Online Editor

The Editor is the main place in Crowdin Enterprise where project members can suggest, vote, and approve translations online. It can be viewed in Comfortable, Side-by-Side, or Multilingual mode. The Comfortable mode is enabled by default.

Using the Main menu in the upper-left corner, you can switch between files for translation, change translation languages, contact a manager, change the view, and access help materials.

Comfortable Mode

Comfortable mode is primarily used for translation and consists of four main sections:

  1. Left sidebar
  2. Middle-top area
  3. Middle-bottom area
  4. Right sidebar

Editor Sections

Section 1 - Left Sidebar

This section displays the list of strings, with the active one highlighted. Strings are text elements that are either individual words, phrases, or sentences. Some strings might have replacement tokens (e.g., {0}, {1}, %1, etc.) or elements of the ICU message syntax. Such items themselves should not be translated but are used by the website code to dynamically insert some information into strings. To work with such strings, you should copy the source string and translate only the real words.

Strings can have the following statuses:

  • Untranslated - untranslated
  • Plural forms untranslated - partially translated (if some of the plural forms are not translated)
  • Translated - translated
  • Plural forms unapproved - partially approved (if some plural forms are not approved)
  • Approved - approved
  • Hidden - hidden (visible only for project managers and proofreaders)

There also might be the following icons besides strings:

  • With Comments - the string has comments from contributors
  • With Issue - the string has an unresolved issue

When translating the content of an HTML, XML, TXT, DOCX, XLSX, HAML, Web XML, Markdown, MDX, DITA, FLSNP, Wiki, ADOC, Coffee, FTL, JS, TS, and FTLH file formats, a list of strings is displayed as a file preview (i.e., WYSIWYG). The string status is indicated by the following colors:

  • Red - untranslated
  • Blue - translated
  • Light-green - approved
  • Gray - not for translation

An active string is highlighted in yellow.

HTML view

The following options are available to manage the above view:

  • Basic List View - Load basic list view. Use it to switch to a standard mode and see a list of strings.
  • Highlight Strings - Highlight untranslated, translated, and approved strings. Use it to toggle the color highlighting of strings on and off.
  • Translation Preview - Show translation preview. Use it to toggle the translation preview mode on and off.
  • Scale Toggle - Scale Toggle. Use it to toggle between a zoomed-in and zoomed-out view.

HTML view options

You can search for strings by source text, translations, context, or all at once. Depending on the content you open in the Editor, the system will search for matches within the currently open file or across all strings in the project.

To search for strings in the file or the whole project, type your search phrase in the Search in file (Search strings) field. You can also use a keyboard shortcut to switch to the search field (by default, Ctrl+F).

To refine the search results, you can use the following options:

  • Match case – with this option, you will find only the strings written in the same case: for example, if you search for Work and select Match case, the system will find Work, Works, Working but not work.
  • Match whole phrase – with this option, you will find the strings containing the search phrase only in the original order: for example, if you search for Machine Translation and select Match whole phrase, the system will find Machine Translation, Machine translation, machine translation but not Translation Machine. When Match whole phrase is not selected, the system splits the search phrase into separate words and searches for matches in the strings in any order.
  • Exact match – with this option, you will find only the strings that exactly match the search phrase: for example, if you search for Work and select Exact match, the system will find Work, work, but not Works or Working.

You can combine Match case with Exact match and Match case with Match whole phrase. Match whole phrase and Exact match are mutually exclusive options.

The search phrase is limited to 128 characters. If you use a search phrase longer than 128 characters, it is automatically truncated to the maximum allowed.

To search for strings by a numeric identifier, type the number without quotation marks, such as 34354, to find the exact match. To search for the occurrences of the number in the text or context, enclose the number in quotation marks when typing it in the search box, for example: “34354”.

String Search

Filtering Strings

To filter the strings displayed in the left sidebar, click and select the preferred filter option.

Available filter options:

  • Show All – Show all strings from the open file/folder in their original order.
  • All, Untranslated First – Show all strings from the opened file/folder. Untranslated strings are displayed at the top of the list, followed by translated strings, and then approved ones are displayed at the bottom of the list.
  • Untranslated – Show only strings without any translations.
  • Need to Be Voted – Show already translated strings.
  • Not Approved – Show strings that are already translated but not yet approved by a proofreader.
  • Approved – Show only strings with approved translations.
  • QA issues – Show strings with no QA issues or with unresolved QA issues in the current language.
  • Machine Translation – Show strings that are translated by TM or MT suggestions without changes. Often these strings require additional review.
  • With Comments – Show strings that have comments.
  • With Unresolved Issues – Show strings with unresolved issues in the current language or all languages.
  • Hidden – Show strings that are hidden from translators. Strings can be hidden by project managers or automatically hidden by Crowdin Enterprise when they are marked as duplicates.
  • Advanced Filter – Filter that allows you to configure custom filtering and sorting parameters.
Note: Some of the filter options may be available only to project members with manager permissions (or higher).

Strings filter

Verbal Expressions

The Verbal Expression section of the Advanced Filter implements a regular expression search. You can set specific search parameters for strings in your project. For example, you can search for all strings that begin with uppercase letters and have no periods at the end or contain a date.

Note: When you enable verbal expressions, you can't use the regular string search.

For example, if you want to extract all strings that start with an uppercase letter and have a period at the end, your expression might look like this: start "true", range "A,Z", anything, range "a,z,A,Z,0,9", limit "1,50", then ".", end "true"

Let’s break down the above expression:

start "true" – indicates the beginning of the string.
range "A,Z" – means that your string starts with characters in the range A-Z.
range "a,z,A,Z,0,9" – means that your string can contain characters in the range a-z and/or A-Z and/or 0-9.
limit "1,50" – means that the length of the string is between 1 and 50 characters.
then "." – means that your string ends with a period.
end "true" – indicates the end of the string.

Here are some other use case examples of how you can use Verbal Expressions:

  • Strings containing URLs: then "http", maybe "s", then "://", maybe "www.", anythingbut " "
  • Strings with %s and %d placeholders: then "%", anyof "s,d"
  • Strings with variables enclosed in double curly brackets: then "{{", range "a,z", then ".", range "a,z", then "}}"
  • Strings that contain a floating point number: start, range "0,9", multiple, then ".", range "0,9", multiple, end

To configure a verbal expression, use the following expression syntax.

In projects with a workflow, strings move from one workflow step to the next. There are three string statuses: ToDo, Pending, and Done. Use the icon to view strings with their corresponding workflow step statuses.

Status filter

Section 2 - Middle-Top Area

The main working area with the source string at the top and the translation section below. To add a translation, you need to select a string from the left section, and it will appear in the middle-top Source String field.

Text for translation

This area also displays the context of a string. Context can include the technical details, an explanation of where the line appears in the actual product, or a screenshot showing the location of the string in a user interface. If the source string has no context and it’s not clear how to translate it, click Request and a project manager will be notified that additional explanation is needed.

Request context

Some strings may have underlined words or phrases. This means that the word or phrase is part of the project terminology and should be translated according to the term description. You can view additional explanations added to the specific term for accurate translation. This can be done by hovering over the underlined text or by going to the Terms section in the right sidebar.

Some terms may have translations. Previously translated terms increase the consistency of project texts. To reuse the term translation, click on the underlined term, and its translation will appear in the translation field.

Terminology

Enter the translation in the field below the original text in the middle section and click Save. You will be automatically redirected to the next string.

Save translation

Plural Forms

Some strings may have plural forms. Depending on the language, the number of plural forms may vary. For example, Chinese has one plural form, English has two plural forms, and other languages may have up to six plural forms. Crowdin Enterprise works with plural forms according to the CLDR Language Plural Rules.

Read more about CLDR Language Plural Rules.

If a string has multiple plural forms, all variants of the string are displayed in the section where you type in translations. Enter translations in the appropriate tabs that display the plural forms of the target language.

Plural tabs

You might also get automatic Quality Assurance (QA) check pop-up messages to avoid some translation inaccuracy. For example, you can see notifications about inconsistency in punctuation, space mismatch, missing variables, and more.

QA pop-up

Clicking in the upper-right allows you to:

  • Copy String URL to access a specific string using its unique link or share it with colleagues.
  • Copy Source Skeleton to copy untranslatable elements to the translation section. Useful when translating strings with ICU message syntax and strings with HTML tags.
  • Access Translation History to see all the modifications done to the string.
  • View String In Context to display a string along with other strings surrounding it in the source file, which gives a better understanding of how the string should be translated.

In the translation window, you will also see the Maximum length of translation limit if it’s exceeded.

Section 2

Additional buttons available in the translations section:

Copy Source - Copy Source. Use it to keep the initial string structure while translating messages with replacement tokens or elements of ICU message syntax.
Clear Translation - Clear. Use it when you need to erase the whole suggestion quickly.
Text selection mode - Text selection mode. Use it when you want to copy a part of the translation from Translation Memory (TM) or Machine Translations (MT).

Section 3 - Middle-Bottom Area

This section contains the resources that might be useful:

  • Translations by other project participants
  • Translation Memory (TM) suggestions
  • Machine Translation (MT) suggestions
  • Translations to other languages

Click on one of the suggestions, and it will automatically appear in the translation field. Refer to it as a basis for your own suggestions.

To quickly copy the TM or MT suggestion to the translation field and save it, click Use and Save on the desired suggestion.

Other Languages section allows you to check the string translations into other target languages. This can be a useful tip for multilingual people and while translating dialects of a language.

Other languages

If you see that there is already a correct suggestion, vote for it. To vote for multiple translations, it would be more convenient to switch to Side-by-Side Mode.

Vote

If you are a proofreader and plan to review and approve more than one translation — switch to Side-by-Side Mode.

Section 4 - Right Sidebar

Comments

Using the Comments tab, you can discuss the meaning of the source string or other related questions. It is recommended to use a source language of the project so other translators can understand it. Use “@” and a username to direct your message to the specific person.

Comments

Reporting Issues

Additionally, in the Comments tab, you can report the issues regarding the source strings or translations to the project managers by selecting the Issue checkbox.

Available issue types:

  • General question – General question related to the source string or its translations.
  • Current translation is wrong – The translation added to the source string is incorrect and requires correction.
  • Lack of contextual information – The meaning of the string isn’t clear and requires additional clarification.
  • Mistake in the source string – The source string text contains typos or any other mistakes.

All strings with unresolved issues could be filtered using the With Unresolved Issues options.

Read more about Filtering Strings.

Issue

Issues are reported to the project managers to correct mistakes or add context and resolve the issues. You can also Edit, Resolve, or Delete your issue by hovering over it.

Issue options

If the project owner or managers configured the integration with Jira, all reported issues will be directed to the Jira dashboard for further processing and resolution without the need to visit Crowdin Editor.

Read more about Jira Integration.

Exchanging Comments with External Organizations

If you need to discuss a string translation with people outside of your organization (e.g., with an assigned vendor team), you can select the Shared option when creating a comment in the Editor. The same way translators on the vendor side can mention your team to clarify some context or report typos in the source text. This option enables cross-organization communication and allows to resolve any issues that might require a prompt response. All the other comments created without an enabled Shared option will remain available only to the members of your organization.

Exchanging Comments with External Organizations

Search TM

Using the Search TM tab, you can check for all the available translations from Translation Memory, which is the vault of translations uploaded to the system by project managers.

The Search TM tab provides the following options:

  • Source – Search for matches in a source language.
  • Target – Search for matches in target languages.
  • Guess translation – Highlight probable translation of a search phrase.
  • Numeric equivalence – Match digits from a search phrase with any other digits.

Additionally, to maximize your search results, you can use the following wildcards with your search phrase:

Type an asterisk (*) to find words where the end or beginning may be different.
Example: any* finds any, anyway, anything
Example: *way finds way, anyway, highway

Type a plus sign (+) to find words where the end or beginning must be different.
Example: any+ finds anyway, anything, anywhere, except any
Example: +way finds anyway, highway, someway, except way

Type a minus sign (-) to exclude words from your search.
Example: Save -as

Use quotation marks to find the exact combination of words.
Example: “Save as”

Search TM

Editing TM Suggestions in the Editor

When working in the Editor, you can view the TM suggestions displayed in the TM and MT Suggestions section and in the right sidebar found through the Search TM tab. There may be situations where TM suggestions contain inaccuracies or need to be updated.

Project members with manager permissions (or higher) can edit or delete TM records directly in the Editor, both in the TM and MT Suggestions section and in the Search TM tab, rather than having to go to the Translation Memories page in the Resources or Project Settings. This ensures that TM suggestions are updated safely and quickly, improving the overall quality of the TM.

To edit the TM suggestion, follow these steps:

  1. Click in the TM and MT Suggestions section or Edit in the Search TM tab.
    Edit TM Suggestions
  2. In the appeared dialog, make the necessary edits (i.e., modify or delete) to the TM suggestions for each language present in the TM segment.
  3. To revert accidental deletions or unwanted changes, click Undo next to the TM suggestions or click Cancel to revert all modifications before saving.
  4. Once the desired edits are completed, click Save to confirm and apply these changes to the TM segment.

To completely delete a TM segment from the TM, delete all TM records across all languages and click Save.

Terms

Terms tab can be used to view the existing glossary available for the string (if any). You can also search for terms in the project glossary. If the specific term is not available in the project glossary, the system will show you Wikipedia explanations.

Terms

File Context

File Context tab can contain additional context or instructions for translators to better understand how to translate a particular file. File context can be added in the File Settings as plain text or Markdown by either an owner or a project manager.

File Context

Side-by-Side Mode

In Side-by-Side mode, translators can also translate, although this mode is mostly intended for comfortable voting for multiple best translations in a row, while managers and proofreaders can approve the best translations.

To switch to the Side-by-Side mode, click on the Main menu in the upper-left corner and choose View > Side-by-Side.

For Translators

To vote, click the plus sign if you like the translation, or the minus sign if you don’t think the translation is correct. Translations that receive the most positive votes will have a higher rating and will appear at the top of all available translations for the string.

Side-by-Side Voting

For Proofreaders

Review the translations to make sure they are ready for export, and click Approve icon next to the suggestion to approve each translation separately.

To approve all or a couple of the strings at once, check the boxes on the left and then click Approve.

Side-by-Side Proofreading

Note: Make sure to enable QA checks to help you find strings that require review. Issues found will be highlighted in red under the translated strings that require revision.

QA issues

Suggesting Translations

To suggest another translation, сlick on the text you want to change, and when done, click Save. Your translation will be added to the list of other suggestions.

Save suggestion

Translation Approvals

Each translation can be approved either once or multiple times by multiple proofreaders and project members with manager permissions (or higher). Once a translation is approved at least once, it will be displayed as such on all workflow steps of a project.

Multiple Approvals

If necessary, a proofreader or project member with manager permissions (or higher) can edit the list of approvals for translations approved twice and more by removing approvals one by one or all at once.

To edit the list of approvals, follow these steps:

  1. Open the needed string in the Editor.
  2. Click on the profile pictures of the proofreaders that approved a translation.
  3. In the unfolded translation details, click next to the approval you want to remove.

The translations with the highest number of approvals have the highest priority. They will be displayed at the top of the translation list in the Editor and used on translation download.

When a string has more than one translation, the translation list is formed based on the following priority:

  1. Translation with the highest number of approvals – Among translations approved multiple times, the translation with the highest number of approvals has a top priority.
  2. Translation with the last added approval – Among translations approved only once, the translation with the last added approval has a top priority.
  3. Most voted translation – Among translations that don’t have approvals, the translation with the highest number of votes has a top priority.
  4. Last added translation – Among translations that don’t have approvals or votes, the last added translation has a top priority.

Multilingual Mode

The multilingual mode provides similar features as the side-by-side mode and allows multilingual translators and proofreaders to work with multiple languages at the same time. You can select up to ten languages to work with simultaneously. The right panel shows the string’s translations of the language you’re entering a translation for or the one that was selected last.

Multilingual Mode

To switch to the multilingual mode, click on the Main menu in the upper-left corner, choose View > Multilingual, select the languages you’d like to work with, and click Apply.

To add new languages or remove some of the earlier selected ones, click on the Main menu in the upper-left corner, choose Language, alternatively click on the Languages in the upper-left corner, then do the necessary modifications to the language list and click Apply.

When working in multilingual mode, you can switch between two possible views: List View, Grid View.

The List view is enabled by default. To switch to grid view, click in the upper-left corner. To adjust the columns displayed in the Grid view, click on the drop-down toggle in the upper-right corner and select the preferred ones.

Multilingual Mode Grid View

For Proofreaders

The proofreading process works mainly the same way as in side-by-side mode, except when approving or removing approvals for all or a couple of strings at once, the system performs the action for all languages selected for the multilingual mode.

Using Filter in Multilingual Mode

When using filter options in multilingual mode, the system will show strings that meet the selected criteria for at least one of the selected languages.

This behavior applies to the following filter options:

  • Untranslated
  • Not Approved
  • Approved
  • QA issues
  • Machine Translations
  • Advanced Filter > Translations updated
  • Advanced Filter > Translations > Partially translated (plurals)
  • Advanced Filter > Translations > Same as source string
  • Advanced Filter > Votes

Translating RTL Languages

When translating between LTR and RTL languages, some elements in the translation field in the Editor might not be displayed the same way as they will be once exported.

To be sure that RTL translations will be displayed correctly in the exported file, we recommend making translations the following way:

  1. Click under the source text (or Alt+C key combination).
  2. Translate the source texts into the target language.
  3. Leave variables, tags, etc., unchanged in the translation, even if they look wrong. They will be in the right positions in the exported file.

Save suggestion

For cases when you need to provide bidirectional translations (e.g., strings with placeholders), we recommend using the Unicode Table app, with the help of which you can copy and paste right-to-left and left-to-right marks to the translation field, changing the direction of text where needed.

Save suggestion

Command Palette

The Command Palette in the Editor is your hub for accessing various commands efficiently. It serves as a central location for all available commands, ensuring a seamless and intuitive experience.

To open the Command Palette, click in the upper-right corner.

Command Palette

Editor Settings

To open the Editor settings, click in the upper-right corner.

Settings

Editor Settings include the following options:

  • Translation Memory Suggestions – you can specify the minimum similarity match (in percentages) for translation memory suggestions shown under the translation field.
  • QA checks – if enabled, the pop-up messages with warnings will appear each time you try to save a translation with some inaccuracy (punctuation/tags/spaces mismatch, missing variables, etc.)

Validators

  • Auto-complete – if enabled, the pop-up with translation prediction and automatic translation completion will appear while you type the translation.
  • Auto-approve – if enabled, the translations added by proofreaders or members with higher permissions are automatically approved.
  • Automatically move to next string – if enabled, you’ll be automatically moved to the next string after saving a new translation or approving an existing one.
  • Themes – set the Light or Dark theme, or select Auto to allow the Editor to set the theme based on your device system settings.

Settings

  • Compact strings view – if enabled, only the beginnings of the long strings will be shown in the string list.
  • Translation Preview – if enabled, a translation preview will be displayed for translated strings in the string list.
  • HTML Tags Displaying – you can choose Show or Hide option that applies to all HTML tags. If you choose Auto, tags will be hidden in HTML, Haml, XML, Web XML, Markdown, and DOCX files but shown in other file formats. When tags are hidden, you can expect the following:
    <a href="https://sample.com">Sample</a>
    

    will be replaced with

    <0>Sample</0>
    
  • Non-printable characters displaying – if enabled, non-printable characters (e.g., space, tab character, line break, etc.) will be displayed in source texts and translations.
  • Translation field highlighting – if enabled, words with potential QA issues will be underlined in the translation field.
  • Real time spellcheck displaying – instantly view spelling issues as you type a translation. Currently, this feature is available for selected languages.
  • UI Language – select your preferred language for the Crowdin UI. The chosen language will be applied to the Editor and other parts of Crowdin.

Helpful Tips

Keyboard Shortcuts

Use keyboard shortcuts to take actions in the editor quickly. Check the list of keyboard shortcuts by clicking the keyboard icon in the upper-right corner. Most of the hotkeys can be customized to your personal preferences. Click on the necessary key combination, and modify it with the help of your keyboard.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Easy access to most-used menu items in one click:

  • Language – click on the current language (French in the below screenshot)
  • Files – click on the current file name (impact.xml in the below screenshot)
  • Editor Mode (only in projects with a workflow) – click on the current step (Translate in the below screenshot)

Quick access

Useful Options for Source Words

To check Translation Memory suggestions for a particular word or phrase, select it in the source string and choose Search TM from the menu. You can also search for a word or phrase explanation in project terminology and Wikipedia.

Note: Create Term option in this section is available for managers only.

Searh term

Switching to Another File

To translate strings from the other files, follow these steps:

  1. Click on the Main menu or click on the current file name in the upper-left corner.
  2. Choose File > Open.
    Open file
  3. Select the necessary file and click Open. Alternatively, just double-click on the necessary file.
    Choose file

To see all strings of the project, click on the Main menu in the upper-left corner, and go to File > All Strings. Alternatively, click on the current file name in the upper-left corner > All Strings.

Replace in Suggested Translations

You can easily find and replace suggested translations using the Replace in Translations feature.

To replace previously added translations with the new ones, follow these steps:

  1. In the project Dashboard tab, select the necessary language.
  2. Click All Strings > Translate (or All Strings > Go to Editor for projects without a workflow) or choose a file for translation.
  3. Click on the Main menu in the upper-left corner.
  4. Go to File > Replace in Translations.
    Replace translations
  5. Enter the word, phrase, or sentence you want to substitute and the text to replace it with. Similarly to string search, you can use the Match case and Exact match options to refine the search results.
  6. From the drop-down menu, specify the scope of your search, selecting between File, All files, or Filtered strings options.
    Enter text
  7. Click Find to preview the strings that will be replaced.
    Preview
  8. (Optional) Click the Settings drop-down menu on the right and select what information to display in the search results other than translations. You can choose between Key, Context, and Source.
  9. Select the translations you want to replace and click Replace Selected to finish.

While translators can perform replacements only in their own translations, project members with proofreader permissions (or higher) can modify all suggested translations. Authorship of translations is preserved.

Replace in Sources

Project members with developer permissions (or higher) can find and replace source texts using the Replace in Sources feature.

To replace source texts, follow these steps:

  1. In the project Dashboard tab, select the necessary language.
  2. Click Translate All or choose a file for translation.
  3. Click on the Main menu in the upper-left corner.
  4. Go to File > Replace in Sources.
    Replace sources
  5. Enter the word, phrase, or sentence you want to substitute and the text to replace it with. Similarly to string search, you can use the Match case and Exact match options to refine the search results.
  6. From the drop-down menu, specify the scope of your search, selecting between File, All files, or Filtered strings options.
    Enter text
  7. Click Find to preview the strings that will be replaced.
    Preview
  8. (Optional) Click the Settings drop-down menu on the right and select what information to display in the search results other than strings. You can choose between Key and Context.
  9. In the lower-left corner, click the drop-down menu and select the preferred behavior for the translations of the source strings to be replaced. You can choose between Keep Translations, Remove Approvals, or Delete Translations.
  10. Select the source strings you want to replace and click Replace Selected to finish.

Advanced Filter

You can create a custom filter of strings by clicking the Filter strings icon and choosing Advanced Filter.

You can choose multiple filter parameters (e.g., strings added, strings updated, translations updated, Labels, and more) based on your specific needs to sort the strings. This might help to find the necessary information much faster.

In the below screenshot, you may see the strings are filtered by Translations updated interval, the Labels that the filtered strings should be marked with, the Comments, Visibility, and Approved by parameters as well as sorted by Alphabet in Descending order. Advanced Filter

Tasks in the Editor

Once a translator or proofreader has a task assigned, all the task details are accessible from the editor:

  1. The name of the task is displayed at the top of the toolbar.
  2. Filters and searches apply to a particular task only.
  3. Task details can be accessed by clicking the menu in the upper-left corner.

The task menu consists of the following components and features:

  • name, due date, language, type of the task, and assignee
  • options to download and upload translations for the particular task
  • possibility to quit the particular task editor and show all project strings
  • Replace in Translations option
  • Replace in Sources (only for project members with developer permissions (or higher))
    Task Menu

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