Soviet birth certificate, handwritten
Uzbekistan, issued 1973, Uzbek and Russian
Exactly what the product returned. Nobody fixed these files by hand. Scan: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Trados Studio plugin
Scanned PDFs and photos in Trados Studio, ready to translate
Studio cannot convert a PDF that is only a picture of a page, and has no file type for photos. The ChatsControl plugin reads them into editable Word files with their tables, stamps and signatures and adds them to your project, so you translate with your own TMs, termbases and MT.
Free plugin for Trados Studio 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024. Reading a scan costs $1.50 per 1,000 characters, at least 1,000 characters a page. See real scans translated, with their Word files
Translation agencies we work with
What Studio does with a scan
Since RWS moved Studio's PDF conversion to a new technology in March 2023, RWS says it cannot convert a PDF that holds only a scanned picture. In our check, Trados Studio 2022 turned a one-page scanned certificate into a single segment holding nothing but a picture tag.
So scans leave Studio: someone runs OCR in another program, fixes what it misread, rebuilds the tables in Word and adds that file back. The plugin does that part without leaving Studio.
How it works
- Pick the scansIn the Files view, select scanned PDFs and right-click Convert scans with ChatsControl. Photos on your disk: Add scans from disk.
- Check the planThe plugin shows which files it will read, their pages and your balance, and starts only when you click Start.
- ChatsControl reads themA page takes a few minutes, three scans are read at once, each with its progress line and a Cancel button.
- Translate in StudioEach Word copy is added beside its scan, prepared and copied to every target language. The scan stays as a reference file.
Hard scans, and the Word files we built from them
Compare the scan with the copy, switch to the translation, and download both files - open them in Word and check for yourself.
CMR consignment note, phone photo
Uzbekistan, photographed on a desk
Exactly what the product returned. Nobody fixed these files by hand. Scan: Solijon Solayev, CC BY-SA 4.0
Apostille in three languages
Brazil, 2021, Portuguese, English and French
Exactly what the product returned. Nobody fixed these files by hand. Scan: Civil registry office in Rio de Janeiro, Public domain
Studio alone and with the plugin
| Trados Studio alone | With the plugin | |
|---|---|---|
| Scanned PDF | One segment with a picture tag | An editable Word file, segmented like any other |
| Photo (JPG, PNG, TIFF) | No file type to add it with | Read into Word and added to the project |
| Tables | Retyped after OCR in another program | Word tables, cell by cell |
| Stamps and signatures | Lost or described by hand | Kept as pictures where they stand |
Download
One build for each Studio version. Close Studio, copy the file into that version's plug-in folder and start Studio: the ChatsControl group appears on the Home tab.
Trados Studio 2024
ChatsControl.TradosStudio-2024.sdlplugin · 6.2 MB
Trados Studio 2022
ChatsControl.TradosStudio-2022.sdlplugin · 6.2 MB
SDL Trados Studio 2021
ChatsControl.TradosStudio-2021.sdlplugin · 6.2 MB
SDL Trados Studio 2019
ChatsControl.TradosStudio-2019.sdlplugin · 6.2 MB
- Studio 2019 and 2024 ask at start whether to load a third-party plug-in that RWS has not signed: answer Yes. Studio 2021 and 2022 load it without asking.
- Plug-in folders:
%APPDATA%\Trados\Trados Studio\18\Plugins\Packagesfor 2024 (17 for 2022),%APPDATA%\SDL\SDL Trados Studio\16\Plugins\Packagesfor 2021 (15 for 2019). Double-clicking the file opens RWS's Trados Plugin Installer instead. - Trados Studio 2026 is not checked yet. Write to help@chatscontrol.com and we tell you when it is.
The plugin carries PdfPig and .NET libraries, under their own licences: chatscontrol-trados-licenses.zip
Set it up once
Your API key
- Sign up in the ChatsControl app and ask for API access below with the same email.
- Once access is open, create a key in the app: Settings, API. It starts with
cc_live_. - In Studio, open the Files view of any project: Home tab, ChatsControl group, ChatsControl API key. Paste the key and click Check and save.
Convert scans
- Open the project, switch to the Files view and select the scans (a target-language file stands for its source).
- Right-click: Convert scans with ChatsControl. Read the list and click Start.
- When a file's line says Added, double-click its .docx and translate it in the Editor.
The key is stored encrypted for your Windows account (Windows DPAPI), never in a project and never in plain text. The Word copies are written to the project's ChatsControl copies folder.
Get an API key
The plugin reads scans through your ChatsControl account. Sign up in the app, then send this request with the same email: we open API access within a working day, and you create the key yourself in Settings, API.
Thank you. We will write to you within a working day.
What it costs
$1.50 / 1,000 characters
One flat rate: $1.50 per 1,000 characters, scans included - you pay for the characters recognised on them, at least 1,000 per page. No subscription, no seats. A scan costs the characters recognised in it, but at least 1,000 × its number of pages, counted over the whole scan.Examples:a passport, 1 page, 200 recognised → 1,000 chargeda certificate, 2 nearly empty pages, 900 recognised → 2,0002 pages, one dense (3,000) and one nearly empty (100) → 3,100, exactly what was recognised
Good to know
- It only reads the scans. The translation is yours, in Studio, with your TMs, termbases and MT.
- Up to 50 pages and 100 MB a scan. Files that hold their text (Word, PDFs made from text) are left to Studio, and so is a PDF where most pages hold text.
- Cancel stops the plugin waiting. A scan already sent is still read and charged: run the conversion again later and its copy is fetched without paying again.
- It runs in Trados Studio on Windows. There is no version for Trados Cloud's web editor.
Questions
Do we pay twice if the connection drops or Studio crashes?
No. The plugin remembers every scan it sent by its content, so running the conversion again on the same file, renamed or not, fetches the copy already made. A scan whose Word copy is already in the project is skipped.
Does ChatsControl translate the document too?
No, the plugin orders recognition only. Studio gets an editable Word file in the source language, and your translators work on it as on any other file.
Which Studio versions does it work in?
We checked it in SDL Trados Studio 2019 and 2021 and in Trados Studio 2022 and 2024. Studio 2026 is not checked yet: write to help@chatscontrol.com and we tell you when it is.
Where do the scans go?
To ChatsControl's servers in the EU, read with training disabled at our model providers. The data security page has the full list.
What does it cost?
The plugin is free. Reading a scan costs $1.50 per 1,000 characters recognised on it, at least 1,000 characters a page, from the balance of the account the key belongs to. A scan the balance does not cover is refused before it is read.
More for agencies
Put one of your scans through Studio
Download the plugin, ask for an API key and convert a scan you could not translate in Studio before.