
Excel is a very popular tool for translation management, especially in smaller projects. It can be used to maintain an overview of translation keys, translators, languages, and deliverables at the same time.

The benefits of Excel are that it is flexible, collaborative, scalable, and easy to use. It can meet the needs of small-scale translation projects as well as projects with many active translators and large scale translations. 


## How to use Excel as a translation management tool

Excel is a great tool to start translation management in a new project. With a simple Excel file, you can check current translation version, progress of translating new keys or languages, and share the file easily with your team members.

### How to create a spreadsheet for project translations

**How to get started?** Simply create a new file in Excel or Google Sheets and start by naming your columns. The best way is to extract or copy translation keys from your project, and put them in the first column. 

Next, add language columns and their translations in corresponding cells. Have a look at the sample translation for our PlaceFlare app. Quite easy, right?

![sample excel translation file](/blog/excel-google-sheets-translation-file.png)
This is a basic and simple translation template which will work perfectly for your project. 

Here are some useful tips for translating in Excel: 
- **Freeze key column** to easily scroll between languages if there are many. 
- Add an extra column where you put a **screenshot or image of the translated area** — sometimes you may not remember where the key came from. With the screenshot, you can easily associate the key and its location. 
- Use international codes for naming language columns (e.g., en, es) together with its [locale](https://simplelocalize.io/blog/posts/language-vs-locale/) like en-GB, es-ES, es-CL. It will be easier to start with **internationalization** sooner than deal with it later.
- Make one language your main one and fully translate it first. It will be a base for translating other languages. 

### How to work with Excel translation files?

An Excel file is a great tool for translations, but it still needs to be uploaded to your app or website. The file allows you to control easily updated texts, add languages and modify translations, but it doesn't connect directly with the source code. 

![sample excel translation file](/blog/excel-to-json-and-json-to-excel-conversion.jpg)

Usually you need to **convert the Excel file to JSON**. Remember that when translation changes, there is a new feature or update, you need to edit the file and give the updated version to your dev team to replace the existing translations in the code.

## Auto-translation in Excel

Today, we can use a variety of online resources to automatically translate texts with a very high level of precision. The most popular tools online are **DeepL** and **Google Translate**. You can use them as a great help with translating texts, or use built-in translation features or plugins. Here are some examples of auto-translation option for Excel files:

**Google Sheets translation formula**

You can easily translate text in Google Sheets with integrated formula from Google Translate. Just type in a selected cell this formula: **=GOOGLETRANSLATE(cell to translate, “source language”, “target language”)**, for example:

![Google Sheets google translate](/blog/google-sheets-translate.png)

Then spread the formula for the entire column and work the same way for other languages.

**Microsoft Excel Translate**

Microsoft Excel has a special function for automatic translations, called **Translate**. You will find it under Review tab. Check how to use this option in the official [Excel translation guide](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator/business/excel/).


## Auto-translation with DeepL or Google Translate with SimpleLocalize

Instead of the manual work with Excel options, you can use a translation management tool which has dedicated options for seamless automatic translations. 

![Auto translation with SimpleLocalize](/blog/auto-translate.jpg)

**How it works?**
Login to SimpleLocalize with **free Community plan** and create your project. Then, with one click, **upload your existing Excel file** and hit **Start auto translation** button.

SimpleLocalize will **auto translate with Google Translate or DeepL** for selected languages. In a few seconds, you can have your project fully translated and ready to go!

![Auto translation with SimpleLocalize](/blog/auto-translation-job.png)

When your translations are ready, you can export them to many supported formats, also Excel, or [upload translations automatically with CLI](https://simplelocalize.io/docs/cli/upload-translations/).

## Pros and Cons of using spreadsheets for translation Management

Using spreadsheets as translation management tool is a popular choice for many projects, but it has its pros and cons, especially compared with a dedicated translation app:  

### Pros:
- simple to import and export data
- helps to track changes in translation file
- easy to use and well known for everyone
- allows sharing files with the team
- no or very low cost

### Cons:
- a lot of manual work with copy-pasting texts and formulas
- not so user-friendly and simple enough for translations (not designed to be a translation management tool)
- requires frequent file changes and manual uploads of new translations
- difficult to keep track on new translations and removing not used translation keys as its very time-consuming task

![SimpleLocalize translation editor](/blog/translation-editor-interface.png)

## Easy Excel file translation with SimpleLocalize

SimpleLocalize is a simple, intuitive way to manage internationalization in Excel. It's data-driven, easy to use, and saves time on tedious processes that are otherwise difficult to automate. 

Import your current Excel files to SimpleLocalize and start translating your projects efficiently with auto translation features. [Start now with our free Community plan](https://simplelocalize.io/pricing/) and check how SimpleLocalize can help you in your work!


The complete guide to managing translation projects with Excel


Software updates can be challenging and yet with every deploy, you must remember about updating your keys, translations, and content. Keeping all text up to date is a key for a perfect impression on the released features. How do you work with translations, do you keep them up to date with every release? See our tips below for the effective translation management. 

## Why should you keep an eye on translations with every software update?

No one likes to read empty keys instead of clean, nicely translated texts. But there are more reasons to watch and control the translation and localization process. They are both important for the overall perception of your site's content. Why is that so?

- **Untranslated keys make the worst impression of your product**. Using keys and texts, you communicate with your users — missing translations give the impression of carelessness, are unprofessional. You don't want your customers to think of you and your product in such categories, for sure. 
- When adding new features and translations to them, do not forget about localization. **Localized text show your customers that you care**. You want your software to be fully adjusted and tailored to the language they use in everyday life. Remember to adjust the content, names of the features and new options to your customers' culture.
- **SEO**. Not translated content or texts copied from an automatic translator are a nightmare for your Google ranking. When adding a new feature, do not forget to share it on your blog and social media too!
- **Not updated translations can be misleading not only for your customers but also for you and your team**. What did that “Disable All” button mean? Was it deactivating all updates or only part of them? If you are not updating texts on a regular basis, you will waste your time later to check and update all keys. 

## How to keep your software translations up to date?

First, plan it. Think of the translation process of your software, what are the weaknesses in your current solution and how you can improve it? Who will be responsible for the translations, and at what stage of development? How the whole process should look like? 

![application source code with translated messages](/blog/find-and-upload-translations-in-source-code.jpg)

We prepared 3 tips that should help you in keeping the translation process on track. 

### 1. Planning translation process.

When adding new content or changing existing features, you need to remember about adding and updating translations in all languages. How to keep this process in track? 

The translation process needs to be controlled by a human being, though it is prone to errors or mistakes. However, to prevent any issues, make the process as easy and smooth as possible. Complicated operations, tasks in such small thing as it seems, makes the translations a secondary issue.

Start with simple steps. 
- When a development team makes changes, notify the person responsible for translations about new keys to translate. It can be done by the developer with email or automatically. With SimpleLocalize, notification about a new update are sent to selected users, so they can start working on translations.
- Translator translates the changes and publish to development or live environment.

### 2. Updating translations.

Updating translations directly in the code may be challenging, and it means that only developers can change them. Great if they have language skills, but what if you ask a professional translator for help? Imagine updating Excel files with translations, adding it to your code, again and again when a new feature is released. Not the best and fastest option to keep the process smooth and easy.

Instead, think of using an external **software to manage your translations online, in simple translation editor**. SimpleLocalize is a great help for all changes in translations that can be deployed immediately to your app with [SimpleLocalize CLI](https://simplelocalize.io/docs/cli/get-started/). You can **give access to the editor to any team member** to adjust translations in development environment only or in the live version. See the history of all changes, the latest releases and old text versions. Managing multiple languages in one place really helps in keeping translations up to date. 

![translation editor with deepl and google translate logo](/blog/cloud-translation-editor-with-deepl-and-google-translate.jpg)

### 3. Checking and removing unused translation keys.

When was the last time that you deleted unused translations? 
Over the years of creating and developing software, we add lots of new keys. However, we tend to forget about old translations that are no longer used, and to which we are unlikely to return. 

To keep translations up to date, check the age of your translations, if they are used or not updated in a long time. Outdated translations take storage and create disorder in your files. Especially when there are a bunch of such translations.

It may be difficult to check that information in the code, but in SimpleLocalize you can **check not used translations or those that are not updated or pushed to live version in a long time**. Just check the list and remove them from your code to clean up your software. 

![approved translation window with search and trash icon](/blog/how-to-find-unused-translation-keys.jpg)

## What to do next with translations?

**Start simple** — try the **[free version of SimpleLocalize](https://simplelocalize.io/register/)** to see how it can help you to manage your translations and keep them up to date. You can [register to SimpleLocalize](https://simplelocalize.io/register/) with one click and connect your project to update translations automatically in a nice-looking app. Are you ready to get started? 

For any questions about SimpleLocalize, do not hesitate to [contact Jakub](https://simplelocalize.io/docs/general/support/) directly, he knows it all about translations! 😎


How to keep translations up to date?



At first sight, the term *translation management* defines it by itself. But what does it mean for project owners, developers and translators? Results that it may have different meaning depending on your role in the project. Let's consider how each of the role understands translation management, how does it work and how it improves day-to-day operations.

## Translation management in software projects

Whatever your role in the project, you are bound to be dealing with translations. Even if you're not a translator or programmer yourself, you use a translated, off-the-shelf system. As your project expands, it offers more language options for the customers, so you can switch between them in your product. How does it usually work from the **management side** in each step? Let's play three roles, developer, translator and salesperson in two scenarios: without and with translation management implemented.


### Role: Developer

As a developer, you have a different view of software translation than other team members. How does that process look like from the dev team perspective? 

![Developer work on translation](/blog/developer-work.png)


#### Scenario 1: Without translation management implemented

9 AM at your desk, a new task pops up saying that both web and mobile apps must be translated into 3 languages. Your React project uses only English now, so you wonder how you can manage all translation. You start searching for libraries that will work well for your project and won’t be too time-consuming to implement. In the end, you decide to use React-intl. You look at the documentation and find out that you need to change all text into keys and put them into **JSON files**. Is there any way to automatize it? Unfortunately no. What would you do to have it done at the very beginning of the project? Well, that’s a lesson, let's get to work.

You convert existing texts into *FormattedMessage* components. One by one. Your project is quite big, so it takes time. 

How a sample text looked like at the beginning:

![not translated text](/blog/not-translated-text.png)

How does it look like with React-intl:

![React intl key](/blog/formatted-message-key.png)

You also need to move each key and text to JSON file, to corresponding language versions, like this:

![JSON language key en](/blog/json-keys-en.png)

![JSON language key es](/blog/json-keys-es.png)


Now, when you have all the translation files ready, it’s not the end yet. **What you need to do when there is a new functionality?** You add a new key and corresponding translation you received from the translators' team, one by one, to JSON files? Then you wait for deploy to push them to the live version? Maybe you need to build an internal translation system for the team to automatize the process? 

Imagine all the work that needs to be done without a good translation management system in your project. For developers, translations sound boring, and they require a lot of work and time, that they could spend on much more interesting functionalities.

#### Scenario 2: With effective translation management implemented

9 AM at your desk, a new task pops up saying that both web and mobile apps must be translated into 3 languages. You already have React-intl implemented for such cases, you knew that it will be necessary one day. 
First, you simply create new **JSON files** for new languages and that's all. Translations are prepared and published by the translators' team in **SimpleLocalize cloud editor**, and they can be pushed to your app **automatically**. Without copying and pasting all translations manually and hoping that there are no errors.

![Upload translation](/blog/upload-translations.png)

How it works when you add new functionality to the project? **SimpleLocalize-CLI finds all i18n keys in the source code automatically and shows them in the editor.** You do not export keys to send them to translators - it is all done automatically, and you can focus on other tasks.

### Role: Translator

You are probably not working as a translator on a regular basis but you know the language so you can prepare the translations. What does translation management mean to you?

You receive a task from the PM to translate the software to Spanish. Will you receive a list of all texts from the dev team? Or you need to search for them and translate in Excel to send the file back to programmers? That’s very time-consuming.

![Translation work](/blog/translation-work-in-progress.png)

Better, when there is at least an internal translation system created, then you just need to translate all texts. However, the problem appears when the translations are not added and updated regularly - it is difficult to **track all changes and versions**, to keep everything up to date. 

SimpleLocalize cloud editor appears to help here. In the editor, you can **filter all translations, see the progress of each language**, and you can easily check which and how many translations are missing. In conclusion, **it keeps the translation process as simple as possible**.

### Role: Salesperson

As a sales hero, you don’t work with translations on a daily basis, but it affects you sometimes when a translation is missing. During a presentation of your product, you notice this, a not translated key:

![not translated key](/blog/missing-translation-key.png)

Oh, it had to be added with one of the updates. How long has it been there? It looks very unprofessional for the client, like the product has not been finished. You return the issue to the translator to add the text. What else you can do?

**With efficient translation management software, such situations would not have occurred.** Thanks to the easy integration and cloud editor, SimpleLocalize helps you keep all translations up to date and remove unused keys. Moreover, with easy access to online platform, you can add translation and publish it to **appear immediately** in your product. 

## Translation management - do I need it?

As you can see, effective translation management **improves the quality of work of multiple teams in different areas**. From the developers, thanks to easy integration, through the translation or support team who have easy access to translation tools, to the final presentation of the product by the salesperson. Managing project internationalisation with SimpleLocalize makes it easy to control and introduce new languages and customisations to your product. Check how it could help your project with a **7-day free trial** at [SimpleLocalize.io](https://simplelocalize.io) or test a *free version* for a smaller app or website! 

What is translation management?


Did you find out a smart way to handle i18n, and it didn't work again? See our 7 tips how to make your
localization better and easy to maintain. We worked for over 4 years with many companies on their i18n localization
systems. Now we are sharing our experience with the audience! 

## Use unique translation keys

For each translation use separate translation key. do not try to cheat the system. This may result with changing translation 
in multiple places which may not fit in all places. It's hard to discover such problems later. Try to keep **one i18n key per translation**. 
This will allow you to precisely edit content in place where you want.

## Don’t capitalize with CSS

When you try to cheat the system using one key in multiple places you will notice that in some places you need
capitalized translation and somewhere you don’t want to use this. Solution is to use unique translation keys for every
place, and capitalize it properly. Remember that different languages have different grammar rules. Not in every language we capitalize the days of week. 
Many **users will easily notice the grammar issues**, and this can cause they won't stick with your application for a long.

## Use same translation keys in buttons

If some action in your service does the same thing, then you should use the same translation key every button. This is the one of a 
few places where you should use the same translation key. Thanks to that you will always keep the
context. Same wording will help you users to understand what they are doing. Be consistent, users will thank you and
more easily understand the system.


![localization progress](/blog/localization-progress.jpg)

## Don’t nest translations

How many times did you tried to create fancy directory structure to get everything clean and tidy? Probably many. After
a few days you end up with the same mess which you had, because instead of searching the correct directory you just put
files to ‘temporary’ directory. It looks like the same with the translations.

In many i18n libraries it’s a common approach to use **nested translations** like following:
```json
{
  "nav": { 
    "buttons": 
        { 
          "get-started": "Get Started"
        }
  }  
}
```

Don’t do this, this tidiness is artificial, and it won’t help. Imagine that your app will evolve because [the only constant in software development is
change](https://medium.com/skiplist-publication/software-principle-11-the-only-constant-is-change-5c3be83c9ec5). Moving translations
around will be a nightmare. After some time translation key may not belong anymore to some parent node. 
Then you will have to choose which key should go to another nested group.

## Keep flat structure

If you think that keeping translation in 'groups' is a good idea then consider using prefixes. 
In some scenarios it is a good idea, for example for navigation keys, or buttons. You can use category for each translation keys like following
`nav-product-solution`
or
`nav.product-solution`

It makes sens because you will exactly know which translation will be changed.

## Consider i18n management

[Translation management](/translation-editor) is being more and more important topic when your project grows.
Many i18n libraries uses JSON files to keep translation files. The structure varies but in general all of them looks
 similar. **The biggest i18n problem is that it’s very hard to handle without a proper tools.** Image that every of
translations are packed into separate json file named: "en.json", "de.json", "fr.json", "it.json" and every file contain
structure like this:

```json
{ 
  "sign-in": "Sign In",
  "get-started": "Get Started",
  "register": "Register",
  "logout": "Logout",
  "close": "Close"
}
```

**Adding a translation to many files can be frustrating and slow down the development process.** Now you need to send it to translator or translate it on your own
using [DeepL](https://www.deepl.com/home), [Google Translate](https://translate.google.pl/) or [Microsoft Translate](https://www.microsoft.com/translator/). 
Creating localized apps or games can be really annoying in such conditions. That is why
we created SimpleLocalize. [Clean, simple, and user-friendly system for handling i18n](https://simplelocalize.io). We provide many i18n library
integrations including [i18next](/docs/integrations/i18next/), [FormatJS](/docs/integrations/format-js/), Android and iOS. [Translation keys can be easily extracted](/docs/cli/get-started/) from the projects,
uploaded to [translation editor](/translation-editor/). Our localization command-line tool can simplify this
process. [Book a demo with me](mailto:contact@simplelocalize.io) to see how your life can be easier with the SimpleLocalize!

![easy localization progress](/blog/localization-progress-bonjour.jpg)

## Finding unused translation keys

One of the biggest problems in agile teams is that system changes and evolving fast! That causes problem with the
translations which must keep up with a product evolving. It’s easy to add a new translation in code and ping translators.
But what happens when your product now contains 10x times more translations keys than the beginning? Many of them are
still useful but not used, the key has been changed, but the meaning is still valid, so it’s hard to say if we can remove
it or no. The solution is SimpleLocalize system which will help you in finding out which translation keys is not used in
the code. Integrate your project with our translation management service and sort translation keys by last occurrence! To
extract translation keys from the project files you can use our [Localization CLI Tool](/docs/cli/get-started/). [It’s open source](https://github.com/simplelocalize/simplelocalize-cli), so it can be
used in enterprise project.

## Conclusions

[App localization](/react-localization) is not the easy topic. Many people tried to find out the new smart way of handling it, many of them
failed due to over-engineering stuff. How about keeping everything simple, and clean? Try to always follow the KISS rule,
every professional software developer will tell you that! 



Easy Internationalization: 7 tips to make your work faster


## Background

To provide the best experience from our product we needed to make important changes in our naming convention.
From now `uploadToken`, `projectUploadToken`, `apiToken` will now be known as: `apiKey`. 
 
## Why are we changing this?
 
In the future, this will allow us to offer multiple API keys per project. When we start working on SimpleLocalize we had the option to add new keys and edit them in Web UI. Today, we are giving offering much more than a simple upload/import feature. 
Our product offers: 
- translation key extraction CLI,
- content delivery network, 
- import translations from Excel file, 
- export translations to JSON from Excel file,
- unlimited rollbacks,
- more important API access, which allows you to manipulate translations. 

We know that many of you are using SimpleLocalize as a tool to save time and build your integrations. 
We hope that this change will help our future clients and won't be and an obstacle for our current clients. 

![use api key to rule them all](/blog/one-api-key-to-rule.jpg)

## What do I need to do?

Changes are transparent for your current 3rd party integrations. 
There is no need to update anything. We are changing our naming convention to simplify our platform. 
If you are using [SimpleLocalize CLI](https://github.com/simplelocalize/simplelocalize-cli) 
then please read the next section.

## Patching your SimpleLocalize CLI configs

Update your `simplelocalize.yaml` configuration file and rename `uploadToken` property to `apiKey`.
`uploadToken` will be supported until November 2021.

```yaml
uploadToken: <PROJECT_UPLOAD_TOKEN>
projectType: yahoo/react-intl
```

change to

```yaml
apiKey: <API_KEY>
projectType: yahoo/react-intl
```

## Where can I find my API Key?

Every project has assigned one unique API Key. You will find it in the project 'Integration' tab in the 'Custom Integration' section.

![api-key-in-integration-tab](/blog/api-key-integration-tab.png)

Check out updated [API Documentation](/docs/api/get-started)

For questions please contact us: contact@simplelocalize.io


Deprecating project upload tokens and upload tokens

## Localization in mobile/web applications
The most important thing in any software translation process is localization. While introducing your mobile or web app or any other product to another market, it’s important to adjust it for the particular location. 
Localization is the process of targeting your product for specific group of users, defined by their location. In other words, the product or service you provide will be more suitable for a particular country or area thanks to the localization.

![simplelocalize localization](/blog/localization-1.jpg)

## Why should I focus on localization?
Localization significantly improves user experience by making texts in your app more readable and understandable for particular group of users - they can react with the product more naturally, in the environment they know and feel good with, which brings only good results for your product. More languages you offer in your product, more users and customers you can attend.
Translation with localization included, brings many more benefits to the final product than with a simple translation of the text. Moreover, localization gives your product a soul, like it's designed specifically for a group of users in specific location. 
Localization is in opposition to one universal product designed for everyone. It refines and adapts content for local needs which makes the product more suitable for specific recipients. As a result, you can create a unique relationship between your product or company and the person who is using it.

![simplelocalize i18n extraction cli](/blog/extraction-cli.jpg)

## How localization works?
Localization is based on adapting the content to the product recipient. It means that instead of using simple translation, you need to search deeper, understand the language culture of your users. It's important to notice, that a word in English translated to another language, may have more than one meaning and very often it can't be translated literally. Therefore, it's crucial to understand different cultures and language differences to localize the product successfully so it’s as familiar as possible for the users. 
Another example are symbols which may have different meaning in different languages and cultures. Furthermore, there are multiple variations of languages. As an example, Spanish is different in Madrid, in Malaga and in Buenos Aires or Bogotá. Words in the same language may have totally different meaning used in different parts of the world. That's why the localization is important - you want users to react positively to your product, accordingly to the way you designed it to be.

## Why localization is important?
* Improves customer satisfaction. Localization shows to your customers that they are important for you and you take care of them by providing with the product that’s adjusted for their culture, customs and needs.
* Helps increase customers base and expand your business.
* Improves your SEO.

![simplelocalize key value translation](/blog/key-value-banner.jpg)


## Should I use localization tools?
There are multiple tools on the Internet that will help you automatize the process of localization. See below how exactly they work:
* They help you automatize the process of translation and localization and deliver product faster for specific locations
* You can control the whole translation and localization progress in one app
* Changes can be deployed with one click so they are updated immediately
* You can easily track all changes in translations and see previous versions
* They give you an option to translate for multiple languages
* Easy interface helps translators to focus more on the localization
* You can work with your team on multiple projects at the same time, online
* They optimize your workflow
* and much more!

![simplelocalize extract i18n](/blog/advert-banner.jpg)

Get your free trial account on SimpleLocalize to check all the features and test it on your product!



Translation Hosting

SimpleLocalize CLI

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Customer-specific translations

Posts tagged with `translation-management`

The complete guide to managing translation projects with Excel

How to keep translations up to date?

What is translation management?

Easy Internationalization: 7 tips to make your work faster

Deprecating project upload tokens and upload tokens

Start with software project localization