Batch Translate

Last modified: January 11, 2024

1 Introduction

Batch translate allows you to enter texts in one language which correspond to texts in another language.

Usually you will want to translate from the default language to a second language, but you can use any other dictionary of texts. For example, if your default language is English, United States you may already have translated the text into Dutch, Netherlands and you can use this as a reference for translating into Dutch, Belgium as there are likely to be more similarities.

2 Using Batch Translate

Batch translate translates between two languages. When you select batch translate you will be asked to select the two languages you wish to use, a Source language to use as a reference, and a Destination language which is the one you want to update.

Select source and destination languages

2.1 Documents/Modules

You can select one or more modules you want to use for batch translate. For example, you may have already got translations for imported and system modules and want to concentrate on translating your own modules.

Click Select… and check the modules you want to work on.

Module selection screen

The default is to work on all modules in the app.

To search for a particular phrase in the source language text, type what you want to search for. It is not possible to search for text in the destination language.

Batch translate search

By default, all the translatable text from the selected module (or modules) will be shown.

Each found text will be displayed in the Source column. The # column shows the number of times it occurs in the selected module (or modules).

If you select a line, you can look in the Show occurrence section to see the Object containing the text and the Document it appears in. Double-clicking or clicking Show occurrence will open the document and select the object so you can easily see the context.

2.3 Translation

In Translation, type new text that you want to use instead of the existing text. Click Translate to confirm the replacement.

If you have two texts which are identical in the source language but different in the translation language, you will have to review and change these individually. This is not very common but imagine, for example, you have used Order Lines to both describe the lines on an order and to label a button which sorts some lines. See Working in the Currently Selected Language in Language Menu to find how to change individual texts.

3 Exporting and Importing Text

If you want to translate a language outside Studio Pro, you can export the translatable texts to the Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) format, make changes, and then import the changes from the updated Excel file.

This is particularly useful if you are working on multiple apps and you want to apply your translations to a different app.

3.1 Export to Excel

Click Export to Excel… to export the currently displayed text items to a Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) format file.

The file will be in the format shown below:

Sample Excel file

Row 1Filter: indicates the modules which are included in the exported file.

Row 2 – indicates the source and translation language. The first column represents the current text, the second column the translation text.

Rows 3+ – show the current texts

You can make changes in column B which will be processed if the file is imported.

3.2 Import from Excel

Click Import from Excel… to import a correctly-constructed Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) format file.

This does the following:

  • The selected module (or modules) are set to the ones in the Filter: line of the file
  • Any texts which are empty in column B will be ignored
  • Any texts in column A which do not match translatable texts in the selected module (or modules) will be ignored
  • Any text in column B which is not ignored is entered into the Translation column

Changes will only be made if you click Translate.