Episerver Languages and XLIFF support

When working with international and globalized sites and solutions using Episerver, the Languages addon is a great tool to have for editors. The latest release now offers support for XLIFF export and import, which means that we can easily export any content from Episerver (pages, blocks, media, catalog), send it to our translation service, and then reimport the translated content back.

Start by installing Episerver Languages:

Install-Package EPiServer.Labs.LanguageManager

In edit mode you can now add the Languages gadget.

In addition to the Languages gadget we also need to add the Projects gadget. What will happen is that any content you want to send to translation needs to be added to a translation project (which is just a normal Episerver project).

You'll find the Add to translation dialog link under the hamburger menu in the Languages gadget.

Once the content has been added you can export (download) a zip file with the content converted to XLIFF. These XML files can then be sent to a translation agency for translation (they can use their tools to work with these files).

If you open the zip file with the exported content you'll see all the work versions (and the languages you exported) of the content you added to the translation project, in addition there's an extra XML file: translationProject.xml which is used to identify the project when importing the content back.

When ready you just upload the zip file (make sure to not have any sub folders, but keep the same structure). There's a scheduled job that automatically run's every 4 hours that will take any uploaded translation project and import it back (you can of course customize how often it should run and also trigger it manually).

Pro tip: When creating the content for translation (remember you need to create a version first that you add to the translation project for each language you want to translate), I recommend using the Language gadget and the create link together with the Duplicate English content feature, this will then create a baseline for the translation service to work from and translate.

The XLIFF export/import feature was something Geta built for Episerver and have used successfully in production for one of our customers for over 8 months now (12 different languages, both CMS and Commerce).