Tiger Software Suite Manual 3.0

• Formatter Settings - Opens a dialog box with several groups of settings.

 

• Primary Language group: This group has three combo boxes
  

• Language: Shows all languages that have been registered and the one currently selected.

• Braille Type:  Permits choice of Computer Braille, Non-contracted Braille, and other options for some languages

• Translatable Font:  Permits user to select the screen font to be used for primary language translation.  Do not choose “any font” unless everything in the document is to be translated identically.

There is also a check box, ‘Treat all text as lower case.' This allows the user to effectively remove capitalization marks from his or her Braille document.

• Secondary language group:  Has the same three combo boxes shown in Primary Language option.  Activated by checking “Translate a second language.” Used to select a different screen font to permit portions of the text to be translated either into another type of Braille or for another language to be translated into the proper Braille for that language. 
  

• Tertiary Language group:  Has the same three combo boxes to permit a third language or type of Braille to be indicated by a third screen font.  Activated by checking “Translate a tertiary language.”  
  

• Format group: The options in this group allow you to preserve certain formatting in your document after translation.
  

• Preserve Italics - If for example, you desire your text to retain italics after translation, check the box with the mouse, spacebar, or hot key Alt-I.
• Preserve Bold - The same can be done to preserve bold.
• Preserve Underline - The same can be done to preserve underline.  The hot key is Alt-U.
• Translate Headers or Footers - When checked, headers and footers will be translated.  Make sure that "Remove headers" is not checked.
  
• Remove Headers - When checked, this will delete headers.
• Remove Footers -  When checked, this will delete footers.
• Show original page numbers - This will insert the original page numbers in the header of translated pages, but will remove the existing headers if any.  If a translated page has contents that come from two original pages, a line will be inserted in between to serve as a separator, and an Original Page Number will be inserted to the right of that line.
  
• Print odd page numbers only ??" When checked, page numbers are removed from the footers of even numbered pages. To use this feature, page numbers must be in the footer of the original document and the translate headers and/or footers option in the Format group on the Formatter Settings screen must also be checked.
• Rename translated document - When checked, the Formatter renames the translated document with _BRL following the original name of the file.  By default this box is checked.  When unchecked, the file is not renamed when the document is translated.
• Hyphenate ??" When checked, this option allows hyphenation in the output Braille document.

• About: Opens a window showing the credits and Formatter version.
  

• Interline Font: This group has two combo boxes.  The first box allows the selection of the font to be used for the interline font.  The second box sets the size of the interline font.
  

• OK and Cancel buttons:  OK will save the parameters you've selected and close the Format dialog box.  Cancel will restore the previous Formatter settings and close the Format dialog box.
 
In MS Excel, the last six checkboxes do not apply.  Formatter for Excel will not translate the original headers or footers, but it will insert the translated File name in the center header, the translated Sheet Name into the left footer, and the translated page number into the right footer.  The Tiger Customized Print Dialog must be used for printing from Excel.


• Format Document - Clicking this command will translate the text in your document into Braille. All text is translated except text in any Braille font or any Tiger font.  So previously translated parts or anything entered by hand in a Braille font are not translated, nor are the Tiger fonts that emboss as DotsPlus Braille.


Any MS Word document can be translated into Braille by Tiger Formatter but the user might want to do some preliminary editing of some documents prior to using the Formatter. It is also possible to edit the document after it has been formatted into Braille, but it might be easier to edit it before.
 
Often documents are prepared using a small font such as Arial, size 10.  An easy way to prepare a document would be to change all fonts in the document into a font with the same size as the Braille font, for example, Courier New, size 29. This simple operation will give the user a good approximation of what the Braille text would look like and whether any of the formatting options need to be changed.  Pre-editing is likely to be even more useful for a document that has many features like headers and/or footers, text boxes, tables, or when the interline option is turned on.
 
It is best to avoid translating documents with lengthy headers and footers.  MS Word will automatically resize tables to accommodate longer text or larger font size even though the result may not be expected. MS Word will not change the size of text boxes, so it is a good idea to resize them appropriately to fit the Braille font text. It is also best to avoid multiple-line text in text boxes, tables, and footers and headers.
 
Any text that is a part of a graphics object in the document is out of reach for the Formatter and will not be translated into Braille.  If it is desired to have such contents translated, the best thing to do is to superimpose a textbox onto the part of the graphic containing the text to be translated.
 
The interline text option does not apply to footers and headers, but it does apply to tables and text boxes. Remember that interline text is always one line of original text placed above the Braille text line. There is also always one line of original text for one table cell entry or for one textbox entry. Thus if any table cell or textbox has more than one line of Braille, the corresponding interline text will still have just one line. That's why it is even more important to avoid multiple-line text in table cells and text boxes when the interline option is turned on.
 
• Format Selection - Translates any text that has been selected into Braille. 
 
• Interline Original Text: If this option is checked, a print version of the text will be added on top of each line of the translated Braille version of the text.  The size of this font can be set in the Settings menu.  Use this option only if you have a ViewPlus embosser that prints ink as well as embosses.  Caution: Once text is translated by clicking the Format button, one cannot remove the ink overlay by unchecking the “Interline Original Text” checkbox.
 
• Show Braille dots:  When checked, the translated text is shown as Braille dots.  The screen display can be changed to ASCII or Braille dots by checking or unchecking this option after translation.
 
• Orientation: Provides choice of Portrait, Landscape, or Inverse Landscape. The first two settings have the same meaning and action as in a standard Page Setup dialog. The Inverse Landscape setting will emboss your document upside down as compared to the standard Landscape mode. When using paper with binder holes, standard landscape mode orients the document so the top is on the binder hole side whereas Inverse Landscape orients the document so the bottom is on the binder hole side.  Inverse landscape is primarily useful for embossing documents that are several pages wide such as wide Word or Excel documents that can be left together when embossing tractor feed paper.
  

• Magnification: The original document may be magnified by 2, 3, or 6 times.  This allows the image to be made larger without changing the formatting.  

• Print:  Windows standard print dialog permits user-friendly printing on ViewPlus embossers.  The Orientation option and options in the Printer properties Tiger Tab (e.g. magnification) are automatically set correctly.  There are special instructions for printing from Excel. 
 
• Print Preview: Permits one to preview the printout visually.