Translating Microsoft Office Documents via API
This article is written for developers who are integrating with the Smartling platform via the API. If you will be uploading documents using the dashboard please see the article for dashboard users.
| Extension | .docx, .xlsx, .pptx |
| Smartling Identifier | docx, xlsx, pptx |
| Resources | for developers |
Smartling supports Microsoft Office file formats: Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), Powerpoint (.pptx) on Microsoft 2007 and higher.
Translation of hyperlinks is supported via the directive for .pptx files. Multiple comma separated "noTranslate styles" for .docx and .pptx files are supported.
Content to be EXCLUDED for translation directly in the document using standard formatting - see our Managing Business Documents for more detail. Optionally, the style to be excluded can be set using a File API directive.
Directives
Directives are commands embedded in code that essentially direct Smartling to the various elements in your file.
Directives for office documents can only be provided via API integration or by creating a custom template for your account. Directives can not be placed directly in these files. For information about using "styles" to exclude parts of your document see the "Exclude Content using Styles" section of this article.
smartling.process_master_slides
| Values | true|false|TRUE|FALSE|yes|YES|no|NO|off|OFF |
| File Format | PPTX | DOCX |
| Description | By default, parser will not ingest content found on master slides. |
| Examples | curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}" -F "file=@master_page_parse.docx" -F "fileUri=master_page_parse.docx" -F "fileType =DOCX" -F "smartling.process_master_slides=true" "https://api.smartling.com/files-api/v2/projects/{PROJECT_UID}/file" |
smartling.process_handout_slide
| Values | true|false|TRUE|FALSE|yes|YES|no|NO|off|OFF |
| File Format | PPTX | DOCX |
| Description | By default parser will parse text content from handout slide. |
| Examples | curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}" -F "file=@master_page_parse.docx" -F "fileUri=master_page_parse.docx" -F "fileType =DOCX" -F "smartling.process_handout_slide=false" "https://api.smartling.com/files-api/v2/projects/{PROJECT_UID}/file" |
smartling.process_slide_notes
| Values | true|false|TRUE|FALSE|yes|YES|no|NO|off|OFF |
| File Format | PPTX | DOCX |
| Description | By default parser will parse text content from notes to slides. Can be turned off via directive. |
| Examples | curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}" -F "file=@notes_off.docx" -F "fileUri=notes_off.docx" -F "fileType =DOCX" -F "smartling.process_slide_notes=false" "https://api.smartling.com/files-api/v2/projects/{PROJECT_UID}/file" |
smartling.process_master_notes
| Values | true|false|TRUE|FALSE|yes|YES|no|NO|off|OFF |
| File Format | PPTX | DOCX |
| Description | By default, parser will not ingest content from notes to master slide. Can be turned on via directive. |
| Examples | curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}" -F "file=@master_notes_on.docx" -F "fileUri=master_notes_on.docx" -F "fileType =DOCX" -F "smartling.process_master_notes=true" "https://api.smartling.com/files-api/v2/projects/{PROJECT_UID}/file" |
smartling.process_user_comments
| Values | true|false|TRUE|FALSE|yes|YES|no|NO|off|OFFcomments |
| File Format | XLSX | PPTX | DOCX |
| Description |
Can be turned on or off via directive. Default behavior for .xlsx is off. |
| Examples | curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}" -F "file=@user_comments_on.docx" -F "fileUri=user_comments_on.docx" -F "fileType =DOCX" -F "smartling.process_user_comments=true" "https://api.smartling.com/files-api/v2/projects/{PROJECT_UID}/file" |
smartling.no_translate_style
| Values | List of no_translate styles, separated by commas. |
| File Format | DOCX | XLSX |
| Description | By default there 2 no_translate styles: SLNOTRANSLATE and NOTRANSLATE. if directive is provided - only style name in directive will be used as no-translate style. Directive style name overrides default style names. |
| Examples | curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer {TOKEN}" -F "file=@specific_no_translate.docx" -F "fileUri=specific_no_translate.docx" -F "fileType =DOCX" -F "smartling.no_translate_style=MyStyle1,Mystyle2" "https://api.smartling.com/files-api/v2/projects/{PROJECT_UID}/file" |
smartling.translate_hyperlinks
| Values | true|false|TRUE|FALSE|yes|YES|no|NO|off|OFF |
| File Format | PPTX | XLSX |
| Description | It's false by default. Can be turned on via directive. |
variants_strategy
| Values |
context_match | repetition_indexed | none |
| File Format | DOCX | PPTX | XLSX |
| Description |
The default value is repetition_indexed, which means that the string indexes as variants for repeated strings functionality is enabled. context_match enables ICE variants functionality. ICE variant is defined as a variant on a string calculated by the exact character text of the preceding and following strings if any. This combines the two surrounding strings with a separator character sequence to differentiate between ending and starting strings in a document. |
| Examples |
smartling.variants_strategy=context_match |
TRANSLATE_SHEET_NAMES
| Values |
true|false|TRUE|FALSE|yes|YES|no|NO|off|OFF |
| File Format | XLSX |
| Description |
The default value is off. The name of each sheet is ingested as a translatable string, even if there is no content on the sheet. To include sheet names for translation, use true, yes, on. To prevent sheet names from being ingested into Smartling as a translatable string, use false, no, off (default). |
| Examples |
smartling.translate_sheet_names=true |
whitespace_trim
| Values |
on|yes|true or off|no|false or leading|trailing The default value is on |
| File Format |
DOCX | PPT | XLSX |
| Description |
A whitespace is any character or series of characters that represent horizontal or vertical space in typography. When rendered, a whitespace character is not a visible mark, but does occupy an area or space on a page. Although whitespaces are necessary within a string (typically to separate words), unnecessary whitespaces can be found at the start of a string (leading) and at the end of a string (trailing). With this directive, you can trim whitespaces, as it enables or disables whitespace trim management for the ingested strings. By default, the leading and trailing whitespaces are trimmed. You can choose to disable trimming or specify trimming for leading or trailing whitespaces. The directive can be used inline or as the API request parameter. |
| Examples |
Smartling will trim leading and trailing whitespaces (default)
Smartling will not trim leading or trailing whitespaces
Smartling will trim only leading whitespaces
Smartling will trim only trailing whitespaces |
smartling.no_translate_hidden_elements
| Values | sheet | row | columns |
| File Format | XLS | XLSX |
| Description |
By default, parser will ingest all content in a spreadsheet, including hidden sheets, columns and rows. With this directive, you can exclude hidden content in sheets, rows, and columns from being ingested to Smartling for translation. |
| Examples |
smartling.no_translate_hidden_elements=rows,columns |
