Edit an exported Unicode text file

When user-defined text strings are exported from an application to a tab-delimited text file in Unicode format, they can be edited in Microsoft Excel (recommended) or in the Notepad text editor.
For more information about translating text in the exported files, see Chapter 12 in the
FactoryTalk View Site Edition User's Guide
.
TIP:
  • If you open a file in Notepad that has been opened and saved in Excel, the double quotes surrounding the string definitions will have been removed for most strings.
String definitions containing embedded double quotes or other characters that Excel treats as special characters, such as commas, will be enclosed in double quotes. Any embedded double quotes will have been converted to a pair of double quotes.
These are all imported correctly back into the application.
  • If you have specified that undefined strings will be displayed in the default language, when you export strings to a Unicode file, the default language strings will be exported for undefined strings.
To open an exported Unicode text file in Excel:
  1. Open
    Excel
     and click
    File
     >
    Open
    .
  2. In the
    Open
     dialog box, in the
    Files of type
     field, make sure that
    All Files
     is selected, then browse to and select the file you are going to edit, and click
    Open
    .
    When the text file is opened, the Excel Text Import wizard starts up.
  3. In the
    Text Import
     wizard, select these options, and then click
    Next
    .
    Choose the file type that best describes your data: Delimited
    Start import row at: 1
    File origin: Windows (ANSI)
  4. In the
    Text Import
     wizard, select these options, and then click
    Next
    .
    Delimiters the data must contain: Tab (make sure that the other checkboxes are cleared)
    Treat consecutive delimiters as one: clear the checkbox
  5. In the
    Text Import
     wizard, for Column data format, select
    General
    .
  6. Click
    Finish
    .
The first seven lines of the Unicode file explain what you can and cannot change in the file.
To save the edited Excel file:
  1. Click
    File
     >
    Select Save As
    .
  2. In the
    Save As
     dialog box, in the
    Save as type
     field, make sure that
    Unicode Text (*.txt)
     is selected, and then click
    Save
    .
  3. Click
    Yes
    , when a message appears stating that the file may contain features that are not compatible with Unicode Text, and asking if you want to keep the workbook in this format. This saves the file but does not close it.
  4. Click
    File
     >
    Close
    , and then click
    Yes
     when you are asked whether you want to save the changes. You can then save the file using its original name or specify a new name.
  5. Click
    Yes
    , when you are prompted again with the message described in step 3.
To edit and save an exported Unicode text file in Notepad:
  1. In
    Notepad
    , open the Unicode file. The first seven lines of the file explain what cannot be edited. The text strings that can be edited are enclosed in double quotes.
  2. Make the changes required to translate the strings.
  3. Click
    File> Save As
    , and make sure that in the
    Save as type
     field,
    Text Documents [*.txt]
     is selected, and in the
    Encoding
     field,
    Unicode
     is selected.
    You can then save the file using its original name or specify a new name.
  4. Click
    File
     >
    Exit
    , to close the file and Notepad.
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