Translating cells: text and formulas

Four entries for translating

Home tab ▸ Logiks AI Assistant group ▸ Task menu

• English and German – your two preset languages, no questions asked. The entries are named after the language they are set to.
• Translate (text) – translates the text in the selected cells.
• Translate (cells) – translates text and formulas in the selected cells.

The difference between text and cells

Excel formulas use localised function names: in a German installation it is SUMME, not SUM; WENN, not IF. When a workbook moves between language environments, those names no longer fit.

• Translate (text) leaves formulas alone. Use it when you want to translate labels, comments or free text and leave the arithmetic untouched. This is the normal case.
• Translate (cells) touches formulas too. That is the special case – and the riskier one.

If you do translate formulas

A formula that is no longer right after translation does not necessarily produce an error. It may simply calculate something else, and you will not notice until much later.

So:

1. Save the workbook first.
2. Start with a small range and compare the results against the old ones.
3. After the run, check the result cells for #NAME? and #VALUE! – and for numbers that have changed when they should not have.

What has to be selected

Select the cells. If nothing is selected, the add-in asks whether to perform the operation on the entire worksheet – on a large sheet, think twice before agreeing.

If the cells are locked, the add-in reports that it cannot do anything. Remove the sheet protection first.

With many cells

If the selection is very large, the add-in warns that the content is bigger than what the model can produce in one answer – and gives you the numbers. Take that warning seriously: the output can then be incomplete without any error message. Work in smaller blocks.

While it is processing you can abort with Esc.

Cells that were skipped

If no result could be produced for individual cells, they are left unchanged. The add-in tells you how many and which, gives the reasons, and puts the path of a diagnostic log into the clipboard.

Check that list. A skipped cell looks exactly like one that needed no translation.

Afterwards

Undo Last Insert in the same menu reverses the run – but only the last one, and only once.