How to Create a Project

 

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.

It is possible to create as many Projects as required for your account.*
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 and 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 manually. If you are a Growth customer who wants to create a Project, please contact your Smartling Customer Success Manager.

Tip: To learn more about when a new Project is required, please visit this article.

Step 1: Access the Projects Dashboard

To begin the process of creating a new Project, access your Projects Dashboard: 

1. Expand the Projects drop-down menu from the top-navigation bar of your Smartling dashboard.
   
2. Click View all projects at the bottom of the list.
   
3. Click Create Project.
   
   

Info: New Projects can only be created by users with an Account Owner role.

 

Step 2: Select the Project type

On the next screen, select the appropriate Project type.

When creating a new Project, it is important to choose the Project type that aligns with your technology solution and integration (e.g., Web or Connector), the type of content you will be translating (e.g. Files), and the type of task that will be performed (e.g. LQA).

There are 4 main Project types, each with sub-categories:

1. Mobile
2. Web
3. Files
4. Connector
5. LQA

Mobile

This Project type is for translating mobile content via files, such iOS, Android, and Windows Phone string files

• Apple iOS: iOS application resources including .strings and .xliff files, store descriptions.
• Android: Android XML resource files, store descriptions.
• Windows Phone: Windows Phone application resources.

Web

This Project type is for translating web content via the Global Delivery Network

• Global Delivery Network (GDN): Content captured directly from your existing website or web application.

Files

This Project type is for translating content via files

• Resource Files: Translate content from industry-standard file formats such as JSON, XML, YAML, Gettext, Java Properties, or XLIFF. 
• Business documents: Translate content in Microsoft Office document formats, including DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, and DOC, plus Adobe InDesign documents. 
• Media: Translate video subtitle SRT or WebVTT files and add video context from .mp4 files.

For a complete list of supported file formats, see Supported File Types.

Connector

This Project type is for translating content via a Smartling connector to a third-party system.

See the full list of Connectors and Plugins here.

LQA

This Project type is used exclusively for conducting Linguistic Quality Assurance (LQA) with Smartling's LQA Suite.

 

Once the Project Type has been selected, click Next.

 

Step 3: Enter a Project name

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 the Project.

• 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 also the name of any integrations used for this Project (e.g. "AEM", "Figma" etc.).

If required, the Project name can be edited at a later point from the Projects Dashboard.

Step 4: Linguistic Package and language configuration

Each Project needs to be configured with a Linguistic Package.

A Linguistic Package is an important resource that defines how content in this Project will be translated, and which language pairs will be included.

Tip: For LQA Projects, this step is not required.

A Linguistic Package is a bundle of assets and configurations that determines:

• which tone and style the translations should follow (Style Guide)
• 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).

When creating a new Project, you can choose between 2 options:

1. Use an existing Linguistic Package that is already available in your account.
   This option allows you to easily use the same Linguistic Assets that are already configured for other Projects with the same source locale.
2. Create a new Linguistic Package for the new Project.
   This option allows you to configure new Linguistic Assets and/or translate from a new source locale. 
   
   

Option 1: Use an existing Linguistic Package

1. Select a Package:
If this is not a first Project, you can choose to add an existing Linguistic Package to the new Project, by selecting a package from the drop-down menu. This will copy all existing language pairs and Linguistic Assets to the new Project.

2. Source locale selection:
The new Project will automatically use the same source locale as the existing Linguistic Package. You can easily determine the source locale of each available package from the drop-down menu.

Info: If you would like to translate from a new source locale, you will need to create a new Linguistic Package.

3. Target locale selection:
Once a Package has been selected, you will need to select the target locales for the new Project.

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 may share the same Linguistic Package.

 

Option 2: Create a new Linguistic Package

If this is a first Project, if you would like to use new Linguistic Assets (e.g. to write to a new Translation Memory) or if you would like to begin translating from a new source language, you will need to create a new Linguistic Package. 

1. Create a new Package:
To add a new Linguistic Package to this new Project, click Create New Package.

2. Source and target locale selection:
From the drop-down menu, select a Source Language you will translate from.

Then select the Target Languages that you will translate into. By default, Smartling displays all target languages that are already used in other Projects within your account.

• To remove all suggested target languages, click Clear All.
  
• To add new target locales, use the drop-down menu.
  • You can search by typing the locale name or locale code.
  • To add a target language to your Project, click the check box next to the locale name..

3. Configure all Linguistic Assets (after the Project creation is completed):
By default, Smartling will automatically provide blank Linguistic Assets when you create a Project with a new Linguistic Package. You can configure all settings and import any pre-existing assets to Smartling once the Project creation is finalized.

 

Step 5: Confirm the Project Creation

Click Create Project to confirm the Project creation.

The Project has now been created successfully and 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.

 

Step 6: Configure Linguistic Assets (for new Linguistic Packages)

If during step 4 of the Project creation, you chose to create a new 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:

1. Navigate to the Settings tab of the new Project.
2. Click into the Linguistic Package tab.
   

Here, you can see at once 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 to provide information about the desired tone of voice.
• 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.

 

Step 7: Configure a default workflow

Before you begin translating in the new Project, ensure that the correct default workflow is configured for each target language: 

1. Navigate to the Settings tab of the new Project.
2. Click into the Languages tab. 
   
   By default, the new Project uses an "Example Workflow", which doesn't have any translators or MT providers assigned, and should only be used for testing purposes. 
3. To ensure that your content will be translated and processed correctly, we strongly recommend changing the default workflow to a fully configured workflow, which is assigned to your translation vendor and/or uses an MT provider.

The selected default workflow will automatically be used for all Jobs in this Project, unless a different workflow is selected manually. 

Info: If you would like to create a new workflow for the new Project, follow these instructions.

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.

 

Step 8: Configure integration settings (if applicable)

For Web (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 exact 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 Representative to ensure that all localized domains, rules, patterns and other GDN settings are configured correctly. 
  
  

Step 9: Add your 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, and give them access to the Project.

Info: For more information about user roles in Smartling, visit this article.