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How to translate an XLIFF file, step by step

The whole job, from the file you receive to the file you send back: what to check first, memory and glossary, translating with the tags intact, QA, statuses and export. In the browser, with nothing uploaded.

An XLIFF file arrives from a client, an agency or a developer. The job is to fill in its targets and send it back in a state the tool at the other end will accept. This guide walks through that job in order. If you have never looked inside an XLIFF file, read how to open and edit one first: that guide covers the structure, and this one covers the work.

1. Find out what you have

Four questions decide how you work, so answer them before translating a word:

  • Which format? A plain .xlf or .xliff file is XLIFF 1.2 or 2.x, and the root namespace says which. .sdlxliff comes from Trados Studio and .mqxliff from memoQ; both are XLIFF 1.2 with the status kept in vendor attributes. The XLIFF 1.2, XLIFF 2.0, SDLXLIFF and MQXLIFF references explain each.
  • Which languages? The file declares its source language and usually its target. If the target is not the one you were hired for, the file goes back to the sender.
  • What is already done? Segments can arrive translated, pre-filled from a memory or locked. Locked segments are not yours to change.
  • What does the sender expect back? The same file in the same format, almost always. Ask which statuses they want on the segments you translate.

To work on it in xliff.ai, drop the file on the editor. It opens XLIFF 1.2, 2.0 and 2.1, SDLXLIFF, MQXLIFF, gettext PO, Excel and CSV files, and reads and writes them in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Notes the file carries, such as XLIFF notes, Trados and memoQ comments and PO comments, are shown beside each segment. They can be read there but not edited.

2. Size the job

Count the file before you quote or promise a date. In xliff.ai, the word count next to the progress bar opens a word count and analysis: segments, words and characters for the whole file, split into repetitions and memory match bands, with a CSV to download. Why the figure rarely matches another tool’s exactly is explained in Word count and match analysis.

3. Load your memory and glossary

Do this before translating, not halfway through, so every segment gets the benefit.

  • Translation memory. The Memory panel loads a TMX file, a CSV or Excel file, or an earlier translated XLIFF, SDLXLIFF, MQXLIFF or PO file, from which only confirmed segments are taken. Matches from 50% upwards are shown for the current segment, and a match loses points for differences in case, punctuation, numbers or tags. Ctrl+Shift+1 to Ctrl+Shift+5 inserts the match with that number.
  • Earlier work. When you open the next file, the confirmed segments of the one you finished are kept as a memory for the same language pair. It is on by default and can be switched off.
  • Glossary. The Glossary panel loads TBX, CSV or Excel termbases. Terms found in the source are underlined, and the panel shows whether your target uses the expected term.

Memories and the glossary are stored in this browser, like the file itself.

4. Translate, segment by segment

  • Type in the target cell. Ctrl+Enter confirms the segment and moves to the next one that is not confirmed.
  • Keep the tags. The file’s inline tags, for formatting and code, appear as chips that cannot be split by typing. Ctrl+Alt+Insert inserts the next tag the target is missing, and Ctrl+Insert copies the whole source, tags included, as a starting point. Fixing tag errors covers what to do when they go wrong.
  • Watch the repetitions. When you confirm a segment, other segments with the same source text and an empty target are filled with your translation as Draft. A repetition can need a different translation in a different place, so read them before confirming. This can be switched off.
  • Look up earlier choices. F3 searches the open file for a phrase, so you can see how you translated it a hundred segments ago.
  • Spelling is checked in the browser for 13 languages and variants (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Dutch and Portuguese), with suggestions on Alt+F7.
  • Machine translation is optional. With your own key, the AI panel can fill empty segments as Draft; nothing it writes is confirmed for you. Machine-translating an XLIFF file explains how it protects the tags and what it sends.

Ctrl+/ shows every shortcut.

5. Check it

QA checks run when the file opens: fifteen of them, from tags, placeholders and numbers to punctuation, consistency and your glossary’s terms. (On a file of more than 20,000 segments, start them from the QA panel.) The QA panel groups the issues, and the filter bar can show only the segments that have one.

Clear three kinds before delivery, because they break the file rather than the language: empty targets, tag mismatches and placeholder mismatches. The others are worth reading, not necessarily clearing. A target that is meant to stay identical to its source, such as a product name, is a judgement only you can make.

6. Set the statuses

Ctrl+Enter writes the “translated” status in the format you opened: state="translated" in XLIFF 1.2 and 2.0, conf="Translated" in SDLXLIFF and mq:status="ManuallyConfirmed" in MQXLIFF, and in a PO file it removes the fuzzy flag. Ctrl+Shift+Enter sets a segment back to Draft. Statuses on segments you did not touch are written back exactly as they arrived.

What “done” should look like differs between workflows, so ask: some senders want every segment Translated, others expect review statuses that only their reviewer sets. The segment states guide maps the statuses across formats.

7. Export and deliver

Export (Ctrl+S) writes the file under its original name. Your edited targets and their statuses are spliced into the original bytes, and everything else, from the encoding to the vendor attributes, comes back as it arrived.

Two habits protect you. Keep the original file until the client has accepted the translation. And because xliff.ai’s exports are tested byte for byte but not yet inside Trados Studio or memoQ themselves, open the export in the tool that will consume it before you deliver, when you have that tool.

Your work is saved in the browser as you go. If you close the tab, the editor offers to restore the file the next time you open it.

If the client asks for a Word document instead of the file, or wants to check the translation in Excel first, see Converting an XLIFF file and How to review a translation.

A checklist

  1. Format, languages, locked segments and expected statuses are clear.
  2. The file is counted, and the count is the one you quoted.
  3. Memory and glossary are loaded before the first segment.
  4. Every segment is translated and confirmed; repetitions have been read.
  5. No empty targets, tag mismatches or placeholder mismatches remain.
  6. The export is in the original format and name, and the original is kept.