The Contentful Connector supports translation of entries and media asset content. Translations are requested from within the Smartling platform, and translated content is automatically sent to your Contentful instance.
Once the Contentful Connector has been connected and set up, you will find Contentful content in the Contentful tab in your Smartling project (New Experience), or within Translate Content, under Contentful in your Smartling Contentful Project (Classic). Here, you will be able to manage the translation process. From the Contentful Content tab, you will be able to request and authorize content for translation.
For each Contentful entry listed within the Contentful tab, you will find an App Link that will take you directly to the entry in your Contentful account.
Request Translations
There are two ways in which you can Request Translation;
1) Select the asset > Actions > Request Translation. This option also allows you to bulk-select multiple assets for translation.
2) Click the information icon of an asset > Request Translation. This option allows you to request translation for only that individual asset.
Both options will open the Request Translation wizard.
The Request Translation two-step wizard will appear for you to enter the Job details. You can choose to create a New Job or add the asset to an Existing Job.
- Insert the Job Name - the title for the translation task in Smartling.
- Ensure the asset selection is correct. Click the X to remove any asset listed.
- Choose to include Related Assets. For more information, see the links guide.
- Insert a description for the linguists, if desired.
- Select the Target Languages.
- Click Save Job and Continue to create the Job in Smartling.
The next step will display the Job Processing. Once the processing is complete, the Authorize Job button will activate by turning blue. Click Authorize Job to set a Job Due Date, choose the workflow and submit the asset(s) for translation.
Bulk Actions and Select All
All actions are now "bulk" actions and will apply to all selected assets. You must make a selection before you can take any action. You can also take an action on all the items in a result set without navigating to all the result pages.
To perform an action on the entire result set:
- Select the top checkbox that is in the table's header row.
- Choose the Select all matching current filter option that appears after you have selected all on the page.
Request Translation in bulk
When using the bulk actions feature to Request Translations, you can choose to create a new job or add the selected assets to an existing job (as seen above).
Once you click Next, you will get confirmation that your job request is being processed.
The number of bulk job requests processed will be seen on the top right of the page. You can check the status of the Job Request by clicking the number icon.
This will open the Recent Job Processes dialog where you can view the details and status of each bulk Job Request taken. You can cancel any incomplete Job Requests by clicking the 3 dots under Actions > Stop Process
Track Translation Progress of Each Asset per Language
You can track the translation progress of each asset per language on the Contentful Progress page.
- Go to your Contentful project in Smartling.
- Click the Gear icon > Contentful Progress
Lock Translations
If you are translated Contentful (Entries) Connector, you can choose to lock the translation of specific entries per language after they are published in Smartling. This allows you to update the source content of the entry in Contentful, and the Connector will not push the updates to Smartling for translation. This feature is recommended if the Automation of Prior Requests for Translation setting is set to Auto, and there are specific entries you do not wish to re-translate if the source content is updated.
To lock the re-translation of an entry:
- Go to your Contentful (Entries) tab
- Find the asset
- Click the information icon
- Expand the linked asset list (if applicable)
- Click the Lock button
Tip: If you do not wish to translate updates to all source content, ensure the Automation of Prior Requests for Translation setting is set to Manual or Disabled.
Getting Translations to Contentful
As translations are completed, they are automatically sent to your Contentful instance. Files that have never been translated in Smartling before are delivered back as soon as the file has been translated in Smartling. For files that have been translated previously but have since been updated, the translations are returned as per your Contentful Connector configuration - every three hours is the default and recommended frequency.
You can always get the translation to Contentful manually as well. To perform a manual export of translated content from Smartling to Contentful:
- From your Contentful project, click the Contentful tab (New Experience)
- Click on Contentful > Translation Progress (Classic)
- Select the translated assets to download (Bulk-Select and Export is supported)
- Click Actions and select Export Translation (New Experience)
- Click Export to Contentful (Classic)
Handling Updates to Contentful Content
How your Contentful Connector handles changes made to your source content in Contentful is configured under changed content behavior within your Contentful project settings
Talk to your Customer Success Manager or Solutions Architect about configuration options regarding how your Contentful Connector retrieves translated content from Smartling.
View Translations in Contentful
Follow these steps to view content that has been translated in Smartling and returned to Contentful.
- Log in to Contentful.
- Select the Content or Media menu then click on the appropriate asset.
- On the right-hand side of the page, click Change.
- The Choose Translations dialog will appear. Select the languages for the translations you would like to view.