Using MathType with Duxbury Braille Translator

Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT) helps you create braille documents or translate existing documents into braille for printing or embossing. With the combination of Duxbury Braille Translator and MathType, you can create a math document in Microsoft Word and translate the document's text and math into braille.

If you're new to Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT), please refer to its documentation for help in using it. The instructions on this page will help you use MathType and DBT with Microsoft Word.

Best practices for translating from Word to braille

Suppose you're working with a document that's likely to be translated into braille. In that case, you can increase your chances of ending up with a nicely-formatted, easily-readable translation if you first familiarize yourself with a few simple guidelines for using Word. When producing accessible documents, these "best practices" are so crucial that Duxbury has compiled a "Top 10 Guidelines" list.

Word to braille

Once you're ready to translate your document, follow these steps:

1. When you save the Word document, you may save it in the older .doc format or, the newer .docx format; DBT will accept either one. We recommend using the docx format if you're using a version of Word that supports it. This is the Word document we'll use for this example:
   
   

   Tip
   Tip: When producing printed output for sighted individuals, it's usually a good idea to use styled text for simple things, such as a single variable (x, for example), mathematical notation such as (h, k) in the above example, or for simple terms like r². However, if you translate the document to braille, you'll have more consistent results and a better translation if you'll use MathType for anything that has mathematical meaning.

    
2. In Word's Add-Ins tab, choose the Duxbury Braille command from the DBT dropdown menu:
   
3. After translation, the document will open in DBT. If you want to verify the conversion of the math in the document, choose Codes from the View menu in DBT:
4. Let DBT do its magic and translate the "print document" into braille:
   Now the document is ready for printing or embossing.
5. If you need to edit the math in the document, it's best to go back to Word and make the changes to the original record, then let DBT translate it again.