Files from Xcode

Translate an Xcode localization XLIFF

Xcode exports an app's strings for translation as an .xcloc bundle with an XLIFF file inside. Open the XLIFF here, translate it with the developer's comments beside each string, and export it back for Xcode to import — free, in your browser.

It opens in the editor in this browser tab. Nothing is uploaded.

Steps

  1. Export from Xcode. Product → Export Localizations… writes one .xcloc bundle per language. The file to translate is the .xliff inside its Localized Contents folder.
  2. Open the .xliff here. Drop it above, or choose the .xcloc folder in Chrome or Edge and pick the file from the list. Every string from every strings file in the project is a row.
  3. Translate with context. The developer's comment for each string is in the Details panel beside it, with the string's key and the strings around it, so a two-word button label is not translated blind.
  4. Export and import back. Choose Export (Ctrl+S), put the file back where it came from in the bundle, and use Product → Import Localizations… in Xcode.

Placeholders

Format specifiers such as %@, %d and %1$@ are checked by QA: a target that drops or adds one is flagged before you export, which is the mistake that crashes a localized build.

Many strings files, one list

Each strings file in the project is its own <file> in the XLIFF. They open together, keep their own ids, and are written back to their own places.

Not yet tested with Xcode

We have not run a file through Xcode's own import yet. What is tested is the file itself: everything outside the targets you edited comes back byte for byte as it arrived, which is what an importer depends on. If Xcode refuses a file from here, please send it to us.