a Mac.

My concerns are that companies I work with/for send files in MS Word formats, or their online accessible portals/software are PC based. Will I be able to use my Mac and MS Office on it without horrendous learning curve, and are all the proofing tools, fonts (specifically for Polish language) available?

Any other hints/advice also wel
... See more
Hi,

I have been using a PC for years, but due to constant virues, fixes, lack of reliability, I am considering getting a Mac.

My concerns are that companies I work with/for send files in MS Word formats, or their online accessible portals/software are PC based. Will I be able to use my Mac and MS Office on it without horrendous learning curve, and are all the proofing tools, fonts (specifically for Polish language) available?

Any other hints/advice also welcome.
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:54
Member (2008)
Italian to English
No problem Apr 7, 2015

Ivona wrote:

Hi,

I have been using a PC for years, but due to constant virues, fixes, lack of reliability, I am considering getting a Mac.

My concerns are that companies I work with/for send files in MS Word formats, or their online accessible portals/software are PC based. Will I be able to use my Mac and MS Office on it without horrendous learning curve, and are all the proofing tools, fonts (specifically for Polish language) available?

Any other hints/advice also welcome.


As a Mac user since 1998 I can confirm that I've never had a virus of any kind. Nor have I ever needed the assistance of a "computer technician". I work in MSOffice for Mac all the time. My clients send me Word, Excel, and ppt files and I work on them with no problems whatsoever (apart from the inherent problems built into MSOffice).

Although there IS a learning curve, this consists of learning how much more pleasurable it is to use the MacOS.

You may find it useful to buy a Mac with a Polish keyboard. You than then easily set the computer to work with the Polish layout and Polish characters.

[Edited at 2015-04-07 07:36 GMT]


 
esperantisto
esperantisto  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:54
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Linux maybe? Apr 7, 2015

Why don’t you consider Linux? No viruses. MS Office for Windows runs fine under Crossover Linux. No problem with Polish input.

 
Natalie Soper
Natalie Soper  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:54
French to English
+ ...
Should be fine! Apr 7, 2015

I use a Macbook and have never had any problems with sharing MS Office files with PCs; the Office for Mac program can run compatibility checks to check if it can be shared without any problems.

The only thing I will say is that some of the more popular CAT tools like Trados and MemoQ are not compatible with Mac operating systems, just in case that affects you.


 
Howard Sugar
Howard Sugar  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 08:54
Member (2009)
French to English
+ ...
MS Office on Mac Apr 7, 2015

I also decided to splash for a new 27 inch Imac a few years ago and use Office for Mac. I ordered my PC from the Apple store online. I also decided to order the normal full keyboard (which also has two USB ports on them) with a cord, and not the wireless keyboard and a trackpad instead of the wireless mouse. I then attached a normal mouse.

In addition to the advantages of stability and better defenses against viruses, there are numerous practical advantages. By having a large scree
... See more
I also decided to splash for a new 27 inch Imac a few years ago and use Office for Mac. I ordered my PC from the Apple store online. I also decided to order the normal full keyboard (which also has two USB ports on them) with a cord, and not the wireless keyboard and a trackpad instead of the wireless mouse. I then attached a normal mouse.

In addition to the advantages of stability and better defenses against viruses, there are numerous practical advantages. By having a large screen, you can enlarge texts to up to 400 percent. On a large screen, this reduces a lot of stress on your eyes and in those cases where you get footnotes in size 6 characters you can actually read them!

There is no compatibilty problems using Office for Mac.

The only downside is that there is only one CAT tool (Wordfast) that works on a Mac.

If you use CAT tools alot , you may also install both Windows and the Apple OS either in a dual boot (either or) or by using virtualization software. This is marginally more complicated to do and requires a third-party application such as Parallels Desktop for Mac or VMware Fusion. It means you can switch rapidly from Mac to Windows, but it does mean that your Mac's processor, memory and so on are having to run two OSes simultaneously. It can make for slower performance.
This is of course more expensive (you have to buy a Windows license and possibly the third-party application). This also exposes your computer to Windows viruses.
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2nl (X)
2nl (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 08:54
CafeTran on Mac! Apr 7, 2015

Howard Sugar wrote:

The only downside is that there is only one CAT tool (Wordfast) that works on a Mac.



Indeed, the people from Wordfast would like to make you believe this:


Cross-Platform Compatibility
Wordfast Pro is the only major commercial TM tool on the market that runs natively on Windows, Mac and Linux.


The truth is that there are other tools that run on Mac too, like Swordfish and CafeTran.

Personally, I think that CafeTran allows you to be more productive than Wf. But why not try it yourself? www.cafetran.com


 
Vi Pukite
Vi Pukite  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 00:54
Latvian to English
+ ...
Macs are great Apr 8, 2015

I've never had a crash or freeze or virus or any other problem. Word files work just fine. Yes, some clients' on-line portals work only with PCs, but I just politely remind them I work on a Mac, and they send me Word files. Life is good!

No problems with language fonts, either.

[Edited at 2015-04-08 04:36 GMT]


 
2nl (X)
2nl (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 08:54
Client portals and Mac Apr 8, 2015

Vi Pukite wrote:

I've never had a crash or freeze or virus or any other problem. Word files work just fine. Yes, some clients' on-line portals work only with PCs, but I just politely remind them I work on a Mac, and they send me Word files. Life is good!

No problems with language fonts, either.

[Edited at 2015-04-08 04:36 GMT]


Well, LG is another brand, but you are right about client portals that aren't fully compatible with any native OSX browser. In Plunet portals I cannot zip and download any jobs with Safari, Chrome or Firefox for OS X. For those clients I still have to fire up my Windows 8 and use Internet Explorer 10 .


 
Neptunia
Neptunia
Local time: 08:54
Italian to English
another vote for Mac Apr 8, 2015

I use the MS Office 2011 applications especially Word and Powerpoint and don't have any compatibility issues. I also use CafeTran and it has never crashed. I have found sometimes moving files with a USB drive between PC and Mac can be tricky but there is always a workaround. I think lots of Mac users have a PC in the house somewhere for troubleshooting those rare occasions.

You can't really escape software updates. The Mac universe is also meant to be updated to the latest release
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I use the MS Office 2011 applications especially Word and Powerpoint and don't have any compatibility issues. I also use CafeTran and it has never crashed. I have found sometimes moving files with a USB drive between PC and Mac can be tricky but there is always a workaround. I think lots of Mac users have a PC in the house somewhere for troubleshooting those rare occasions.

You can't really escape software updates. The Mac universe is also meant to be updated to the latest release periodically but these intrusions seem less frequent and they do less damage than what I have experienced with PCs. I've never had a virus. In general I think most Mac users spend far less time tinkering with things trying to get them to work. There may be a slightly intimidating Mac learning curve but so much of it has been designed to be intuitive that it quickly becomes second nature.

For me the dazzling 27" display was part of the allure of my iMac and I certainly don't regret it. Cost is a factor, however. I recommend going to an Apple store and asking some questions. See if you can resist!

(By the way, since I wanted an English keyboard in Italy they sold me the iMac package and told me to simply return the Italian keyboard when I got my English one (ordered online)...so when I returned the opened, extra keyboard they immediately gave me cash - - not a store coupon or a credit or anything like that, and no hassle. It is kind of unusual around here to have that kind of customer service.)
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Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:54
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
No thank you! Apr 8, 2015

No AutoHotkey?
No Ron's CSV Editor?
No Vocola/Unimacro/Dragonfly (to control my entire computer by voice using Dragon NaturallySpeaking)?
No KnowBrainer?
No Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13?
No TMLookup?
No Xbench?
No Okapi Olifant?
No XYplorer?
No TO3000?
No legacy dictionary applications?
No SynchroTerm 2014?
No AlignFactory?
No SDL Studio?
No memoQ?
No TransTools?
No CodeZapper?
No
... See more
No AutoHotkey?
No Ron's CSV Editor?
No Vocola/Unimacro/Dragonfly (to control my entire computer by voice using Dragon NaturallySpeaking)?
No KnowBrainer?
No Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13?
No TMLookup?
No Xbench?
No Okapi Olifant?
No XYplorer?
No TO3000?
No legacy dictionary applications?
No SynchroTerm 2014?
No AlignFactory?
No SDL Studio?
No memoQ?
No TransTools?
No CodeZapper?
No Verifika?
No PerfectIt?
No EmEditor?
No dtSearch?
No AnyCount?
No ABBYY Screenshot Reader?
No ASAP Utilties?
No IntelliWebSearch?*



No thank you!

I think I'll stick with my trusty Win7 64-bit for the time being. At least until Macs get some actual software.

Avast! + Malwarebytes + Macrium Reflect + Dropbox + and a little commons sense =
I am quite confident I am not going to lose any important work due to a virus or computer problem.

If you like to tinker: get Windows.
If you like shiny (empty!) white Mac stores: get a Mac.

*If you haven't even heard of most of the above programs, you should probably get a Mac; you fit their target market

PS: For the tinkerers: http://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=25&threadid=20421&enterthread=y (check out Vocola/Unimacro!)

[Edited at 2015-04-08 13:31 GMT]

[Edited at 2015-04-08 13:50 GMT]
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2nl (X)
2nl (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 08:54
We can use all these apps Apr 8, 2015

Michael Beijer wrote:

No AutoHotkey?
No Ron's CSV Editor?
No Vocola/Unimacro/Dragonfly (to control my entire computer by voice using Dragon NaturallySpeaking)?
No KnowBrainer?
No Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13?
No TMLookup?
No Xbench?
No Okapi Olifant?
No XYplorer?
No TO3000?
No legacy dictionary applications?
No SynchroTerm 2014?
No AlignFactory?
No SDL Studio?
No memoQ?
No TransTools?
No CodeZapper?
No Verifika?
No PerfectIt?
No EmEditor?
No dtSearch?
No AnyCount?
No ABBYY Screenshot Reader?
No ASAP Utilties?
No IntelliWebSearch?*


We can use all these apps on a Mac too!

BTW: Good luck with the delivery of your baby tomorrow/the day after tomorrow.

Hans


 
Ivona McCormick
Ivona McCormick
United States
Local time: 02:54
English to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
wow - thank you Apr 8, 2015

Thank you so much guys! I think getting a Mac is no brainer for me. I really do want one mostly because of reliability and no viruses which create a lot of stress, and of course the PC always seem to get infected in the middle of a job (even though I do have AVAST).

So you suggest I get MS Office for Mac (the latest one)? I also heard of "Parallels" - is that better/worse?

For now I am just getting MacBook Air. I do hope to get iMac with that awesome monitor one day...
... See more
Thank you so much guys! I think getting a Mac is no brainer for me. I really do want one mostly because of reliability and no viruses which create a lot of stress, and of course the PC always seem to get infected in the middle of a job (even though I do have AVAST).

So you suggest I get MS Office for Mac (the latest one)? I also heard of "Parallels" - is that better/worse?

For now I am just getting MacBook Air. I do hope to get iMac with that awesome monitor one day...

One company will be sending me their dongle - and they were quite concerned I am thinking about getting a Mac, as their dongle is PC compatible. They did say they have translators working on Mac with virtual PC (I am assuming this is either MS Office for Mac or Parallel?)

CAT tools are not a concern for me, as I typically translate subtitles for motion pictures, and TV programming. I would need to have proofing tools however, which I normally get with MS Office. On a PC to use Polish fonts, provided you have Polish selected as one of the available languages), I would pres ALT and the letter I need with a diacritic. How does it look on a Mac?
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Ivona McCormick
Ivona McCormick
United States
Local time: 02:54
English to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
One more thing Apr 8, 2015

Can I get a large Mac monitor and hook it up to my MacBook Air once I get it, so I can work on a larger screen while working at home?

 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:54
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
VR Apr 8, 2015

2nl wrote:

Michael Beijer wrote:

No AutoHotkey?
No Ron's CSV Editor?
No Vocola/Unimacro/Dragonfly (to control my entire computer by voice using Dragon NaturallySpeaking)?
No KnowBrainer?
No Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13?
No TMLookup?
No Xbench?
No Okapi Olifant?
No XYplorer?
No TO3000?
No legacy dictionary applications?
No SynchroTerm 2014?
No AlignFactory?
No SDL Studio?
No memoQ?
No TransTools?
No CodeZapper?
No Verifika?
No PerfectIt?
No EmEditor?
No dtSearch?
No AnyCount?
No ABBYY Screenshot Reader?
No ASAP Utilties?
No IntelliWebSearch?*


We can use all these apps on a Mac too!

Yeah, sure, virtually, but not actually. I prefer the real thing. The real deal. The actual hamburger. You get the picture.

BTW: Good luck with the delivery of your baby tomorrow/the day after tomorrow.

Hans


Thanks!

Michael

[Edited at 2015-04-08 20:59 GMT]


 
2nl (X)
2nl (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 08:54
Virtually and actually Apr 9, 2015

You can have both, on a Mac. As you probably know. You are just teasing me.

 
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Using MS Office on Mac for translating






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