Bulk Application Translations

Overview

Managing translations manually through the form builder can be time-consuming, especially in large or multilingual applications. CommCare provides a Bulk Application Translation tool that allows you to manage all translatable content in your app using a single Excel file.

This tool supports exporting, updating, and importing translations across all forms, modules, case lists, multimedia, and labels.

What Can Be Translated Using the Bulk Tool?

• App name, module (menu) names, and form names

• Form content (questions, labels, hints, group headers)

• Multimedia paths (for images, audio, video)

• Case list and case detail screen labels

• Display conditions and repeat group labels

• Case property labels shown in the app

Options for Bulk Translation

CommCare provides two ways to bulk translate app content:

Both approaches produce Excel files with a consistent structure and can be edited and uploaded following the same process.

Bulk Translation for the Entire App

Step 1: Download the Excel File

1. In App Builder, go to App Settings → Languages

2. Click Download Translations

3. You will receive an Excel file with:

   • A row for each translatable text element in the app

   • Columns for each configured language

   • Filepath columns for multimedia (image/audio/video)

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Download the structured file by clicking on the button shown below:

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Understanding the Excel File

In the downloaded structured file, each sheet corresponds to a part of your application, such as menus or forms. Here's how it is organized:

1. Menus_and_forms Sheet

This sheet contains the names and multimedia references for your app's modules and forms.

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2. One Sheet per Menu or Form

Each form and menu has its own sheet. For example:

• menu1 contains translations for the case list and detail screen of the first module.

• menu1_form1 contains translations for all questions and labels in the first form of that module.

Menu Sheet (menu1)

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Form Sheet (menu1_form1)

Form tabs follow the same structure as Form Bulk Translation.

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Step 2: Add or Update Translations

• Fill in the translated text under each language column (default_hin, default_fr, etc.).

• Ensure translations are accurate and consistent.

• If using multimedia, ensure file paths point to uploaded files in the correct language folder (e.g., hin/audio/greeting.mp3).

• Avoid editing column headers, internal labels, or deleting any rows.

Step 3: Upload the Updated File

1. Return to App Settings → Languages

2. Click Upload Translations

3. Upload your modified Excel file

If you have any errors you should see a message explaining the error. After fixing the error you can try again. In general the application builder will skip any single item that has an error and make all of the other changes, so another option is to just make any final changes in the Application Builder.

CommCare will apply all translations across your application. Updates will be reflected in the App Builder and on mobile devices after the version update.

Bulk Translation for a Single Form

If you want to translate one form at a time, use the Edit Bulk Translations tool available inside the form builder.

How to Use Edit Bulk Translation tool

Below screenshot is of a sample application where we have configured two languages: English and French. We built this application in English and French display text was left blank. CommCare automatically populated the additional language display text blocks with the English text as a placeholder until the French translations are added

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Steps to Bulk translate a form:

1. Open the desired form in the Form Builder

2. On the right-hand side, click the Menu Button(three horizontal lines).

3. Scroll to the bottom of the menu and select Edit Bulk Translations

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4. A pop-up window will appear with all display text for that form

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5. In the window, press Ctrl + A to select all text and press Ctrl + C to copy the text

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7. Open Excel, click into cell A1, and paste (Ctrl + V)

   The spreadsheet will have:

   • One row per translatable element

   • One column per language (e.g., English, French)

   • Text copied from the default language in untranslated fields

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8. Replace the placeholder text (e.g., French column) with actual translations

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9. After editing, select all of the spreadsheet and copy it (Ctrl + C)

10. Return to the open Edit Bulk Translations window in the form builder

11. Click inside the text box and press Ctrl + A, then Delete

12. Paste the updated content (Ctrl + V)

13. Click Update Translations to save your changes

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14. Click on any translated question in the form tree to verify your update

15. Press the green Save button at the top to save the form

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Translating HQ: Transifex Instructions for Translators

Transifex is a very helpful bulk translation tool used by professional translators. The section below provides guidance for how to use Transifex with your CommCare application.

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Create a free account in Transifex:

https://www.transifex.com/signup/

1. Log into Transifex

2. Search for "CommCare HQ" in Transifex's explore page.

3. Choose a language, and hit the “Join Team” button to request access. The manager of the team needs to approve your request before you can join that team.

4. After you have been invited approved as a translator, you’ll be notified by e-mail. From then on, you will see the project in your Dashboard.

For more detailed instructions, see Transifex's how to page.

Once you have an account:

1. In order to access the strings that have not yet been translated you will need to click on the "CommCare HQ" link on the lefthand side of your screen when you sign in. 

2. If you click on the green "translate" button at the top, it will take you to a screen that looks like this:

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3. You want to click on choose a language, select the language into which you'd like to translate.

4. It will then prompt you to select which file you want to translate, there are two there, django.po and djangojs.po.  Both need to be translated, so select "All resources."

5. When you click on django po, you will see a screen that looks like this:

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6. You will want to select the "untranslated" tab at the top

7. Once you have selected that tab, the terms/phrases on the left are the "strings" that we need translated.

8. Note that this document contains:

all strings on CommCareHQ.  This includes some strings that only apply to custom features and reports, and are not a core part of the website.  To avoid these, you can use the search bar at the top of the translation interface to filter strings according to the file in which they are found.  Type file:corehq/ as one filter, and file:submodules/ as another, to view only strings which are visible to all CommCare web users

In the search filter on transifex these filters will look like this:

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and

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How to translate template strings and code

When translating, there are some things that you must take special care to preserve (don't translate).  For instance, if a string contains the URL www.example.com, and you translate that to www.ejemplo.com, the link will fail.  If you're unsure how to translate a particular string, it's better to leave it alone and ask for clarification.  A mistake like this in translations will block us from releasing translations until it's fixed.

Strings often contain variables that will later be substituted out.  For example, the string "Case '{name}' has been closed" will turn in to "Case 'Maria' will be closed" in the English version, and "Le dossier 'Maria'  a été fermé." in the French version.

Here are some example format strings an the expected translations:

Curly braces: keep everything inside the braces.

Type {type} must be in list of domain types: {list} El Tipo {type} debe estar en un listado de tipos de dominios: {list}

Modulo interpolation: These ones can be tricky.  Here's a simple example:

Did you mean %(suggestion)s? Voulez-vous dire %(suggestion)s?

These will always start with a % sign and end in a single letter, usually s or d.  In between there can be parenthesis with a word inside, and maybe some numbers or symbols.  Be sure to include everything including the % and the letter.

%(days_remaining)03d days remaining Faltan %(days_remaining)03d días

underscore.js translations:

User <%= name %> added successfully. El usuario <%%= name %%> fue agregado exitosamente.

You may also see html in translation strings.  In general, there you should leave everything between < and > and translate things between > and <:

Please update 'Client Contact Emails' <strong><a href=%(link)s target="_blank">here</a></strong> Por favor actualice 'Correos electrónicos de contacto del cliente' <strong><a href=%(link)s target=\_blank\">aquí</a></strong>

View our <a href=\"http://www.dimagi.com/partners/\">list of partners</a> Voir notre <a href=\"http://www.dimagi.com/partners/\">liste de partenaires</a>

Running a Translation Marathon

• Send instructions on which client everyone should bill translation time to

• Send link to CommCare Rosetta Stone

• Accept/Invite New Translators

• Send reminders about specific filters to use on Transifex

• Choose one filter to translate strings

• Click on Untranslated String button to view only untranslated strings

• Divide up the strings among the team so people don't over-write each others

• Remember to SAVE all of your translations

• Refresh often, un/click untranslated button also (sometimes it doesn't refresh correctly)

Tips

GENERAL	Be sure to reference the CommCare Rosetta Stone for some common translations Error: The translation should start with an empty line. Press the "Enter" or "Return" key before the translation text. Do not change anything in curly brackets {xyz } If you see some untranslated text on HQ and can't find that text on transifex, it's possible it hasn't been marked for translation.  Please contact CommCareHQ support so devs can mark it for translation. If first letter in the string is capital make sure your translated suggestion is also capital Do not translate CommCare branded features into other languages.
French	Capitalize all major words not small articles If there is an article in between such as Remplacer l'icône, you can keep the first letter a lowercase Do not use infinitive form for command verbs. E.g. Télécharger should be Téléchargez