In Smartling, a Job is a translation task that progresses through a workflow. The Jobs feature allows you to group and prioritize content for translation, as well as giving you the ability to monitor the translation progress throughout completion. Jobs can be created on a file basis, or by selecting individual strings to be included in a job. You must first create a job, then authorize it to begin the translation process.
The steps outlined in this document are for Account Owner and Project Manager user functionality. Requesters can refer to this article for steps applicable to their user functionality. For GDN and Connector projects, please refer to the steps outlined in the specific integration's documentation.
If you are adding new files or strings to an existing job, you will be prompted to authorize the job again.
How to Create a Job
The process of creating a Job in Smartling is to Request Translation. There are four areas in the Smartling Dashboard that Account Owner and Project Manager users can create a Job;
Method 1: Create a Job in the account-level Jobs Dashboard
The account-level Jobs Dashboard is located within Jobs, between Projects and Reports, seen on the top panel of the platform.
To submit content for translation, create a translation Job:
- Click Request Translation
- Complete the fields in the Request Translation portal:
- Upload the file for translation (required) - drag & drop or select files from your local drive
- Enter the Job Name (required)
- Choose the Project the Job will be translated in
- Enter an (optional) description, which will be visible to the translators
- Choose the Target Languages (required) - type the locale or click Select All
- Alternatively, select the Language Groups that the Job should be created for
- Custom Field data if required
- Click Save Job and Continue.
Method 2: Create a Job in the project-level Jobs Dashboard
The project-level Jobs Dashboard is located from a chosen Project, within the Jobs tab, between the Summary and Files tabs.
The steps to creating a Job here are the same as Method 1 (above), with the exception that the Project field will not be included in the Request Translation portal.
Creating a Job in the project-level Jobs Dashboard is preformatted for the chosen project.
Method 3: Create a Job in the Files tab
Jobs can also be created from the Files tab in a chosen Project, which is located between the Jobs and Strings tabs.
To submit content for translation, do one of the following;
1) Upload a new file by clicking Upload Files and choosing a file from your local drive
or
2) Select an existing file by ticking the box in the top-left corner of the file
- Once you have chosen a source file, click Request Translation
- Complete the fields in the Request Translation portal:
- Select a Job: By default, a new job will be created. You can choose to add the file to an existing job by clicking the dropdown and selecting an existing job name. Search by job number is supported in this field.
- Enter the Job Name (required)
- Enter an (optional) description, which will be shown to the translators
- Enter a reference number (optional)
- Choose the Target Languages (required) - type the locale or click Select All
- Click Confirm.
If you have Custom Fields for Jobs enabled, the fields will not appear in this wizard.
Please note delays may occur when uploading particularly large volumes of content, as it can take time for files to finish processing. This may happen when large files are uploaded and immediately added to a job, or when a large number of files are added to a job at once.
When redirected to the job page, you may see a “no content” message. This occurs because the file is still being processed, and its content has not yet been added to the job. Once the file processing is complete, the content will be added to the job and you will no longer see the "no content" message.
If you see the processing message pictured below, do not refresh the page. Please wait to be automatically redirected to the Jobs page. Refreshing or reloading the page can interrupt the process of adding the file(s) to the job.
Method 4: Create a Job in the Strings View
The Strings View is located from a chosen Project, between the Files and Contexts tabs.
To submit content for translation, create a translation job;
- Use the search and filters to locate the source string(s)
- Under the Languages filter, select the show source string only checkbox
- Select the string(s)
- Click Actions > Request Translation
- Complete the fields in the Request Translation portal;
- Select a Job : By default, a New Job will be created. You can choose to add the strings to an existing job by clicking Existing Job (search by job number is supported in this field).
- Enter the Job Name (required)
- Select the target languages or use languages groups, if applicable.
By default, a Job created via the Strings View will be created for all target languages which are available in the Project. You can remove any target languages which will not be required for this Job. - Reference Number (optional)
- Due Date
- Enter an (optional) description, which will be shown to the translators
- Custom Field data if required
- Click Confirm.
Authorize a Job
Once you create a Job using any of the above methods, the Job will stay in Awaiting Authorization. The translation process will not begin until you click Authorize.
This will open the Authorize dialog, which includes the following detail:
-
- Total Source Words: All words, across all languages.
- Total Source Characters: Total character count of the source text, across all languages.
- Total Weighted Words: Words in each fuzzy match tier multiplied by the rate discount for that tier.
-
Estimated Cost: A cost estimate will automatically be generated for that job. The cost estimate takes into account the rates to which your translation vendors have agreed, any translation memory leverage, and repeated content within the project itself. If you see a warning icon in Cost Estimate, this indicates that some rate information is missing, and you should set the rate from within the Team menu (at the top of the page).
This estimate only accounts for unauthorized content in the job. Any content already authorized in the job is excluded from the estimate shown in the Request Translation dialog.
- Workflow: By default, the workflow will be the default workflow for each locale. You can change the workflow of each locale in the Job by clicking Show details and choosing a workflow from the dropdown beside each locale listed.
- Due Dates: if available
Click Confirm to authorize the Job.
A Job requires authorization any time unauthorized content is added to it, for example, adding new files to an existing Job. Content that is already in progress or completed will not be affected by this action.
Viewing Jobs Awaiting Authorization
From the account-level and project-level Jobs Dashboard, you can view all Jobs Awaiting Authorization easily by using the filters on the left.
This is especially useful if you have Requester users on your account, as any Jobs they create will stay in Awaiting Authorization until an Account Owner or Project Manager user authorizes the Jobs.
To view all jobs that need authorization:
- Go to the Jobs Dashboard
- Filter by Status > Awaiting Authorization.
- Click Authorize. (If a job is empty, you will not see the Authorize button.)
- Select the default translation workflow or choose the relevant workflows.
- Click Confirm.
Jobs that do not contain content and are still in the Awaiting Authorization or Draft status after 1 week will be automatically canceled.