Sketch Plugin

With Crowdin plugin for Sketch, you can use texts from Crowdin in your designs to save time for both designers and developers. These could include original or translated texts. If necessary, you can add new ones (e.g. dialogue titles, button labels) and send them to translators in Crowdin.

Use Cases

With Crowdin plugin for Sketch, you can:

• Quickly generate multi-language creative assets.
• Translate mockups and test them in different languages before the programming starts.
• Stop using ‘Lorem Ipsum’, add real texts from Crowdin to your prototypes instead.
• Create and upload source strings from your designs to your Crowdin project. This way, uploaded strings could be used by developers, which reduces time spent on development.
• Upload tagged screenshots to your Crowdin project.

Modes

Crowdin plugin for Sketch has two modes – Translation mode and Strings mode.

Use the Strings mode when localizing UI and working on dynamic pages with your development and marketing teams. In this mode, you can add source strings from Crowdin to your designs in Sketch in a click. After the texts are used in the designs, you can automatically upload tagged screenshots for translators’ reference back to Crowdin.

Use the Translation mode to localize static pages, like brochures and banners. In this mode, you can send texts with context for translators to Crowdin and upload translated copies back to Sketch.

Installing Crowdin plugin for Sketch

You can download the latest release from our GitHub repository.

1. Download the installation file.
2. Unzip it.
3. Double-click on the sketch-crowdin.sketchplugin file for auto installation.

Crowdin plugin for Sketch can also be installed with Sketch Runner.

Connecting Sketch with Crowdin Account

Setting up Crowdin Credentials

To specify your Crowdin credentials in Sketch, follow these steps:

1. Click Plugins > Crowdin.
2. Switch to Settings.
3. Provide your Personal Access Token.
4. Click Connect to Crowdin.

To generate a new token in Crowdin, follow these steps:

• Go to Account Settings > API tab, Personal Access Tokens section and click New Token.
• Specify Token Name and click Create.

Selecting Crowdin project

To select the project you’d like to work with, click the Select Project dropdown menu in Settings, and select a project from the list. Later on, you can use the same dropdown menu to switch to another project if needed.

Using Source Strings from Crowdin in Sketch

1. Open the Crowdin plugin for Sketch.
2. In the Strings mode, use the Search field to find the specific copy.
3. Select the text layer you want to add text to and click on the needed string.

Adding Source Strings from Sketch to Crowdin

1. Open the Crowdin plugin for Sketch.
2. In the Strings mode, click Add String.
3. In the appeared dialog, fill in the required fields and click Save.

Sending Designs for Translation to Crowdin

You can send text for translation either from selected or all artboards from an Sketch file. Translators will be able to work with those texts in the list view and use designs as an additional context for even higher translation quality.

In Crowdin, a root folder Sketch plugin will be created. It will contain a subfolder named after your Sketch file with HTML files for each artboard inside.

To send Sketch designs for translation, follow these steps:

1. Open the necessary Sketch file.
2. Go to Plugins > Crowdin.
3. In the Translation mode, Send Texts section, select content you’d like to upload to Crowdin. Choose Page or Artboard.

When the source files are uploaded to your Crowdin project, you can invite contributors to translate and proofread them. Read more about translation strategies.

Using Translations from Crowdin in Sketch

You can synchronize texts between Sketch and Crowdin projects whenever you want to test the translated copy inside Sketch or generate multilingual assets.

To upload translated copies to Sketch, follow these steps:

1. Open the necessary Sketch file.
2. Go to Plugins > Crowdin.
3. In the Translation mode, Get Translations section, select the target language you want to upload translations for. You can also choose All languages.
4. Choose the content you want to preview in Sketch. Select Page or Artboard.

After uploading translations to Sketch, the modified file will contain a separate artboard with translations for each target language. The newly uploaded translated versions won’t override the ones you uploaded previously. You can always delete the translated copies you no longer need.

Previewing Strings

To preview translations from Crowdin for strings that you used in the designs in Sketch, follow these steps:

1. Open the Crowdin plugin for Sketch.
2. In the Strings mode, Preview Strings section, select the target language you want to upload translations for. You can also choose All languages.
3. Click Preview.

Uploading Tagged Screenshots to Crowdin

1. Open the Crowdin plugin for Sketch.
2. In the Strings mode, use texts from the Crowdin project in your designs. Click Upload Screenshots to upload screenshots of the artboards that include the used texts.
3. To update screenshots on Crowdin, click Upload Screenshots again.

To learn more, read the article Screenshots.