This article explains the process of manually downloading translated files from a Files project.
Tip: If you are an Agency Owner or linguist looking to download translated files for Desktop Publishing (DTP), see Download your Team's Translations.
Ways of downloading translated files
The Smartling dashboard offers two ways of downloading translated files:
- From the Files tab of your project*
* This option is only available to Account Owners and Project Managers. - From the Files tab of your translation job*
* This option is available to Account Owners, Project Managers and Requesters.
Requesters can only download translated files that they have uploaded to Smartling. If they create a job, but another user uploads a file to that job, they will not be able to download the translated file unless they have been granted permission to view all jobs.
Which option should I choose?
The two ways of downloading translated files offer a largely similar experience. In both instances,
- You can choose to download translations that are still in progress, or completed translations only, and
- You will be able to select the desired naming convention for the downloaded files.
However, each tab also offers some additional download settings (see details for option 1 and option 2 below).
Generally speaking, the Files tab of your job presents the easiest download option if:
- The entire file is included in the same job
- You are a Requester, as you will not have access to the Files tab of the project.
The Files tab of your project, on the other hand offers:
- More transparency if parts of the same file were translated in different translation jobs
- The ability to download pseudo translations, allowing you to check the expected layout and text expansion before the translation process begins
- Advanced options for visual context mapping.
Current vs. published translations
As you may want to download translations at various stages of the translation process, both the job's Files tab and the project's Files tab allow you to download either current translations, or published translations.
- Current translations: Use this option to download translations while they are still in progress in a workflow.
- Published translations: Use this option to download translations once they are completed and have reached the Published step in the workflow.*
* Occasionally, a single file may be translated as part of multiple different translation jobs. For example, this could be the case if additional content is added to an existing file at a later point, and then translated as part of a new job. If this is the case, and you want to download the translations once the entire file is fully translated (across all authorized jobs), you will need to select the option Fully Published Files if you are using the job's Files tab to download the translations.
Option 1: Download files from the Files tab of your project
From the Files tab of your project, click into the file you want to download. Here, you can find two buttons to download translated files.
1. To download the translated file for individual target locales and/or the source file, click the Download button next to each language.
2. To download the translated files for all languages, click the Download Files button.
This button can be used to download all languages in a single file for supported file types.
Download settings
Aside from downloading the source file, or the current and published translations for each locale, the Files tab of your project also allows you to download pseudo translations. This can even be done before the content is authorized for translation, allowing you to check the expected layout of the localized file.
Tip: To see what downloading a pseudo translation looks like, watch our video tutorial for translating PowerPoint files.
The source file can also be downloaded as an Instrumented File (for context): This will download a modified version of the original source file, used to improve the speed and accuracy of matching strings to HTML context.
Info: See Download Translated Files for detailed information on all available download options in the project's Files tab.
Option 2: Download files from the Files tab of your job
Click on the name of your translation job to access the job details page. From here, navigate to the Files tab of the job.
1. To download all files included in the job, click Download Files.
2. To download individual files, click the download arrow next to each file.
Use the download arrow if you would like to download the source file.
Download settings
Aside from downloading the source file, or the current and published translations for each locale, the Files tab of your job also allows you to download Fully Published Files.
The option to download Fully Published files is especially relevant in these two cases:
- A single file may be translated as part of multiple different translation jobs. For example, this could be the case if additional content is added to an existing file at a later point, and then translated as part of a new job. If this is the case, and you want to download the translations once the entire file is fully translated (across all authorized jobs), you will need to select the option Fully Published Files.
If you do not select the option Fully Published Files, the entire file will still be downloaded, but it may contain incomplete translations if some jobs that the file is a part of are still in progress. - Your job may contain a large number of files. The Files tab displays a maximum of 20 files at a time. If there are more than 20 files in a job, they will be paginated across multiple pages.
While the option to download published translations will include only the files on each page, the option to download Fully Published Files will include the fully published files across all pages in the job's Files tab (max. 500 translated files).
Info: See Download Files for detailed information on all available download options in the job's Files tab.
FAQ: Downloading translated files
My job is completed and I want to download the translations. Which option should I select?
While there are multiple ways to achieve this, here is the easiest option:
- Go to the Files tab of your completed job.
- Click "Download Files".
- Under "Content", select the option "Published Translations" to download only translations that are completed and have reached the Published step of the workflow.
If your job contains a large number of files that span multiple pages in the Files tab, select "Fully Published Files". - Select which target languages should be included in the download.
- You will receive a .zip folder with a separate file per language. Under "File Organization", select how the download folder should be structured, and which naming convention should be applied.
Tip: To see a short video of this download option, watch our video tutorial for translating Microsoft Word files.
How can I download all languages in a single file?
Certain file types allow you to download the translations for all target languages in a single file (e.g. CSV or Excel). It may be necessary to apply a dedicated file directive (e.g. for CSV files) or to select the appropriate upload option (e.g. Smartling Excel).
Tip: The option to download all languages in a single file is not available for all file types. For example, certain business documents like Word files or PowerPoint presentations don't allow for a single output file containing all target languages.
Provided that your file format supports the download of all languages in a single file, use one of the following download options:
Option 1: Available for Smartling Excel files
- From the Files tab in your job, click "Download Files".
- Select the File Organization option "All languages in one file".
Option 2: Available for CSV files
- From the Files tab in your project, click into the file you want to download and select "Download Files".
After selecting the type of translations you want to download (current or published), choose to organize files with "All languages in one file".
How can I download all files in a job, across multiple pages?
If your translation job contains more than 20 source files, they will be paginated in the job's Files tab.
To download the translated files across all pages:
- From the Files tab of your job, click Download Files.
- Under Content, select the option Fully Published Files.
- This option will download all fully published files across all pages of the job's Files tab (max. 500 translated files).
Info: See Download Files for detailed information on all download options, including Fully Published Files.