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I know that using was as a relative pronoun in written German is frowned upon, so I would like to avoid it, but how can I improve the following sentence so that it doesn’t use was?
Das ist das Thema von gestern mit dem Word/PDF-Extrahieren, was bei dem Kunden nicht 100% funktioniert.
I have the feeling I should use welches but that sounds too high register for the informal e-mail tone I am writing, and das doesn’t seem to have the same meaning.
"Was" as a relative pronoun is correct here.
What you want to avoid are constructions like
Das Auto, was da drüben steht.
Here, the relative pronoun has an actual noun to refer to ("Auto"); therefore, "das Auto, das..." is better.
In your example, the pronoun refers to a circumstance, which makes "was" the better choice.
In standard German, this sentence has slightly different meanings depending on whether you use "das" or "was". With "was", the referent can only be the process of Word/PDF extraction as a whole, not a particular instance or type of extraction. The version with "das" also allows that interpretation, but also allows a restrictive interpretation of the relative clause, where its referent is a particular instance or type of Word/PDF extraction being attempted that doesn't work for the client. Interpreting the version with "was" in this restrictive sense would require "was" to be used in the sense that you say is "frowned upon" (but which is common in some dialects), whereas, as elena noted, in the non-restrictive sense "was" refers to a "circumstance" and this usage is standard.
I agree with @musiKk; you can leave the "was" or substitute it with "das/welches/jenes/dieses", but rephrasing the sentence would be much better. If you use "das" in the second half-sentence, it would be the third occurrence overall.
Das ist das Thema von gestern mit dem XYZ, was […]
may be replaced by
Ich meine das Thema XYZ von gestern
mit dem, welches […]
or something alike.
Personally I would use something like:
Ich spreche davon, dass das Extrahieren von Word/PDF-Dateien gestern bei dem Kunden nicht zu 100% funktionierte.
Well, actually I wouldn't even use "nicht zu 100%" but "nicht richtig".
(BTW: how to extract Word/PDF-files? Do you probably mean archives of some sort?)
It is entirely correct to feel bad when using "was" the way it is in the example given:
Das ist das Thema von gestern mit dem Word/PDF-Extrahieren, was bei dem Kunden nicht 100 % funktioniert.
The grammar may be correct but still this sentence does not say clearly what is meant by "was". The relative pronoun "was" references the subject of the preceding clause, and that could also be "Thema" like:
Yesterday's subject on extracting documents does not work.
This of course does not make any sense. Therefore people may still understand it in a colloquial setting. In other sentences it may work the other way round:
Das ist das Leid mit dem Verstehen einer Sprache, was ich sogar nachvollziehen kann.
Note that this example is not good style either, because we do not really know what is being understood here.
If you want to be clear it may be better to keep the diction simple by not using relative clauses:
- Das ist das gestrige Thema über das bei dem Kunden nicht 100 % funktionierende Word/PDF-Extrahieren.
Simply use "das" instead. I agree that "welches" sounds too formal.
