Form Bulk Translation

Owned by Jeremy W.
Last updated: Aug 07, 2017 by Lauren O'Connell
4 min read

Overview

If your application is in more than one language, it can be easier to do all of your form translations at one time, outside of CommCare.  This is very useful if you need to send your text to someone else for translation, or if you want to add an additional language after you have already made your forms.

If you want to translate multiple forms you can use Bulk Application Translations tool.

You can use a tool called "Bulk Translation" to export all of the display text in a form, add in the translations, and then upload them all back into the form at one time.  The export can be put into an excel document so that you can send it to a translator or work on the translation separately from the form builder. Translation of buttons or error messages are not dealt with using Bulk Translations, but with Translate the CommCare User Interface.

How to Use Bulk Translation

  1. In this sample application, we have two languages: English and French.  When making the application, only English text was entered. The French display text was left blank.  CommCare automatically populates the additional language display text blocks with the English text as a placeholder until the French translation is added:

2. You can click on each form and edit the local language translation for each question one by one. Or, you can use the the Bulk Translation feature to update the language for all the questions in one form at once. 

3. To use the Bulk Translations feature, click on the "Tools" box on the right side of the specific form name as demonstrated below.  The menu will open and you will see several options, including "Edit Bulk Translations" at the very bottom of the list. 

 

4. When you click on "Edit Bulk Translations" a box/window will appear in the center of the screen that shows all of your question text:

 

5. Select All the text by pressing Ctrl + A.

6. Copy the selection in the box by pressing Ctrl + C, or by right clicking and selecting "copy." 

7. Open a new Excel Spreadsheet.  Select the top left cell (Cell A1) and then Paste (Edit - > Paste, Ctrl + V, or Right Click -> Paste).  You will see all of the text from the "Edit Bulk Translations" box is now in columns in the spreadsheet:

8. Each column represents a piece of content (either text or multimedia) in each language. Some of the French versions (column B) of the text the questions are in English because we have not translated them.  You can go ahead and replace the default English text with your translations.

NOTE: Not all fonts show up on all phones.  Always use UNICODE fonts where possible, and make sure to test your individual phones. See Local Language Support and Fonts for more information.

9. When you are done entering your translations, select all of the spreadsheet, and copy it (Ctrl +C).  

10. Go back to your browser with the "Edit Bulk Translations" window open.  Click in the middle of the box. Then Select All the text by pressing Ctrl + A.  If you do not place your cursor in the middle of box before pressing Ctrl+A the computer may select all of the text on the screen, including the website.   

11. Delete the contents of the window. Replace it with the newly translated text you copied in the Excel file by pressing Ctrl + V.

12. To confirm the changes, click "Update Translations."  If you press "close" the box will close and your translations will not be updated.

 

13. Click on one of the questions you just translated in the Question Tree, and you will now see the updated text you entered while working with the Excel file.  

14. Make sure to save your form by pressing the Green Save button at the top left corner of the screen.

15. Repeat this process for other forms in your application.