Adding translations

After enabling multilingual support in the Console system settings, you can add new translations for metadata one at a time using the appropriate designer or for operational data using the appropriate object's window. However, adding large numbers of translations in this way is very time-consuming, so you can also import many translations at once from a spreadsheet.

For information about adding individual translations for object and process titles, actions, and statuses, see Adding individual translations for object and process titles, actions, and statuses; for information about adding individual translations for windows and queries, see Adding individual translations for windows and query titles; for information about adding individual translations for operational data, see Adding individual translations for operational data.

Importing multilingual translations

You manage the importing of multilingual translations using the System preferences page in Web Desk. The easiest way to prepare the spreadsheet that you use to import the translations from is to add a single translation for each required language, and then export the translations. This creates a spreadsheet with the required rows and columns that you can pass to your language experts to complete.

You do not need to complete all of the translations in the spreadsheet. If you leave an entry blank, the corresponding translation in your database is not changed. This means that if you have previously added a translation for that entry, it is unchanged; if there is no translation for an entry in your database, then the default language is used for the corresponding item.

Importing a blank entry DOES NOT delete that entry - it leaves it unchanged. Importing a changed entry updates the existing translation with the new value.

This means that you can build up your multilingual system piece by piece. You can import different sections and different languages as they are completed, rather than having to wait until all of the translations are completed.

To create the translations spreadsheet:

1. Log in to Web Desk as a user who has their culture set to the default language and click in the toolbar.
   The System preferences page appears.
2. In the Multilingual Localization group box, click Export.
   The export of the text that can be localized starts.
   

When you have exported the translations, you can open the file in Microsoft Excel.

You may receive a warning when you open the file in Excel that the format and file extension don't match. This is because the exported file is an XML file that is suitable for opening in Excel.

The file contains a row for each translatable value in the database, and the following columns:

attribute_guid - the attribute guid for the value, used internally: DO NOT EDIT OR DELETE THIS.

attribute_name - the attribute name for the value, to help you to identify the value: DO NOT EDIT OR DELETE THIS.

record_guid - the record guid for the value, used internally: DO NOT EDIT OR DELETE THIS.

record_extra_info - you can use this column to add guidance for your translators.

value_<language code> - for each language that you have added to your database, a separate value_<language code> column is added, where <language code> identifies the specific language to be entered into the column. For example, de-DE = German, en-GB = British English. Languages that are not a supported Service Desk or Asset Manager culture are also allowed, such as fil-PH = Filipino.

When you have exported your translations, you can distribute the spreadsheet to your language experts to translate. You can hide or delete rows and columns that you do not need them to work on, and then import these sections of the spreadsheet – you do not need to import complete spreadsheets.

To import translations:

1. Log in to Web Desk as a user who has their culture set to the default language and click in the toolbar.
   The System preferences page appears.
2. In the Multilingual Localization group box, click Choose File.
   The Open dialog appears.
3. Browse to the required file, then click Open.
   The name of the selected file appears on the System preferences page.
4. Click Import.
   The new and updated translations are imported into your database.