How to run Trados Studio on an Apple Mac

Working solutions explained

Although Trados Studio is not officially supported on an Apple Mac computer, we have had many success stories from our users running Trados Studio software via Microsoft Windows on their Apple Macs.

Trados Studio will not install or run on the Apple Macs operating system - MAC OS X - directly. However, there are two solutions which will enable you to run Trados Studio using Microsoft Windows on an Apple Mac.

For each of these solutions a copy of Microsoft Windows will need to be purchased from an independent retailer or the Microsoft Windows store.

Solution 1: Studio in Apple's Boot Camp utility

Boot Camp is a free utility built into Mac OS X. It allows you to use Microsoft Windows applications, such as Trados Studio on your Apple iMac, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.

To use Trados Studio you must set your Mac to run Boot Camp, ensuring that you boot in to Windows, and then reboot. This solution runs Windows natively on your Mac, therefore running at the same speed as if you were using a PC.

Solution 2: Studio on a Parallels or VMware Virtual Machine

If you would like the option of seamlessly switching – without re-booting – between MAC OS X and Windows applications, you can download either Parallels or VMware at a small cost.

Parallels and VMware are applications known as virtual machines. A virtual machine will run alongside MAC OS X, allowing you to use your files and software on two operating systems simultaneously. It is simple to use and even allows you to copy and paste files, such as, SDLXLIFF and ITD bilingual files between Windows and MAC OS X environments.

Which solution is best for me?

The decision to use either solution is simple. If you need to simultaneously use Windows software alongside MAC OS X software, Parallels or VMware is the best solution for you. This solution however is known to be slightly slower than Boot Camp, as it requires Windows to be running within MAC OS X, therefore making your memory and processor work harder.

Boot Camp has the benefit of being free with MAC OS X. It also has the advantage of running Windows at full native speed. However, unlike Parallels or VMware, you cannot run Windows and MAC OS X applications at the same time.

Trados Studio installation guidelines

Once you have chosen the right solution for your particular needs, you can download Trados Studio as normal, using the following guidelines:

Download Trados Studio on to your Windows desktop; do not download it onto your MAC OS X desktop.
Download your soft key license file to your Windows desktop; do not download it onto your MAC OS X desktop. If you are using an activation code then please ignore this step.
Double-click the Trados Studio installer and follow the instructions provided.
When prompted for a license, enter the path to your soft key license file or your activation code.

Trados Studio should then install successfully and you can begin to take advantage of the many intuitive and time saving features.