THE HOW-TO LIBRARY

Translating Text in Photoshop

Creating increasingly multimedia rich content often requires that the translator be proficient in a wide variety of programs. One of the most feared among translators is Photoshop. There are several options that make it easy for either a translator or a content producer to extract the text contained in a Photoshop file, which allows the translator to concentrate on the content and not the program.

An elegant and inexpensive solution is a pair of scripts called PSD2TXT and TXT2PSD. Since the solution works with Photoshop scripts, it works on both Mac and PC. Installation involves downloading and placing scripts in the default script folder. The scripts can then be used to first export the text, and then import the revised content to the same position.

It's important to remember when translating or changing the text extracted using the script that the [BEGIN /XXXX ] and [END /XXXX ] lines in the file cannot be modified. These lines will tell the import script where the text goes in the Photoshop file. Be aware that the Photoshop file can’t be modified between the export and import operations. When translating a Photoshop file using this script, text expansion and contraction must be considered. For example, when translating from English to Spanish, the size of the text will invariably increase by 15 to 20 percent. This has to be taken into consideration when importing the text back into the program.

The advantage of this tool is that it allows the translator and content producer or graphic artist to combine their skill sets. Since the text is exported to a plain text file any translator, regardless of their computer skill level, can translate it. Thanks to the automatic import script, the content producer or graphic artist does not need knowledge of the target language and can concentrate on accommodating any change in the size of the text. The scripts and detailed instructions can be downloaded from the script author’s website.

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