As an Agency Account Owner or Translation Resource Manager, it is your responsibility to add your team of translators to Smartling and assign them to workflows. Workflow assignments give users access to translate or edit content in the workflow steps to which they are assigned. Without a workflow assignment, Translation Resource users will not receive an initial invitation email and cannot access or be assigned content.
This article explains how Agency Account Owners and Translation Resource Managers can manage workflow assignments using the Workflow Assignments page (the preferred method for managing assignments at scale), as well as an alternative method through user profiles.
Who can manage workflow assignments?
- Agency Account Owners can manage workflow assignments for all Translation Resources and Translation Resource Managers within their agency.
- Translation Resource Managers can manage workflow assignments for Translation Resources within their agency.
Account Owners and Project Managers on the content owner side can also manage workflow assignments for agencies and non-agency linguists. See Manage Workflow Assignments: Account Owners & Project Managers for more information.
What workflows can you manage?
As an agency user, the Workflow Assignments page only displays workflows and steps where your agency has been granted a workflow assignment by the content owner (an Account Owner or Project Manager). You can assign your team members to any workflow step that your agency has access to, but you cannot see or manage workflows outside of your agency's assignments.
If you expect to see a workflow but it doesn't appear on your Workflow Assignments page, contact the content owner (Account Owner or Project Manager) and ask them to grant your agency workflow assignments for the relevant workflow steps.
Workflow Assignments page (recommended)
The Workflow Assignments page provides a centralized view of the workflows your agency has access to and their assignments. Use this page to quickly see which of your linguists are assigned to each workflow, and to add or remove assignments.
Accessing the Workflow Assignments page
To open the Workflow Assignments page:
- From the Projects menu in the top navigation, navigate to one of the projects you have access to.
- From the top navigation bar, go to Team > Workflow Assignments.
The page displays all workflows where your agency has been granted access. Only workflows and steps assigned to your agency by the content owner will appear.
Understanding the workflow list
The workflow list displays the following columns:
- Workflow Name — the name of the workflow. Workflows managed by Smartling Language Services display an SLS badge next to the name. Workflows with machine translation display an MT badge.
- Level — indicates whether the workflow is a project-level workflow or an account-level workflow. Project-level workflows also display the project name.
- Linguists — the total number of linguists from your agency assigned to the workflow across all locale pairs and steps.
- Agencies — the total number of agencies assigned to the workflow across all locale pairs and steps.
- Locale Pairs — the number of source-to-target locale pairs configured for the workflow.
Filtering and searching workflows
Use the filters on the left side of the Workflow Assignments page to narrow the list of workflows:
- Workflow — search by workflow name or UID.
- Level — filter by project-level or account-level workflows.
- Linguist — find workflows where a specific linguist from your agency is assigned. You can select up to 100 linguists.
- Target Locales — narrow to workflows with specific language pairs. You can select up to 10 locales. Use Match All to show only workflows that contain all selected locales.
- Step Type — filter by step type, such as Translation, Editing, Review, etc.
- Step Name or UID — search for a specific workflow step by name or UID.
- Translation Provider — filter by translation provider (Human or Machine).
- Managed by SLS — show only workflows managed by Smartling Language Services or only unmanaged workflows.
Click Reset to clear all active filters and return to the full workflow list.
Combine filters to quickly find specific assignments. For example, you can filter by a specific linguist and target locale to see all workflows where that linguist is assigned to a particular language.
Editing assignments
To edit assignments, select one or more workflows using the checkboxes in the workflow list, then click the Actions dropdown and select Edit Workflow Assignments. This opens the Edit Assignments wizard, which walks you through two steps.
Step 1: Edit Assignments
The Edit Assignments page displays a Locales and Assignments table for each selected workflow. If you selected multiple workflows, each one appears in its own collapsible section. The table is organized with:
- Rows — one row per locale pair (source language > target language)
- Columns — one column per workflow step (e.g., Agency Translation, Editing, Review). Each column header shows the step name.
Each cell shows the current assignment count (e.g., "1 Linguist / 0 Agencies"). From here you can:
- Assign linguists — make sure the Linguists tab is selected, then click a cell. A popover appears with a search box and a list of available linguists from your agency. Check the box next to a linguist's name to assign them to that locale pair and workflow step. Only Translation Resources registered under your agency will be available.
- Remove assignments — click a cell and uncheck the box next to a linguist to remove the assignment.
You can filter the table using the Target Locales and Step Type dropdowns to focus on specific locale pairs or steps. Click Clear Filters to reset.
If you see users listed under "Empty Role," this means they have a Smartling account but do not have any workflow assignments. If you select them to add a workflow assignment, they will automatically be given a Translation Resource role.
Step 2: Review Changes and Submit
After making your changes, click Next to move to the Review & Submit step. This page displays a Change Summary showing only the workflows, locale pairs, and steps you changed. Each change is labeled (e.g., "Added: 1 linguist") along with the linguist's name and email.
Review the summary and click Save Changes to apply your updates. Click Back to return to Step 1, or Cancel to discard all changes.
Alternative: Assign from a user profile
You can also add workflow assignments directly from a user's profile. This method is useful when you're onboarding a new translator and want to set up all their assignments in one place.
Step 1: Invite a user to Smartling
If the translator is not yet in your Smartling account, you'll need to invite them first.
- Go to Team > Users.
- Click Invite User.
- Enter the user's email address, first name, and last name.
- Select the appropriate role — typically Translation Resource for translators and editors.
- Click Send Invite.
The user's invitation email will not be sent until at least one workflow assignment has been added to their profile (Step 2).
Step 2: Add workflow assignments to their profile
- From Team > Users, click on the user's name to open their profile.
- Click Add Assignment.
- Select a language they should be assigned to, a workflow, and a step. Only workflows and steps that your agency has access to will be available.
- Click Add Assignment. Repeat to add more workflow assignments if the user needs access to multiple workflows or steps.
- Click Save Changes.
If you don't see the workflow you want to assign, contact the content owner (Account Owner or Project Manager) and ask them to assign your agency to the relevant workflow steps first.
The Workflow Assignments page (described above) is the recommended method for managing assignments at scale, especially when assigning multiple linguists across many workflows or locale pairs at once.
Considerations and FAQ
What is a workflow assignment?
A workflow assignment gives a user access to content in a specific workflow step for a specific locale pair. Without a workflow assignment, a Translation Resource user cannot see or be assigned to content in that step.
Why can't I see certain workflows on the Workflow Assignments page?
As an agency user, you can only see workflows where your agency has been granted a workflow assignment by the content owner (Account Owner or Project Manager). If you need access to additional workflows, contact your client's Account Owner or Project Manager and ask them to assign your agency to the relevant workflow steps.
Does adding a workflow assignment automatically assign content to the user?
No. A workflow assignment gives the user access to content in that workflow step, but it does not assign specific content (strings) to them. Content assignment is a separate action. If content assignment is disabled on the workflow step, all users with a workflow assignment can access the content freely. If content assignment is enabled, content must be specifically assigned to the user from the Jobs Dashboard or the Strings View.
When is the invitation email sent to a new user?
A new user's invitation email is not sent until at least one workflow assignment has been added to their profile. After you invite a user and add a workflow assignment, the invitation email will be sent automatically.
What happens when I remove a workflow assignment?
You can only remove a workflow assignment for a user if there is no content currently assigned to them on that workflow step. If the user has content assigned, you must first reassign or unassign that content before removing the workflow assignment.
What does the SLS badge mean?
Workflows displaying the SLS badge are managed by Smartling Language Services. Steps managed by SLS are not editable — assignments for those steps are controlled by the Smartling Language Services team.
What is the difference between an Agency Account Owner and a Translation Resource Manager?
Both roles can manage workflow assignments for users within their agency. The key difference is that Translation Resource Managers can also participate in translation work themselves, while Agency Account Owners are management-only roles. For a full comparison, see Introduction to User Roles.