This feature is available from the Pro plan and above.
The Style guide feature helps ensure consistency in your content and translations across your platform. You can upload a PDF or DOCX file with important guidelines, including text formality, tone of voice, and context.
Once uploaded, the style guide can be shared with translators when creating translation tasks. Additionally, if you're creating an AI translation task, the style guide will be utilized by the artificial intelligence to maintain consistency in tone and style.
Preparing a style guide for AI-powered translation
You can take advantage of our free style guide template.
Why a style guide matters
A style guide ensures your brand voice tone, and formatting are applied consistently across all content, languages, and regions. It guides the AI in how to write like your brand by capturing:
Tone of voice
Level of formality
Target audience
Usage rules (do's and don'ts)
Why it's important:
Keeps translations aligned with your brand identity
Reduces time spent on post-editing
Ensures consistent voice across teams and markets
How to set it up correctly
When reviewing your AI-generated summary (Lokalise automatically creates this for you, see below):
Focus on tone, formality, voice, and audience
Separate style rules from glossary terms and product names
Keep it concise (under 2,000 words, but the shorter the better)
Use clear do’s and don’ts, with examples
If your Style Guide is vague, contradictory, or overloaded, it can actually hurt AI translation quality
DO's for a good style guide
Define tone of voice (e.g. “friendly but authoritative”)
Specify formality (e.g. “use informal second person ‘you’”)
Clarify audience (e.g. “Gen Z developers, non-native English speakers”)
Give examples:
Do: “You can manage your account here”
Don’t: “One may manage their account here”
Be concise and specific — less is more
Keep the guide under 2,000 words
Put non-translatable terms (product names, currencies, trademarks) in a glossary, not the style guide
Specify localization rules if needed (e.g. currencies, measurement units)
DON'Ts for a style guide
Don’t overload with long or contradictory adjective lists (e.g. “bold, empathetic, humble, powerful”)
Don’t say vague things like “adjust depending on context” — be precise
Don’t write generalities like “Use inclusive language” without examples
Don’t copy/paste whole corporate docs — more than 2k words slows down the AI
Don’t include glossary-type content (product names, currencies, trademark rules)
Don’t waste time on grammar basics (AI already knows punctuation, capitalization, and common date formats)
Examples of style guides
Good example
Tone of voice
Friendly, concise, and empowering.
Address users directly using "you" (second person).
Maintain a professional but conversational tone.
Formality level
Use informal language for user-facing content (e.g., “Click here to get started” instead of “Initiate process via this link”).
For legal or compliance content, default to formal tone.
Audience
Young professionals (ages 25–35), non-native English speakers, global audience.
Assume basic technical literacy but avoid jargon.
Preferred language style
Use active voice whenever possible.
Avoid overly complex sentence structures.
Use contractions (e.g., “you’ll”, “it’s”, “can’t”).
Do's and don’ts
Do: “You’ll get your results in seconds.”
Don’t: “The results shall be provided in a timely manner.”
Do: “Click the ‘Start’ button to begin.”
Don’t: “Initiate the process by engaging the appropriate interface element.”
Bad example
Tone of voice
Clear, concise, informative, engaging, customer-first, trustworthy, dynamic, innovative, mature, friendly, formal but flexible, simple, joyful, and educational.
Formality level
The tone can vary depending on the context. Translators should use their discretion.
Audience
Everyone.
Don’t assume knowledge or technical expertise, but also be precise and use correct terminology.
Guidelines
Use a combination of short, medium, and long sentences.
Don’t compromise on accuracy and clarity.
Use good grammar.
Avoid punctuation in titles and headings.
Follow standard punctuation rules.
Glossary terms (listed in style guide)
CryptoTab, NFT Mining, MetaMask, CTB Max, AppStore, Bitcoin, Android, Level Up
Uploading a style guide
Only team admins, billers, or owners can manage style guides.
To upload a style guide to Lokalise, follow these steps:
Click on the Style guide button in the left menu.
You’ll be presented with an upload screen. Choose one or more PDF or DOCX files (up to 5 MB) from your computer to upload. There’s no need to structure the files in a specific way—they can simply contain plain text instructions and recommendations.
Once the files are uploaded, you’ll see a dialog where you can add more files or remove existing ones.
When ready, click Assign languages.
In the next step, choose a language for the style guide. The guide will be assigned to tasks based on the selected language. Alternatively, you can choose General guide from the dropdown to apply the style guide to all translation tasks, regardless of the target language.
Note: A single task can have multiple style guides assigned, depending on the selected languages.
Once everything is set, click Save.
Managing style guides
Once you've uploaded a style guide, you can manage it in various ways.
Assigning projects
To ensure your style guide is applied to translation tasks, assign it to specific projects:
Click Assign projects. If the style guide is unassigned, it won't be added to any tasks.
Choose one or more projects from the dropdown. The selected projects will appear in a list.
You can add or remove projects anytime by clicking on the project link.
For General guides, the style guide will be added to all tasks created within these projects, regardless of target language. If the guide is assigned to a specific language, it will only apply to tasks containing that target language.
Syncing with Lokalise AI
If you're using AI-powered tasks and want your style guide to be included, you’ll need to sync it with Lokalise AI:
Click Sync with Lokalise AI. Lokalise AI will process the document and summarize it into a more concise form. This may take a while.
Once processing is complete, a button will appear next to the style guide.
Click the button to view and modify the AI-generated summary. Save any changes. This summary will be used when an AI translation task is created.
Other actions
Renaming the style guide: Click the pen icon to rename it.
Additional actions: Click the three dots on the right of the style guide to view the file, modify the AI summary, or remove the uploaded guide.
Assigning style guide to a task
Multiple style guides can be linked to a single task. For example, if you’ve uploaded both a general guide and a guide for French, and French is selected as a target language, the task will include both guides.
Once the style guide is uploaded and assigned to the relevant projects, you can create a new task within one of these projects as explained in the task creation guide.
If the style guide is marked as a general guide, it will automatically be connected to the task, and you’ll see a notification confirming this.
If the style guide is linked to a specific language, it will only be connected if that language is selected as a target during the Scope and assignees step.
If you're creating an AI translation task and the style guide has been synced with Lokalise AI, it will be connected to the task, and the artificial intelligence will use it when generating translations.
After adjusting other task options, click Create task.
Using the style guide
If the task is of the AI translations type, the artificial intelligence will automatically use the connected style guide. However, it's important to note that Lokalise AI does not verify compliance with the style guide rules for real-time (inline) suggestions or retroactively apply it to completed translations. This integration is limited to predefined AI translation tasks, ensuring alignment during those specific activities.
For tasks with human assignees, the assigned translators or reviewers will receive an email notification about the new task. This email will include a link to the style guide for reference.
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Additionally, the assignee can access the style guide from the Incoming tasks widget on Lokalise by clicking the Download style guide button.
Style guide limitations
Keep in mind that Lokalise AI's style guides have some limits:
Only work with new AI translations: Style guides are only used when starting a new AI translation task. They don’t show up in the editor (inline suggestions).
Don’t apply to past translations: If a translation is already completed, the style guide won’t retroactively affect it.
No rule-checking: Unlike glossary terms, style guide rules aren't checked or enforced during translation performed via editor. When you're working directly in the editor, the style guide rules won’t be shown.