Table of Contents
Note This feature is available on the Premium plan and up. Editing source strings via API is available to all plans. |
No need to rely on developers to fix minor typos and wording in source text by having them continuously upload source files. Such limitations cause delays in the localization process, so tight deadlines might have failed to be met.
Project maintainers can improve the wording in the source text by using the Transifex Web Editor.
Customers who want to ensure proper grammar and alignment with other resources (marketing emails, Company’s Website) can now simply use the Translation editor in the same manner that they translate strings to other languages.
After all, the quality of the source text does matter.
What does this feature include?
Allowing users to modify the source text directly in Transifex. This only applies to resources that are key-based.
The Transifex platform now becomes the source of truth for source strings as well as Translations.
This functionality is only available to Project Maintainers and Organization Administrators.
This function is only supported for file formats with a key-value structure. Source strings can be edited when uploaded using one of the following file formats:
What Does This Feature Not Include?
This feature is not available for TX-Live.
Source strings uploaded using one of the following key-less file formats can't be changed in the editor;
There is no option to overwrite updated source strings in Transifex when uploading a resource file via Github/Bitbucket/Zendesk integration.
If source strings are updated in projects with such integrations, the resource file should be downloaded from Transifex and replaced in the code repository. This way, existing project integrations will not break, and Transifex and the code repository will be synchronized.
Where To Modify A Source String
There are at least two ways to Modify a Source String. They are:
From Project->Resources, click on the Edit Source Strings link as seen below:
Note: if this link does not appear, the file format does not allow source string edits.
From the translation editor, select the source language from the drop-down list, or click the Edit Source link:
Note The file format does not allow source string edits if this link is greyed out. |
Editing Source Strings While Viewing All Resources
The Editing Source Strings option is available while viewing all resources in the editor, as long as the resources of a project are all supported for source editing:
When there is at least 1 resource that is not supported for source editing, then this option is disabled:
How To Modify A Source String
The user changes a source text and saves the new version. If the source string has already been translated in at least one target language, the user can either choose to keep these translations by clicking on the “Save & Keep Translations” button, or discard all previous translations by clicking on the “Save Changes” button.
Something important to note here is that when the user selects to keep the translation, his/her name is set as the translator/reviewer (depending on the string status before the edit).
Does this mean that the work that the translator did gets lost? Certainly not! Everything is saved in TM and available in the Editor as suggestions or historical data.Each update from the original source text is logged: the user can see the different versions in the history tab. The history tab will be empty if the source string is not updated.
If TM Auto fill-ups are enabled, the updated source text:
is not translated and,
matches an existing source text in Translation Memory or the Translation Memory group, then the translation will be filled in automatically.
What Happens If A Source String Is Removed
If the user changes the source text by deleting all text, then the Save button is disabled.
Filters in Edit Source View
Updated source strings within the editor
While the user edits the source language, the filter "edited_source_string:yes" or "edited_source_string:no" will be available.
If the user selects "edited_source_string:yes", then any string of a specific resource that has been edited, will show up in the results.
If the user selects "edited_source_string:no", then any string of a specific resource that hasn't been edited before, will show up in the results.
The filter 'source updated before/after' should work because an updated string was edited.
Other available filters
Similar filters to those available in target languages are also available while viewing the Edit Source view. That way, you can easily find strings with specific text, status, tag, modification date, strings with issues or assigned screenshots, etc. What's worth highlighting is that you can also filter by origin using one of the following options:
Updating strings' metadata
When switching to the edit source view, several bulk actions are available that allow you to modify the metadata of strings.
You can update character limits, string instructions, or tags by applying the same change to multiple stings at once.
Updating a Resource in Transifex
From the UI: Update the resource using the instructions indicated here. Note that an option appears to replace edited strings. Checking this option overwrites updated strings modified in the editor.
Please note that if the uploaded resource does not contain source strings in Transifex, these will be deleted in Transifex, regardless of whether the option 'Replace edited strings' was checked.
From the API using the resource_strings_async_uploads endpoint. To replace edited strings via API, set "replace_edited_strings" to true.
Updating Resource In User's Code Repository
There are two methods of updating the original source file located in your repository with updated strings (Source strings that have been modified):
Through the UI. Go to Resources. Then select your resource. Click on the source language to get the popup that appears below:
Select the download resource link.
Using the API, developers will periodically update their local source files with what's in Transifex.