Strings View for Linguists

The Strings View is an intuitive view of all content for a client account on a string-level.

This new Strings View replaces and builds on the Classic's "List View" (Content > Translations), providing more powerful, broader views of content, more bulk actions, and some new actions not previously available.

In the Strings View, you can see translations in all steps of a workflow, before or after the steps that your team have been assigned to. Any strings in the steps that you have not been assigned to are labeled "Read Only". This gives you more visibility into content that might be in the steps before or after the step where you or your team will be working.

You cannot edit the strings/translations when they are in Read Only steps.

Accessing Strings View

There are three ways you can access the Strings View:

1. via the Jobs Dashboard
2. via the Project Summary (NEW)
3. via the Project Dashboard
4. via a sharable link

Jobs Dashboard

1. Access the Jobs Dashboard by logging into Smartling or clicking the Jobs tab on the top navigation
2. In your Jobs Dashboard, on any Job, click the hyperlinked number under the word count column 
   • Whatever Job you choose will be the Job that the Strings View will be filtered for when opened
   • The Strings View will also open pre-filtered for the language you are assigned to translate in for that specific Job
   • You can clear all filters by simply clicking the reset button at the top of the filter list, and proceed to filter and action strings as required

Project Summary (New Experience)

From the Jobs Dashboard, click the Projects dropdown on the top navigation, select a project, and click the Strings tab to access the Strings View.

Project Dashboard (Classic Experience)

1. Go to the Project Dashboard by clicking Projects on the top navigation and selecting a client Project from the dropdown
2. From the Projects Dashboard, click Content > Translations
   • This opens the List View
3. At the top of the List View, click the hyperlinked Strings View (Beta) button
   • This opens an unfiltered Strings View, so you can proceed to filter and action strings as required

Sharable Link

If a content owner you are working with shares a link (URL) via email or other, simply click on it to view the same Strings View. Typically, this link will be filtered by the content owner, which could result in different views. Smartling will retain the filters that can be applied for you, but omit any which are not available to you.

Examples of reasons why you will see different results than a content owner for a given filter:

1. Workflow (Awaiting Authorization)
   1. You can only filter for strings that are in progress or published. You do not see content that has not been authorized.
2. Workflow + language permissions
   1. You are given access to specific workflow steps in specific languages.  If a content owner shares a URL for a language that you have not been assigned to, then they will not see any strings/translations.

Strings View Layout

The Strings View contains the following columns of detail:

• Source String: The string in the project's source language. This also contains strings namespace and variant metadata.
• Translation: The translation of source string (if available)
• File/URL: The file name or URL containing the source content. This also lists the context file and string key metadata
• Language: The target language in which the source string will be translated
• Job: The Job name in which the string will be translated. Strings can be translated outside a Job; therefore, a Job name may not always be present.
• Status: The status the string is in, as well as the workflow name.
• Actions: This ellipse contains two functions - Strings Details and accessing the CAT Tool.

You can customize the columns and re-arrange their order to suit your preference. To find out more, read our documentation on customizing your Strings View.

String Details

The String Details dialog allows you to  View String History, Instructions, and Issues, as well as any source string metadata, and translation details. To open the String Details of a string, click the ellipse under Actions and choose any of the first 3 options.

Once opened, you'll see the source string together with the target translation (if available). You can navigate from Issues, Instructions, and History by clicking the respective tabs:

• In the Issues tab, you can add a new issue, or, if there are any open Issues on the string, you can view, comment and close the Issue from here, instead of using the Issues Report.
• You can view, add, edit, and delete any file or string instructions from the Instructions tab.
• You can view, add, edit, and delete any string attachments from the Attachments tab. String attachments are a combination of Job Attachments and string instructions, as they display in the CAT Tool as instructions with a link to download a file.
• You can view all actions taken on the string, from the History tab. This includes the usernames associated with any action taken on a string.

To the right of the String Details dialog, you'll find source string metadata, which includes:

• Any visual context associated with the string.
• The project name which the string is in.
• The string hashcode, which is used to identify the string. This can be very useful for any support issues you may have.
• The source string word count.
• Any string tags, variants, or keys.
• Any character limit applied to the translation will be detailed under max length.

Scroll down to find the translation details, which includes:

• The name of the workflow name that the string is progressing through.
• The workflow step the string is currently in.

Strings View Filters

Search for strings with the filters on the left area. Reset your search with the link at the top. You can also save your string searches for the future.

The available filters will change depending on the view you are using. The following translation-related filters are not available when using the Source view: Languages, Translation keyword, Issues, Assignment, Translations and Workflow.

"Save Preferences"

Methods of Searching

1. Search separately by text in the source string and text in the current translation.
2. Search for exact strings by "quoting". However, this won't work for strings with placeholders or HTML markup.
   
   
   A search for content will return any string with the word “content” in it.
   
   
   A search for "content" will return only the string that is exactly the single word, “content”.
3. You can limit results to one specific File or URL by clicking the exact match checkbox.
4. Search is not case-sensitive, even exact search.
5. All filters are combined using logical “AND”; you may get zero results when combining filters, even if an individual filter would have some results.
6. The "preselected" date ranges in the History filter (e.g. last 24 hours) are dynamic.  The URL for the filter use the range relative to the time the page is being loaded. This means that you can get different results if you run the same filter today vs. tomorrow (or even 5 minutes or one hour later).  If you want to share a search or revisit a search for a specific time range use the custom date range options to specify the exact time range.  A saved search or shared URL with a custom range should produce the same results every time (assuming nothing else changes).
7. The History filter continues to have limitations for how many results can be returned. You will get an error when a search using History cannot return results.  You should then narrow the history date range or remove it from the search.

Wildcard Searching

When searching for text-based fields, you can use the * character as a wildcard to match anything. This is especially useful for the following use cases:

1. To find a string that includes a placeholder. Although Smartling will show the placeholder in the string, the only way to find the string including the placeholder is to use a wildcard.
   1. Example: Hello, *
   2. Will match Hello, ${firstName}
   3. Will not match Why, hello there!
2. To find multiple strings that are similar in the form they start with or end with.
   1. Example: Good *!
   2. Will match: Good morning!, Good evening! Good afternoon! Good Job!
   3. Will not match: Goodbye! G'day! Good riddance.
3. To refine your search for a string that otherwise results in getting too many results from our standard similar match results.
4. To find strings that have HTML markup inside them

If you want to match an actual * character that is part of your text you can use \* to match exactly one * character in the filter.

You can save any filter-set used in the Account Strings View. For more information, read Saved Searches. 

Search Results and Counters

The counter in the results is the count of the source strings that match your filter.

If you are assigned to work with more than one language, when looking at multiple target languages, a source string will be repeated for each row with its current translation.

You will see more results (rows) than the number of the string counts shown if you are looking at multiple languages. Example:

The count of this result is 1 string (2 words). "Hello" is one source string, listed twice for both translations (2 words).

The translation search results use dynamic pagination. When searching across multiple languages, a result will never split a single source string and its translations across multiple pages, meaning all the translations for a single string will always be shown on the same page.

As a result, the number of individual source strings that will be shown on a single page, and the number of results shown on a single page, are dynamic. They adjust automatically depending on the total result set and the number of languages selected.

Actions

You can select a string on one page, skip to another page using the arrows beside the page count (top-right), select other strings, and then take an action. Smartling will remember exactly which strings you have selected, regardless of the page you are currently viewing.

All actions are now "bulk" actions and will apply to all selected strings. 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:

1. Select the All on this page checkbox that is in the table's header row.
   
   
   "All on page" checkbox:
   
2. Choose the Select all matching current filter option that appears after you have selected all on the page.