A Smartling project is a translation environment where you manage translation work. A project is tied to a group of settings and linguistic assets that control how content is translated. This article explains the different project types, how to create a project, and the key settings to configure before you begin translating.
A project serves as a translation environment with predefined settings and resources, such as a default workflow, a glossary, and translation memory. Any job created within a project will automatically use the project's specific assets and integration type.
New projects can be created by users with an Account Owner role.
You can create as many projects as your account requires.*
For example, a new project may be required:
- to translate a new content type,
- to use a new integration, such as one of Smartling's connectors or plugins,
- to translate from a new source language, or
- to provide a dedicated translation environment for a team within your organization.
*Customers using Smartling's Growth edition cannot create projects. To create a project, please contact your Smartling Customer Success Manager for assistance.
Tip: To learn more about when a new project is required, see When is a new Project required.
Creating a project takes you through a short guided wizard with 5 steps: Project Details, Languages, Linguistic Package, Workflow, and Review & Create. You can move between steps at any time using the Back and Next buttons, and nothing is created until you confirm on the final step.
Step 1: Access the Projects Dashboard
To begin the process of creating a new project, access your Projects Dashboard:
- Expand the Projects drop-down menu from the top navigation bar of your Smartling dashboard.
- Click View all projects at the bottom of the list.
- Click Create Project.
Info: New projects can only be created by users with an Account Owner role.
Step 2: Project Details
On the Project Details step, select the project type and enter a name for your project. Depending on the project type you select, you may need to enter additional information, such as your source domain (for a Global Delivery Network (GDN) project) or connector type (for a Connector project). If you select a Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA) project, you will need an LQA schema. See more on the different project types below.
Select project type
When creating a new project, it's important to choose the project type that aligns with how you will use the project: your technology solution or integration (e.g., Global Delivery Network or Connector), the type of content you will be translating (e.g., Files), or the type of task that will be performed in the project (e.g., LQA work rather than translation).
There are 4 project types:
Global Delivery Network
Translate a website through the Global Delivery Network (GDN). Content is captured directly from your existing website or web application. Choose this project type when you want to use Smartling's proxy-based solution for translating websites and web applications.
Files
A Files project is for translating content you upload to Smartling directly, either manually or through the API. Choose this project type when your content lives in files rather than in a connected system, or when you are building a custom API integration.
Any supported file type can be uploaded to a Files project. For the full list, see Supported File Types.
Connector
A Connector project integrates Smartling directly with a third-party platform, such as a content management, marketing, support, design, or code repository system. Content is pulled into Smartling for translation and pushed back automatically once complete. Choose this project type when your content already lives in a supported tool and you want an automated, ongoing translation pipeline instead of handling files manually.
See the full list of Connectors and Plugins.
Some connectors or plugins do not have their own project type and instead share one. For example, AEM Cloud uses AEM Touch, and Figma Buzz uses Figma. If you are setting up a new connector or plugin project and are unsure which connector type to select, contact your Smartling Solution Architect.
Linguistic Quality Assurance
A Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA) project is a dedicated environment for evaluating the quality of translations completed in other Smartling projects. Reviewers score translations against a structured error schema to measure quality, identify recurring issues, and provide actionable feedback to linguists. Choose this project type when you want to assess and benchmark translation quality using Smartling's LQA Suite.
Name your project
Enter a name for your new project.
The project name will be displayed in the Smartling Dashboard, in the CAT Tool, in all email notifications related to activity in the project, and in any reports generated from it.
- Choose a name that reflects the type of content you will be translating (such as "Marketing") and/or the team who will be uploading content to the project (e.g., "EMEA").
- While not necessary, it can be helpful to include the name of any connector or plugin used for this project (e.g., "AEM", "Contentful", "Figma", etc.).
You can edit the project name after it has been created. Project names can be updated at any time from the Projects Dashboard.
Once you have selected a project type and entered a name, click Next.
Step 3: Languages
On the Languages step, choose the language your source content is written in and the languages you want to translate into.
- Source Language: From the drop-down menu, select the language you will translate from. This is set once and cannot be changed after the project is created, so make sure you select the correct language.
- Target Language(s): Select the language(s) you will translate into. You can search by typing the locale name or locale code, and you can add or remove target languages later from the Project Settings.
Once you have selected your source and target languages, click Next.
Step 4: Linguistic Package
Each project needs to be configured with a Linguistic Package.
A Linguistic Package is a reusable bundle of linguistic assets. It captures your translation preferences for this project, and enables you to define glossary terms, stylistic guidelines, and translation memory leverage.
A Linguistic Package determines:
- which tone and style the translations should follow (Style Guide and Style Rules for AI)
- which terminology should be used (Glossary)
- which types of errors should be flagged (Quality Check Profiles)
- which translation memory the translations in your project will be saved to (Translation Memory)
- and how existing translations from your TM should be leveraged and reused (Leverage Configuration).
Tip: For LQA projects, this step is not required.
When creating a new project, you can choose between 2 options:
- Use an existing linguistic package that is already available in your account.
- Create a new linguistic package for the new project.
Option 1: Use an existing linguistic package
If this is not a first project, you can choose to add an existing Linguistic Package to the new project. This uses an already-configured package and copies its existing linguistic assets to the new project.
Select Use an existing linguistic package, then choose a package from the Linguistic package drop-down menu. Only packages that share your project's source language are selectable.
Info: If you would like to translate using new linguistic assets, you will need to create a new Linguistic Package.
During the project creation, you will be able to see which of the project's target locales are already included in the selected package, and which target locales will be added to it. When adding a new target locale to an existing Linguistic Package, you will need to ensure that the linguistic assets are configured correctly for this new locale.
Tip: Once your project has been created, the existing Linguistic Package can be accessed anytime from the Settings tab in case you need to make any changes. Please note that any changes will affect all projects that share the same Linguistic Package.
Option 2: Create a new linguistic package
If this is a first project or you would like to use new linguistic assets (e.g., to write to a new translation memory), select Create a new linguistic package.
A new, empty Linguistic Package will be created for this project. It will be given the same name as your new project. Its assets start empty and must be configured before you can send content through this project for translation. You can configure all settings and import any pre-existing assets into Smartling once the project creation is finalized.
Once you have selected how you want to set up the project's linguistic package, click Next.
Step 5: Workflow
On the Workflow step, select the default translation workflow for all target locales in the new project. This determines the translation method (e.g., human, machine or AI translation), and the steps that translation jobs in this project will pass through.
The workflow selected on this step sets the default for every project language, and you can change it anytime in project settings.
From the Default workflow drop-down, choose the workflow that should be used as the default for all target locales in the new project. Only account-level workflows are available in this selector.
By default, this step is pre-filled with the placeholder Example Workflow. If you are not sure which workflow to use, you can continue with this placeholder and set the correct default workflow for each target locale later from the project's Settings tab. See About the Example Workflow for details.
If you need to use a project-level workflow as the default instead, select the Example Workflow to complete the project creation, then create your project-level workflow and update the default workflow for the target locales in the new project from the Settings tab > Languages section within the project.
The workflow you select will automatically be configured to support all of the project's target locale pairs. (However, keep in mind that you may still need to assign agencies or linguists to the relevant workflow steps if you're using new locale pairs.)
Tip: If you are unsure which workflow to select, review your available account-level workflows from the Account Settings > Account Workflows page before proceeding. Look for a workflow that is fully configured with your desired settings and is appropriate for this project's content type.
You can change the default workflow for any locale at any time from the project's Settings tab. See Set a Default Workflow for a Language.
Once you have selected a default workflow, click Next.
Step 6: Review & Create
On the Review & Create step, review your selections, then click Create to confirm the project creation.
The review screen summarizes your Project Name, Project Type, Source Language, Target Languages, Linguistic Package, and Default Workflow. Use Back to adjust any selection before creating the project.
Info: The project type and source language cannot be changed after the project is created, so make sure both are correct before you continue. All other settings, including target languages, linguistic package, and default workflow, can be updated at any time from the project's Settings tab.
Once the project has been created successfully, it can be accessed anytime from the projects drop-down menu in the top navigation bar, or from your Projects Dashboard.
However, some further steps are required to fully configure all settings before you begin translating content in the new project.
Next steps: Configure your new project
Creating the project is only the first part of the setup. Before you begin translating, complete the applicable tasks below to finish configuring the new project. Which tasks apply depends on the choices you made in the wizard and the project type you selected.
Configure linguistic assets (if applicable)
If during Step 4 of the project creation you chose to create a new Linguistic Package, or added new locales to an existing Linguistic Package, please ensure that the package and all of its linguistic assets are configured correctly.
The new Linguistic Package can be accessed and edited from the project settings:
- Navigate to the Settings tab of the new project.
- Click into the Linguistic Package tab.
Here, you can see at a glance which linguistic assets are used.
By default, the blank assets created by Smartling all have the same name as the project itself. If desired, rename the assets to better reflect their function (e.g., Marketing TM, Marketing Glossary, etc.).
Before you begin translating in the new project, ensure that all assets used in the new Linguistic Package are configured correctly. In particular:
- Configure a Style Guide.
- Add or import glossary terms to ensure important brand terms are handled correctly.
- Ensure the Leverage Configuration contains all translation memories that you would like the new project to read from, and adjust the SmartMatch settings to your preferences.
Verify your default workflow
During project creation, you selected an account-level workflow as the default for all target locales. To verify or adjust the default workflow for individual locales:
- Navigate to the Settings tab of the new project.
- Click into the Languages tab.
From here, you can change the default workflow for any individual locale by clicking the workflow name under the Default Workflow column and selecting a different workflow from the drop-down.
The selected default workflow will automatically be used for all jobs in this project for the target locale, unless a different workflow is selected manually when authorizing content.
Info: If you would like to create a new workflow for the new project, see Creating a Workflow.
Tip: To populate cost estimates, the default workflow for your project can be associated with your translation vendor's Fuzzy Match Profile and rate card. Job Due Date Profiles can be associated with the selected default workflow to automatically pre-populate job due dates in your project.
About the Example Workflow
Smartling automatically creates a project-level workflow called Example Workflow in every new project. This workflow is a placeholder for reference only, with a translation step only and no translators or Profiles assigned, and is intended for testing purposes. To translate content in the new project, ensure you are using a fully configured workflow with the appropriate resources assigned.
Configure integration settings (if applicable)
For Global Delivery Network (GDN) and Connector projects, it is important to fully configure all integration settings before the translation process can begin.
- If a connector is used to integrate with your content platform, it is important to configure the Connector settings to ensure proper functioning of the connector. Please consult our documentation for more information on setting up the connector or plugin you would like to integrate with.
- If Smartling's Global Delivery Network is used to integrate with your website, please consult with your Smartling Solution Architect to ensure that all localized domains, rules, patterns, and other GDN settings are configured correctly.
Add team members
Once all settings, workflows, integrations, and linguistic assets have been configured, you are ready to start translating in the new project.
If you would like to give other members of your organization access to upload and/or view content in the new project, you can invite them as a Project Manager, Requester, or Content Viewer.
Info: For more information about user roles in Smartling, see Introduction to User Roles.