The Adobe Express plugin allows you to send content for translation either by adding the content to a new or existing job or by generating an instant translation using your preferred MT engine or LLM provider, including Smartling's pre-configured options, Smartling Auto Select LLM and Instant AI Translation. 

You can monitor translation progress in Adobe Express and apply completed translations back to your design assets. 

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

Key terms

How it works

The Smartling Adobe Express plugin supports two ways to translate your content, both from the plugin's Translate tab:

• Standard translation (the Submit sub-tab): content is added to a Smartling job and goes through a translation workflow.
• Instant Translation (the Instant sub-tab): content is not added to a Smartling job and does not go through a translation workflow. No strings are ingested into the Smartling platform. Instead, translations are completed using your preferred MT or LLM Profile and delivered directly back to Adobe Express near-instantly.

Choose Instant Translation when you don't need content to move through a translation workflow, and MT- or LLM-generated translations without human review are sufficient. For highly creative or high-visibility content, use the standard job-based flow instead so a linguist can edit and review translations as needed.

Instant Translation counts toward your account's AI Hub usage. For more information see Instant Translation for Connectors & Plugins.

Before you start

Make sure you have all of these:

• Access to Adobe Express - an Adobe account with edit access to the asset you want to translate.
• A Smartling account with the right user role - You need to be an Account Owner, Project Manager, or Requester in Smartling to use the Adobe Express plugin.
• Edit access to the asset in Adobe Express - Viewer access isn't enough, you need to be able to edit the asset. 

FAQ: How do I check what role I have in Smartling? 
Sign in to Smartling, click your profile icon (top-right), and look at your role. If you can’t sign in or your role is something else (like Translation Resource or Content Viewer), contact your Localization Manager.

Setting up the Adobe Express plugin

Install and open the plugin

1. Navigate to the Smartling Adobe Express Add-on page and click Add. You can find the page by clicking More in the left sidebar, selecting Add-ons, and searching for "Smartling."

   

2. Open the Adobe Express asset you want to work with.

3. In the left sidebar, click Add-ons and open the Smartling add-on. It should be listed under the Your add-ons tab once you've added it.

   

Connect the plugin to a Smartling project

The standard translation flow sends content to a specific Smartling project, so the plugin needs to know which project to use. Do this the first time you use the plugin, or whenever you want to switch projects.

1. In the plugin, click the Settings tab. Under Account, you'll see "Connect this add-on to your Smartling project" and a Log in with Smartling button at the bottom. Click it. A browser tab opens.

   

2. Sign in to Smartling with your credentials. When you see "You're logged in to Smartling. Close this window and return to your application," close that tab and go back to Adobe Express.

3. Back in the Settings tab, you'll see a green Signed in badge. If no project is set yet, it says "No project saved." Under Change Project, click the Select Project dropdown and choose the Smartling project you want to use for sending content for translation. If you haven't already created a dedicated Adobe Express project, create one now and then select it from the dropdown.

   

4. Click Save. The button stays disabled (grayed out) until a project is selected.

FAQ: I don’t see my project in the dropdown.
The dropdown only shows projects you have access to in Smartling. If the project you expect isn’t listed, ask your Localization Manager to confirm the project name and that your account has access to it.

Configure your preferred Profile in Smartling

This step is only required if you plan to use Instant Translation. If you only plan to use the standard job-based flow, you can skip this step.

Instant translations are completed using your preferred MT or LLM translation provider and settings. Only an Account Owner or Project Manager in Smartling can configure which provider to use for Instant Translation. If you are a Requester, please consult your Localization Manager. 

To set the provider to use for Instant Translation:

• From the top navigation of your Smartling dashboard, access the AI Hub.
  
• In the Instant MT section, select the Adobe Express Plugin tab.
• Toggle Enable Machine Translation for Adobe Express Plugin to On.
• Under Default Profile, choose your preferred MT Profile or LLM Profile (for example, Smartling Auto Select LLM).
  • Under Language-Pair Configurations, click Add Configuration if you need a different Profile for a specific language pair.
• Under Glossary Term Insertion, optionally select one or more glossaries to insert glossary terms in machine translations.

Once enabled, Instant Translation with the preferred Profile can now be used with the Adobe Express Plugin. This Profile will be used for all Instant Translation requests submitted via the plugin. 

Submit content for translation

Use the Submit sub-tab to add content to a new or existing Smartling job. It walks you through four steps: Pages, Strings, Job, and Review & Submit.

1. With your Adobe Express asset open, open the Smartling add-on and make sure you are in the Submit sub-tab.

2. Pages: select the page(s) you want to translate. Each page shows how many strings it contains. Use All or None to quickly select or clear every page, then click Next.

   

3. Strings: select the individual strings you want to translate within the pages you picked. Use the Search strings box to find a specific string, and All/None to bulk-select, then click Next.

   

4. Job: choose to add the content to a new or existing Smartling job, and select your target languages.

   For a New job, fill in: 

   Field	What to do
   Job name	Give the job a descriptive name following your localization team's naming guidelines (example: "Spring Campaign Social Post").
   Due date	Optional. Set an overall due date for the translation job to be completed.
   Description	Optional. Provide any additional information on the job. This information will be available to linguists and can help them translate, such as special instructions.
   Target languages	Select every language you need translations for.
   Pre-authorize for translation	If checked, the job is automatically authorized for translation as soon as it's submitted, using the default workflow for each target locale. If left unchecked, the job sits in Awaiting Authorization in Smartling until a user authorizes it, which allows you to review the parsed content and choose the workflow manually.

   Once you've filled in the fields, click Create Job, then click Next.

   For an Existing job, choose the job from the dropdown, select your target languages, and click Next.

   FAQ: A language I need isn’t in the list.
   The dropdown only shows languages enabled in your Smartling project. If one is missing, you will need to add it to your project. See How to Add a Language to a Project. If you are not an Account Owner or Project Manager, you may need to ask your Localization Manager for assistance.

5. Review & Submit: confirm the summary, which shows the number of strings, the job name, and the target languages, then click Submit.

   

6. After you click Submit, the Submit tab shows a confirmation message stating how many strings were submitted and to which job (for example, 3 strings submitted to "Campaign A"), a link to open the job in the Smartling dashboard, and a New submission button if you want to submit more content.

   

FAQ: What happens after I click Submit?
Your job is created in Smartling and goes to Awaiting Authorization (if pre-authorization was left unchecked). Your Localization Manager (or you, if you have access) reviews and authorizes it. Once authorized, linguists translate your strings. You can check progress any time from the Status sub-tab in the plugin, or in Smartling directly.

Generate an Instant Translation

Use the Instant sub-tab to translate content without creating a job.

1. Under Translate, click the Instant sub-tab. Under Target Languages, click Select Language(s) and choose one or more languages from the search list. 

   

2. Click Translate to [N] languages (the button label updates to match how many languages you've selected) to start translation.

3. Every page you selected is translated automatically, using the Profile configured for the Adobe Express Plugin. A status view shows each page moving through Translate, Download, and Apply, near-instantly.

   

   Once all three steps show a checkmark, click the X to close the window, or click Translate more to generate translations for additional target languages. 

   Each translation creates a new page automatically, using the naming convention [original page name] [Language (Country) [locale-code] (locale-code)], for example Homepage [French (France) [fr-FR] (fr-FR)].

   Running Translate or Translate more again for a page and language you've already translated creates another new page rather than replacing the previous one. If you re-translate the same page and language more than once, delete the earlier translated page(s) first to avoid ending up with multiple duplicate pages.

Check translation status and apply translations

Once a job is completed in Smartling, use the Status sub-tab to apply translations in Adobe Express.

1. Under Translate, click the Status sub-tab. Step 1, Jobs, lists the Smartling jobs linked to this asset under Translation jobs, each showing a status badge (Completed, In progress, etc.), the number of languages, and the due date. Click the external-link icon next to a job to open it in the Smartling dashboard.

   

2. Click Next to move to step 2, Locales. Under Choose what to apply, select the page(s) and locale(s) you want to apply (each shows Translated or Not yet applied, and the date submitted), or use Select all.

   

3. Click Apply Translation ([N]). The wizard moves to step 3, Applying, and shows progress until translations are applied. The final view shows how many languages were applied (for example, "Translations applied 2 of 2 languages") with a per-page breakdown of applied strings, and an expandable Activity log.

   

   Applying translations creates a new, translated version of each page automatically, using the naming convention [original page name] [Language (Country) [locale-code] (locale-code)], for example Homepage [French (France) [fr-FR] (fr-FR)].

   Applying translations again for the same page and locale creates another new page rather than updating the existing one. If you expect to apply translations for the same page and locale more than once (for example, after making corrections in Smartling), delete the earlier translated page(s) first to avoid ending up with multiple duplicate pages.

FAQ: What if I apply translations before the job is complete?
Some strings may stay in the source language because there is no translation yet. Wait until all languages are complete in Smartling, then click Apply Translation ([N]) again.