Preflight

Preflight and File Preparation

Before any localization project begins, source files need to be clean, complete, and translation-ready. Opticentre provides preflight analysis and file preparation services that catch problems early — saving time, reducing costs, and preventing rework downstream.

What We Check

• Font inventory — identify all fonts used, flag missing or non-Unicode fonts that will fail in target languages
• Text extraction audit — verify all translatable text is extractable (not rasterized, locked, or embedded in images)
• Layout readiness — assess text expansion capacity for languages like German (+30%) or Finnish (+40%)
• Link and reference integrity — check cross-references, TOC links, index markers, and hyperlinks
• Image and graphic review — identify embedded text in images that needs separate localization
• File format compatibility — confirm files open correctly in the required application version

Supported Formats

Why Preflight Matters

A 15-minute preflight check can prevent days of rework. We regularly find issues like InDesign files with 40+ missing fonts, FrameMaker documents with broken cross-references, or Flare projects with orphan topics that would cause build failures in every target language.

For language service providers managing multi-vendor workflows, our preflight reports provide a clear go/no-go assessment before files enter the translation pipeline.

Deliverables

• Preflight report with issue severity ratings (critical / warning / info)
• Font package with all required fonts identified and sourced
• Clean source files with issues resolved
• Word count and page count extraction for quoting