Translation procedure

This article explains how to use the translation service – how to send and receive translated content.

To translate an item perform the following:

1. Open the grid that displays the item.
   For example, if you want to translate a news item, open the News module.
2. Expand the Actions link of the item and click Send for translation…
   A dialog box appears displaying all configured languages.
3. Select the languages that you want to translate the item to.

   IMPORTANT: If you are using a translation agency, make sure your account includes the languages that you want to translate to.

   NOTE: The list of languages includes the source language of the item. For example, if you are translating a page from English to German, the English language is also listed. This is in case you want to translate an item that already has a version in the target language. 

   EXAMPLE: You have a page in English, which is target and you have a split page in German that has different widgets and structure from the source page. In this case, you must send for translation not the English page for translation to German, but the German page for translation to German. After the translation import, the page structure of the German page will be preserved.

4. Send the item for translation.
   You can choose between the following:
   • Send for translation now
     Send the item immediately to the translation service.
   • Mark for translation
     Save the item as ready for translation that you can send later.

     After you have sent an item for translation, it appears under tab Sent.

     NOTE: If sending the item to the translation service was unsuccessful, the item is removed from Sent tab and appears in Errors tab. This means that the item was not sent to the translation service. You must fix the error and try to resend the item. You can see more information about the error on the Errors tab.
     To resend an item, click Administration » Translations » Errors.
     Expand the Actions menu of the item and click Retry send for translation.
     For more information, see Common errors.

5. Import translated items.
   After the translation agency have translated the files, you import them in Sitefinity CMS in one of the following ways:
   • If you are using Lionbridge Freeway or Export to XLIFF files (FTP), the translated files are imported automatically and appear in the Translations module under tab Translated.
   • If you are using Export to XLIFF files, you must manually import the translated files in Sitefinity.
     Perform the following:
     1. Click Administration » Translations.
     2. In tab Sent, click Import XLIFF file.
     3. Select the files from your computer and import them.

        IMPORTANT: When you import the XLIFF file, ensure that the name of the file has not been changed after it has been exported. For example, the generated file with name translating-f9c40cb9-cf8b-697f-bc60-ff64000f1b3f-from-en-us-to-fr.xlf is not renamed to translations-fr.xlf. In such cases, the import does not work and items are not translated, because Sitefinity CMS relies on the ID in the file name to find the correct job.

RESULT: Translation jobs disappear from the Sent tab and appear in the Translated tab.
When translations appear in Translated tab, Sitefinity CMS automatically imports the translated content in the respective content items. If they do not exist, Sitefinity CMS creates them and saves them in status Draft. For example, if you have a news item only in the source language, Sitefinity CMS automatically creates a news item in the target language and imports the translated content. If the item exists in the target language, Sitefinity CMS will only import the translated content.

You can revert any item to its state before the translation was imported. You do this from the revision history of the content item, page or template.

The Translations module creates a Draft version in the revision history. You can choose to publish the Draft version or revert to a previous version of the item.

For more information, see Revision history of pages and Revision history for content items