Localization

Desktop Publishing (DTP)

Pixel-perfect multilingual documents that maintain your original design.

Supported Software

Native production in every DTP tool

We work inside your original application — no conversions, no lost styles. Deep expertise in the three tools below, plus full coverage of the rest.

Microsoft Word

.docx · .doc · .rtf — contracts, manuals, reports and forms.

Style sets, templates and themes preserved exactly
Tables, headers/footers, footnotes and cross-references reflowed for longer or shorter target text
Table of contents, index and field codes regenerated per language
Delivery with tracked changes on request

Adobe InDesign

.indd · .idml — brochures, catalogues, magazines and marketing collateral.

Character, paragraph, table and object styles kept intact
Text threading and overset-text resolution after expansion
GREP styles used to auto-format localized text (units, dates, punctuation)
TOC and index regenerated; packaged with fonts and links

Adobe FrameMaker

.fm · .book · .mif — technical documentation and long structured manuals.

Structured and unstructured documents, including DITA/XML workflows
Variables, conditional text and cross-references updated per language
Book files rebuilt with generated lists (TOC, LOF, LOT, index)
Numbering and bullet formats adapted to locale conventions

Also Supported

PowerPoint .pptx Excel .xlsx Publisher .pub QuarkXPress .qxp Illustrator .ai / .eps Photoshop .psd Affinity Publisher CorelDRAW .cdr Visio .vsdx PDF reconstruction — any version

Languages & Scripts

Typesetting for every writing system

Each script has its own rules. Our DTP operators are trained in the typographic conventions of every language we typeset.

Right-to-Left Languages

Arabic · Hebrew · Persian (Farsi) · Urdu · Kurdish

Fully mirrored layouts — page order, columns, icons and callouts flipped
Correct ligature shaping, kashida justification and diacritic placement
Bidirectional (bidi) text handling: embedded Latin brand names, numbers and URLs inside RTL paragraphs
RTL-aware tables, charts and image direction

CJK — Chinese, Japanese, Korean

Simplified & Traditional Chinese · Japanese · Korean

Proper CJK font selection and fallback chains — no tofu boxes
Line-breaking rules (kinsoku shori) and character spacing respected
Vertical text and ruby/furigana annotation support
Locale-correct punctuation and full-width/half-width handling

South & Southeast Asian Scripts

Hindi (Devanagari) · Thai · Vietnamese · Tamil · Bengali · Khmer · Lao · Burmese

Combining marks, vowel signs and tone marks rendered correctly
Line breaking for scripts without spaces between words
Complex-script shaping verified on final rendered pages, not just in text boxes

European, Cyrillic & More

German · French · Spanish · Russian · Polish · Greek · Turkish · and 40+ more

30–40% text expansion absorbed without breaking the design
Language-correct hyphenation and diacritic display
Long compound words (German, Finnish, Dutch) handled gracefully

Workflow

Our DTP process

A repeatable five-step process that delivers consistent, print-ready files every time.

Source File Analysis

We analyse your files for font availability, text expansion/contraction ratios, embedded graphics, and any language-specific issues such as RTL text direction or CJK character spacing before work begins.

Translation & Terminology

Content is extracted and translated by subject-matter linguists. We apply your existing glossaries and translation memories to ensure consistency with previous publications.

DTP Production

Translated text is flowed back into the native file. Our DTP operators resolve text overflow, adjust font sizes, reflow callouts and captions, and adapt graphics containing embedded text.

DTP Quality Review

A separate DTP QA specialist checks every page for overflow, orphaned lines, incorrect hyphenation, font substitution errors, colour profile consistency, and visual alignment with the source layout.

Delivery & Preflight

Files are packaged with all linked assets and fonts. Print-ready PDFs pass a standard preflight check. We deliver native source files alongside PDFs so you can make future edits independently.

Supported Formats

Output formats we deliver

.indd.idml .fm.mif .docx.xlsx .pptx.qxp .ai.eps .svg.pdf .pdf/x-1a.pdf/x-4 .html.xml .xliff.sdlxliff

Pricing

Simple, transparent rates

$2/page

Standard Office Documents
Word, PowerPoint, Excel

$4/page

Complex Layouts
InDesign, FrameMaker, QuarkXPress

Custom

PDF Reconstruction
Quote based on complexity

Prices are for DTP production only and do not include translation. Volume discounts available for 50+ pages.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Which DTP applications do you work in?

We produce natively in Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe FrameMaker, and also support PowerPoint, Illustrator, and Publisher. Files are delivered in the same format you send — no conversion, no quality loss.

Can you handle right-to-left languages like Arabic and Hebrew?

Yes — RTL is a core specialty. We mirror layouts, rebuild tables and numbering, fix mixed-direction punctuation, and typeset with properly licensed Arabic and Hebrew fonts in InDesign ME.

How do you handle fonts for Chinese, Japanese, and other scripts?

We maintain a licensed multilingual font library and match CJK and non-Latin typefaces to your brand’s Latin typography, so every language version looks like it belongs to the same family.

Will the translated document look exactly like the original?

That is the goal. We adjust for text expansion (German can run 30% longer, Chinese 20% shorter), reflow layouts, and run a pre-press QA checklist so the translated file mirrors the original’s design.

What do you need from us to start?

Ideally the native source files (INDD, FM, DOCX) plus any brand fonts and style guides. If you only have a PDF, we can usually rebuild it — send us what you have via the contact page and we will advise.