Please note that this plugin is a paid product. For pricing information, please reach out to your Smartling Customer Success Manager.

To use the Smartling Figma plugin, you must have access to Smartling as an Account Owner, Project Manager, or Requester. The plugin can be used in either Figma in the browser or the Figma desktop app.

Prerequisites and Limitations

1. Access to Smartling as an Account Owner, Project Manager, or Requester
   • This means having an activated user account (i.e. you have signed in to Smartling successfully)
2. Some cybersecurity software programs, such as ZScaler and InfoBlox, may block your access to the plugin. Disabling these programs will allow you to log in to Smartling and choose a project via the plugin.
3. If you use an organization or enterprise Figma plan, organization admins can restrict access to 3rd party plugins, requiring approval before they can be used. When enabled, members can only use plugins and widgets that have been approved by an organization admin. Ensure the Smartling plugin is approved by an Admin on your Figma account.

Download Figma Desktop App

Refer to the Figma documentation for the latest guide to the Figma app. Alternatively, you can access Figma directly in your browser. 

Create a Figma Project in Smartling

• Log in to Smartling with an Account Owner user role.
• Create a new project.
  • Select the Project Type "Connector".
  • Select Figma as your connecting platform.
• After creating the project, please ensure that all default workflows, vendor assignments and Linguistic Assets are set up correctly for this new project.

Save the Smartling Figma Plugin

These instructions pertain to the Figma 2024 UI (Figma UI3). If you are using an earlier version of Figma, you may see a slightly different interface. Please consult the Figma documentation for more info on using plugins.

In Figma, you can "Save" plugins to add them to your Figma account. To save the Smartling plugin: 

1. Open the Figma desktop app or launch Figma in your browser
2. Go to the Smartling Figma plugin page 
3. Click the bookmark icon to Save the plugin to your account
   

You can also Save the Smartling plugin directly from within Figma designer via the Actions menu.

1. Click the Actions menu icon.
   
2. Go to Plugins & widgets and search for "Smartling" 
3. Click on the Smartling plugin to open the plugin page
4. Click Save

Tip: Watch this Figma tutorial on how to save and remove Figma plugins.

Note: The plugin license fee is added to your Smartling license. No payment is taken through the installation flow of the plugin. For more information on "Third-party payment", read the Figma documentation.

Connect the Figma Plugin to Smartling

1. Open a new or existing Figma file.

2. In the Figma menu (top left), click Plugins > Smartling. Here you'll see all the translation features available.

   

3. Select the Smartling Account option.
4. The Smartling Account section opens a browser window that prompts you to authenticate with Smartling.
   • In the browser, sign in with your Smartling credentials.

5. On the General tab, select the Smartling project you want to submit Figma content to for translation.

   

6. Click through each tab and select any optional checkboxes to control which content is sent for translation, how it's parsed, and how translations are applied.

   

   Text tab

   • Exclude irrelevant strings
     • Enabling this setting prevents any string that contains only numbers, special characters, or emojis from being submitted for translation.
   • Remove all invisible text nodes
     • Enabling this setting ensures only visible text nodes are sent for translation.
     • If the file has invisible (hidden) text nodes that you do not want translated, enabling this setting removes them from the submitted file.
     • The hidden text nodes are also removed from the translated version of the file.
   • Exclude locked layers from translation
     • Enabling this setting ensures that any content in locked layers is not sent for translation.
   • Exclude strings hidden from view (clipped or in unused component variants)
     • Enabling this setting excludes text that has no render box. Clipped text and text in an inactive component variant both lack a render box, so the plugin treats them as not visible and excludes them from translation.
   • Include text on a path for translation
     • Text on a path is text that follows a curve or other non-horizontal line, rather than plain horizontal text. Enabling this setting includes path text for translation.
   • Turn text inside {} and {{}} into non-translatable placeholders
     • Enabling this setting ingests any text within curly braces as a placeholder.

   Keys & Format tab

   • Remove all formatting before submission
     • Enabling this setting removes any HTML markup from the submitted file, so linguists only see text for translation.
     • This also removes the markup from the translated version.
   • Use short variants keys
     • Enabling this setting means the names of the text nodes are used as keys in Smartling.
     • If you enable this setting, make sure your text nodes are named according to how you want the keys to appear. The plugin cannot ensure the uniqueness of keys when this setting is enabled.
     • If this setting is disabled, the plugin uses the entire node path, incorporating node IDs, as the key. This method guarantees unique keys.

   Visual Context tab

   • Create visual context images from top-level frames, sections, and slices instead of the whole page (recommended, see Visual Context below)
     • Enabling this setting sends each top-level frame, section, or slice as its own visual context image, instead of a single image of the whole page.
     • We recommend grouping text and images by frames, sections, or slices in Figma before submitting a file for translation.
     • Frames within frames are not submitted to Smartling. Only the first level of frames in the node tree is exported.
     • A section or slice's context image reflects everything inside it, including any nested frames. This means it can exceed the size limits described in Visual Context below, even when the individual frames inside it wouldn't on their own.
   • Export context images frame only
     • This option is available only when "Create visual context images from top-level frames, sections, and slices instead of the whole page" is enabled.
     • Enabling this setting restricts context images to actual frames only. Sections and slices no longer produce their own context image. Smartling still looks inside them to find frames, and submits those frames' images instead.

   Variables tab

   • Include Figma variables (string type) for translation
     • Enabling this setting extracts the text values of Figma string variables and submits them for translation along with the rest of your file. Variables of other types, such as color or number, are not included.
     • The four "Skip" options below are unavailable until you enable this setting.
       • Skip variables that reference another variable (aliases)
         • Variables whose value is an alias of another variable are not submitted for translation.
       • Skip text from remote (library) variables, including when reached through aliases
         • Text that comes from variables in a published library is not submitted, even if a local variable references it through an alias.
       • Skip variables hidden from publishing
         • Variables that are hidden from publishing in Figma are not submitted for translation.
       • Skip variables with empty values
         • Variables that have no text value are not submitted for translation.
   • Apply translations to one mode per language, updating it on every apply
     • Enabling this setting writes the translations for each language into a single mode for that language, and updates that mode each time you apply translations again. This keeps your variable collection tidy.
     • When this setting is disabled, every apply adds a new mode to the variable collection.
7. Click Save.

8. Once the confirmation flag appears, you can click X in the main window to close the dialog.

   

To learn how to submit and translate variables, see Translate Figma variables with the Figma Design Plugin.

Visual Context

Using the Figma plugin provides automatic visual context for linguists working in the CAT Tool.

By default, visual context is submitted for the entire page.

Alternatively, you can choose to submit images as top-level frames, sections, and slices (as mentioned in the settings above). This exports context frame by frame, section by section, or slice by slice, instead of as one image of the whole page. A section or slice's image reflects everything nested inside it. If you also enable Export context images frame only, sections and slices stop producing their own context image; Smartling looks inside them for frames and submits those instead.

This can help in designs where frames are grouped inside sections. A section's image reflects everything inside it, so it can exceed the size limits below even when the individual frames inside it, on their own, don't. If a section is too large to generate context, enabling Export context images frame only lets Smartling extract and submit the child frames instead, so those frames still get visual context rather than the section producing none at all.

Context images are subject to two limits: a total size of 20MB, matching the Smartling Context API limit, and a total area of 50 megapixels. Both limits apply consistently whether context is submitted as one image for the whole page, one image per section or slice, or one image per frame. Any image over either limit is excluded from the submission rather than uploaded.

Images larger than 16,000 pixels are automatically scaled down to fit within that dimension before the size and area limits are checked.

If a page, section, or frame is still excluded after scaling, you'll need to resize the image manually and upload it through the Smartling dashboard.

Now you're ready to start translating with the Smartling Figma plugin.