Some customers send you only PDF files instead of editable documents. These can be “converted” using online programs and tools. But when you then display the formatting characters in Word, you are often in for a nasty surprise:

• Font and/or font size change in the middle of a sentence.

• Line spacing changes back and forth.

• One part of a sentence is in a regular paragraph, the next is separated as a text box.

• Footers and headers become ‘floating’ plain text.

• Formulas turn into mysterious codes.

• Seals and signatures jump around.

• Line breaks everywhere ...

Documents like these are worthless for TM systems such as Trados or DéjàVu. Even if they can be imported, the translation is unusable because the entire target text is displaced.