Welcome to Smartling!
In this tutorial, you will learn how to request and manage translations as a Requester.
Smartling is a centralized portal for all of your translation needs:
You can drag and drop files and send them for translation, or make use of one of our hosted connectors to translate content from many popular content management systems, email marketing tools, knowledge base and customer service platforms, and more.
Registration and login
This short video walks you through the process of completing your Smartling account registration. Once you are registered, you can log into the cloud-based Smartling dashboard without having to install any software.
Notification settings
This video shows you how to enable and customize your email notifications, to ensure you will be notified about completed translations and important action items.
Tip: Click here for more information about all available notification options.
Navigating the Jobs Dashboard
As your landing page in Smartling, the Jobs Dashboard allows you to monitor and manage all of your translation requests (called "jobs" in Smartling). Watch this video for a quick tour.
Tip: For more information on customizing your Jobs Dashboard, visit this article.
Translating files in Smartling
The following video shows how to drag and drop a file for translation in Smartling, and how to download the completed translations once they are available.
Info: Some file types need to be prepared and formatted in a specific way to allow for a smooth translation process. The right file preparation ensures that only translatable text will be uploaded to Smartling, and that elements like placeholders, formatting tags or translator instructions are displayed correctly. Before uploading files for translation, check if a video tutorial is available for the file type you want to translate, or consult our Help Center documentation.
Tip: Check out our Smartling Community for more information on file preparation and best practices.
Translating with a hosted Smartling connector
If you are using one of our hosted connectors as a direct integration with one of your content platforms, translation jobs need to be created directly from the connector's asset list in Smartling.
Tip: Watch this video tutorial to learn more about translating with a hosted Smartling connector. Further video tutorials for selected connectors are available here.
Detailed documentation for all connectors and plugins is available here. From this overview, click into the connector that you would like to use, for further guidance on how to create translation jobs.
Managing the content to translate from the Strings View
In Smartling, the translatable content is broken down into smaller translation units called strings.
You can take action on the strings that are part of your job, for example to exclude unwanted content from translation, to provide further information and context, or to set up character limits.
Tip: For a detailed explanation of all available string actions, visit this article.
Excluding strings from translation
Watch this short video to learn how to exclude content from translation.
Providing translation instructions
Watch this short video to learn how to provide string instructions.
Info: String instructions can only be taken into account by human translators. If your workflow uses exclusively machine translation or LLM translation, any string instruction won't be taken into account.
Setting up character limits
If the translation for specific strings should not exceed a certain number of characters, for example to avoid issues with the page or file layout, a translation length limit can easily be added from the Strings View.
Tip: Certain file types, like Excel files, can be prepared in a specific way that allows for character limits to be included directly in the file, and uploaded correctly to Smartling. Please consult the documentation for your file type to learn more.
Providing visual context for your translators
A visual representation of the localized webpage or file can help your linguists deliver great quality translations. Watch this short video to learn how to upload context files (such as images, screenshots or PDF files) and video context.
Tip: For more information about visual context, as well as all available context upload options and formats, please visit this article.
Cancelling and updating a job
The correct process for updating a translation job depends on the exact integration that you are using. The following video only applies to Files projects for manual file drag & drop.
Info: If you are using a hosted connector, please consult the relevant documentation in our Help Center to learn how updates to the source content are handled.
Hosted connectors offer the option to automatically detect updates made to the source content in the connecting platform and send them for translation. Please reach out to an Account Owner or Project Manager in your organization to learn more about the exact settings used for your account.