Translate many of your store's texts in one file and import them to the correct language without changing the content's identity.
This guide applies to store administrators on Go, Plus, and Pro plans. Multiple languages and language import/export are available on these plans. The language must be added to the store. Customer login, customer groups, and other features have their own subscription terms; a translation does not activate such features.
1. Prepare the language and choose what to translate
Go to Settings → Languages and add the target language.
Mark the language as Hidden if you want to prepare the translations before visitors can select the language.
Decide which parts to translate: products, product groups, shipping and payment methods, delivery information, product templates, custom pages, and theme.
Identify the correct store or sub-store and its active theme. A theme can have its own texts even if the product texts are already translated.
Keep an unchanged copy of the export file. Avoid deleting, recreating, or changing the content or theme the export refers to before you have imported the translations. If the structure has changed, create a new export and transfer the translations to the current keys.
2. Export the correct source language and content
Go to Settings → Languages → Export.
Select the language in which the existing texts are written, for example, Swedish. This is the source language.
Select XLSX, ODS or CSV. XLSX might be the easiest if you work in Excel.
Select the content types to include. Choose the correct theme when translating theme texts; check the store, theme version, and which theme is active.
Export the file and open it in your spreadsheet program.
Video walkthrough
The video shows the export and import flow. Menu names and appearance may differ between interface versions; follow the workflow steps and the content of the fields.
3. Write the translation in the correct column
The file has three columns in this order: key, content and translation.
key identifies the object and the field. Do not change the values in this column or create your own keys.
content shows the exported source text. Editing this column does not change the source language text through this import.
translation is the text to be saved in the target language.
For example, one row might refer to the product's post-order text and another to the product name. Keep the row's key together with the correct text; never sort a single column independently of the others.
Empty translation cells are skipped. Therefore, do not use an empty cell to delete an existing translation. A single value of 0 is also treated as empty in this import. To enter a field consisting only of 0 or delete its text, edit that field directly in the administration.
Translate what should be customer-facing in the target language, but keep identifiers and other technical values that must be exact. Preserve necessary links and HTML structure in texts that contain formatting.
If you use CSV
Save the file as UTF-8. The header row must be key, content, translation as three separate columns in the correct order. The import recognizes commas, semicolons, and tabs as delimiters; the same delimiter must be used throughout the file. The export's delimiter follows the store's export setting and is therefore not always a semicolon.
If all the text ends up in one column in the spreadsheet program, you should open the file with the correct delimiter and character encoding. Do not remove the header row or the key column to make the file look right.
4. Import to the target language
Save the finished file in CSV, ODS, or XLSX format.
Go to Settings → Languages → Import.
Select the language used in the translation column, for example English. Do not select the source language by mistake.
Select the file and start the import. Import one target language at a time.
Check the result before making the language visible to visitors.
Errors regarding the header row or file format must be corrected in the file. Also, check that the target language exists in the specific store the export and import apply to. Do not import an old file against a new theme or recreated content without first comparing a new export.
5. Check the entire customer-facing language version
Check at least one product, one product group, a custom page, the checkout, payment/shipping names, and the active theme. Also check post-order texts and customer notifications once they have been translated. A product import or a translated product text does not mean that all the store's pages and theme texts are complete.
Incomplete translations can result in a mixed or incomplete language version. Keep the language hidden until you have checked how your specific fields are displayed. Check the translations again if you later change themes.
Quick start
Add the target language and keep it hidden during preparation.
Export the correct source language, content, and theme.
Keep key and content; fill in translation and save the file correctly.
Import to the correct target language and check all relevant parts of the store.
Subscription and access
Go, Plus, and Pro support multiple languages and this translation workflow. Access to features that are translated, such as customer groups, is still controlled by the store's subscription and activated features. Older or individual agreements may have different terms.
