📝 Note: This feature is available on the Growth plan and up. Editing source strings via API is available to all plans.

There is 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?

Allows 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 and 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:

Edit source strings in projects with GitHub/BitBucket/GitLab integration.

With the "edit source strings" feature, you can make changes to your source strings in Transifex quickly and easily. But what happens when you need to update your remote repository with those changes? The answer is the "Bi-Directional Source Content Sync" feature, which is available to projects using the GitHub/BitBucket/GitLab integration.

This feature allows for automatic syncing between your Transifex account and your remote repository, so you don't have to worry about manually updating your repository every time you make changes to your source strings. Bi-Directional Source Content Sync covers the two scenarios about updating source content:

When you make updates to your source strings in Transifex, it will automatically sync those changes with your repositories on GitHub/BitBucket/GitLab.
Similarly, any changes made to your source files in GitHub/BitBucket/GitLab will be smoothly synchronized with Transifex.

This means that your localization projects will always be up-to-date and accurate, without any extra effort on your part.

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 Zendesk integration.

If source strings are updated in projects with such integration, 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:
From the translation editor, select the source language from the drop-down list or click the Edit Source link:

📝 Note: If this link does not appear (Resources tab) or appears greyed out (Editor), the file format does not allow source string edits.

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 one resource that is not supported for source editing, then this option is disabled:

How to modify a source string

The user changes the source text and saves the new version. Suppose the source string has already been translated into at least one target language. In that case, the user can either keep these translations by clicking on the Save & Keep Translations button or discard all previous translations by clicking the Save Changes button.

It is important to note that when the user selects to keep the translation, their 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:
1. Is not translated.
2. Matches an existing source text in Translation Memory or the Translation Memory group, the translation will be filled in automatically.

Modifying source strings with locked tags

When you apply a locked tag to a string to lock its translations, you still retain the ability to edit its source text if necessary. Simply follow the steps outlined above, and once you've made your edits, click either "Save Changes" or "Save and Keep Translations" button.

Please check the relevant article here for more information about how translations are affected during online source edits when smart tags are present.

What happens if a source string is removed

If a 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:
1. While the user edits the source language, the filter "edited_source_string:yes" or "edited_source_string:no" will be available.
2. If the user selects "edited_source_string:yes", then any string of a specific resource that has been edited will appear in the results.
3. If the user selects "edited_source_string:no", then any string of a specific resource that hasn't been edited before will appear in the results.
4. The filter 'source updated before/after' should work because an updated string was edited.
Other available filters

Similar filters to those 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.

📝 Note: Filter edited_source_string returns all source strings that have been edited online, and the corresponding version differs from the one last provided via source file upload. If an edit to source string has been made via file upload and a choice is made to bring non edited strings, this string will be returned as it is the same with the string in our source file.

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 strings simultaneously.

Updating a resource in Transifex

To update a resource in Transifex, you have three options:

From the UI: Follow the instructions here to update the resource using the user interface.
From the API
From the Go CLI

Updating resources in your 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.
Developers will periodically update their local source files using the API with what's in Transifex.