String length restrictions in Idiom Translation Workbench

When working in Idiom WorldServer Desktop Workbench (IWDW)/Idiom Translation Workbench you might have experienced that you cannot edit a translated string to anything longer than the existing string.

If the string is new, you cannot create a translation longer than the source string, or if the string is machine translated and longer than the source, you cannot edit the string to be longer than the already added translation.

The problem relates to User Access Control in Windows, and there are 2 solutions to the problem (depending on whether you open a downloaded file from WorldServer or open a file on your computer).

Solution 1 (when opening a file on your computer):

1. Right-click the icon for IWDW on your desktop, and select Run as administrator.
2. Click Yes to allow the app to run.
3. Use File > Open to work on your file.

Now you can edit the translations as you please.

Note: Instead of right-clicking the icon every time, you can right-click the icon, click Advanced on the Shortcut tab, and check Run as administrator.

Solution 2 (when opening a project downloaded from WorldServer):

When you download selected files (a project) from WorldServer it downloads an XLZ file that you can just click to open and edit translations in the editor. But when doing this you will not have administrator rights even if you have set the app to Run as administrator as described in Solution 1, and you cannot expand string lengths.

Instead you can do this to solve the problem:

1. Find the app in Windows Explorer (C:\Program Files\Idiom\Translation Workbench.)
2. Right-click the app (Workbench.exe.)
3. Select Troubleshoot compatibility.
4. Wait, and then select Troubleshoot program.
5. Make sure that The program requires additional permissions is selected, and then click Next.
6. Click Test program. This opens the app (a prompt dialog from User Access Control opens in the background, and you have to select Yes to run the app.)
7. Go back to the troubleshooter guide, and click Next.
8. Click Yes, save these settings for this program.
9. Click Close in the guide, and exit the app.

The next time you download files/a project from WorldServer, you can just click the downloaded file and have full edit access to the translations.