Manage Manual and External Translations
This article shows how translation works differently in Scroll Documents compared to Scroll Translations.
Use cases
Scroll Documents and its extensions are currently optimized for the following use cases:
If you feel the app lacks features to help support your use case, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team for feedback: help@k15t.com
Internal and External Translation
In both Scroll Translations and Scroll Documents, you have the option to translate content either internally or externally. Let's clarify these two options:
Translate internally in Confluence: In this method, a translator works directly within the Confluence editor to translate content. The key difference when transitioning to Scroll Documents is the editor interface. Unlike Scroll Translations, which has a split editor that displays the original language on the left and the translation on the right, Scroll Documents uses Confluence's own editor, which is more reliable. The source language content is directly copied into the editor for translation.
Translate externally with XLIFF exports: With this approach, content in the source language is exported into XLIFF format and sent to an external translator for translation. Once the translation is complete, it's imported back into Confluence.
Important to note
When translating externally in Scroll Documents, you can only export XLIFF files for translation. If you were exporting your languages to XML previously, don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team: help@k15t.com
While the translation options remain consistent between both apps, there will be differences in the translation workflow. These distinctions will be explored in more depth in the following sections.
Manage Multilingual Content with Scroll Translations
If you are using Scroll Translations (and possibly Scroll Versions), your workflow likely follows these steps for internal or external translation.
Internal translation within Confluence
For internal translation using Scroll Translations, the workflow typically involves the following steps:
Page content is authored in the default language.
Translators review the translations report to identify new or outdated pages for translation.
Translators navigate to the respective pages and manually translate them, saving the translated versions.
Users consume the translated content by switching languages in the language picker.
If you translate internally using Scroll Translations, proceed to the heading Translate internally with Scroll Documents to learn how the workflow will change.
External translation using XLIFF or XML import/export
For external translation using Scroll Translations, the workflow generally looks like this:
Page content is authored in the default language.
A space admin exports the content to XLIFF format for translation.
The files are translated externally.
The space admin imports the translations, marking the pages as translated.
Users consume the translated content by switching languages in the language picker.
If you translate internally using Scroll Translations, proceed to the heading Translate externally with Scroll Documents to learn how the workflow will change.
Manage multilingual content with Translations for Scroll Documents
Once you convert to Scroll Documents and its extension apps, you'll notice changes in the translation workflow, primarily due to the introduction of versioning.
If your converted space had both Scroll Versions and Scroll Translations, you are already familiar with how versioning works. However, if your space only had Scroll Translations, the versioning introduced by Scroll Documents may feel new.
With Scroll Documents and its extension app Translations for Scroll Documents, the translation workflow revolves around the concept of versions:
Working Version: You will encounter the Working version, which serves as a continuously evolving version for drafting changes in your documentation.
Saving New Versions: Once the Working version is reviewed and approved, it can be saved as a new version. The saved version retains the content in the authoring language, enabling you to translate it into secondary languages. Each version and its translations have their own page tree.
You only need to save and translate new versions if you want to keep track of different versions of your documentation. If your use case is to manage a multilingual intranet without versioning, you can add all languages and translations to the Working version.
The new workflow in Scroll Documents varies depending on whether you work with one or multiple versions, as well as whether you translate content internally or externally.
Translate internally with Scroll Documents
Below you’ll find a list with recommended workflows for when you translate one or several versions – within Confluence – using Scroll Documents and Translations for Scroll Documents.
Internal translation with many versions
When translating internally with several versions, the workflow is as follows:
Add new content to the Working version, which uses only the defined authoring language.
Review the content in the Working version before saving the version.
Save the Working version once it's ready, which creates a new version containing the defined authoring language.
Add translations to the new version.
Translate the pages manually within the dedicated page tree.
The process then starts over, if you have translated previous versions you’ll also have the option to reuse translated content.
Internal translation of the Working version
The workflow for internal translation of only the Working version is as follows:
Add new content to the Working version in the specified authoring language.
Review the content in the authoring language.
If not added already, add the translations manually to the Working version.
Translate the pages manually within the dedicated page trees of each language.
The process starts over when you add new content to the authoring language and you update your existing translations.
Translate externally with Scroll Documents
Below you’ll find a list with recommended workflows for when you translate one or several versions externally using Scroll Documents and Translations for Scroll Documents.
External translation with many versions
When translating externally with several versions, the workflow is as follows:
Add new content to the Working version, which uses the defined authoring language.
Review the content in the Working version before saving the version.
Save the Working version once it's ready, which creates a new version containing the defined authoring language.
Create an XLIFF export and send it to a translator.
Import the translated files back to Confluence which will mark the pages as translated.
The process starts over. If you have translated previous versions, you’ll also have the option to reuse translated content.
External translation of the Working version
When translating only the Working version externally the workflow is as follows:
Add new content to the Working version in the specified authoring language.
Review the content in the authoring language.
If not added already, add the translations manually to the Working version.
Generate an XLIFF export and send it to a translator.
The process starts over when you add new content to the authoring language and you update your existing translations.
Note
Adding new pages should be done exclusively in the authoring language of your content, rather than in the translated page trees. When using the synchronization feature during the creation of your next XLIFF file, any newly added pages within the translated page tree structure will be automatically removed.
Conclusion
In this article, we've compared the management of translated spaces in Scroll Translations and Scroll Documents:
Scroll Translations focuses on managing translations within a single space, offering a straightforward process for internal and external translation.
Scroll Documents, with its translations extension, introduces versioning. The workflow centers around a Working version, which can be saved as a new version, each with its own translation page tree.