Translation process

Suggestion voting

Everyone can add suggestions by default, to be accepted by signed in users. Suggestion voting can be used to make use of a string when more than one signed-in user agrees, by setting up the Component configuration with Suggestion voting to turn on voting, and Automatically accept suggestions to set a threshold for accepted suggestions (this includes a vote from the user making the suggestion if it is cast).

Note

Once automatic acceptance is set up, normal users lose the privilege to directly save translations or accept suggestions. This can be overridden with the Edit string when suggestions are enforced permission.

You can combine these with access control into one of the following setups:

• Users suggest and vote for suggestions and a limited group controls what is accepted.

  • Turn on voting.

  • Turn off automatic acceptance.

  • Don’t let users save translations.

• Users suggest and vote for suggestions with automatic acceptance once the defined number of them agree.

  • Turn on voting.

  • Set the desired number of votes for automatic acceptance.

• Optional voting for suggestions. (Can optionally be used by users when they are unsure about a translation by making multiple suggestions.)

  • Only turn on voting.

Additional info on source strings

Enhance the translation process by adding additional info to the strings including explanations, string priorities, check flags and visual context. Some of that info may be extracted from the translation files and some may be added by editing the additional string info:

Access this directly from the translation interface by clicking the “Edit” icon next to Screenshot context or Flags.

See also

• Source string location

• Source string description

• Context

Strings prioritization

String priority can be changed to offer higher priority strings for translation earlier by using the priority flag.

Hint

This can be used to order the flow of translation in a logical manner.

See also

Quality checks

Translation flags

Customization of quality checks and other Weblate behavior, see Customizing behavior using flags.

The string flags are also inherited from the Translation flags at Component configuration and flags from the translation file (see Localization file formats).

See also

• Quality checks

• Customizing behavior using flags

Explanation

Changed in version 4.1: In previous versions this has been called Extra context.

Changed in version 4.18: Support for syncing explanation with a file was introduced.

Use the explanation to clarify scope or usage of the translation. You can use Markdown to include links and other markup.

Some file formats support storing explanation within the file, see Explanation.

Hint

Weblate can also display description present in the translation file for some formats, see Source string description.

Screenshots and visual context

You can upload a screenshot showing a given source string in use within your program. This helps translators understand where it is used, and how it should be translated.

The uploaded screenshot is shown in the translation context sidebar:

In addition to Additional info on source strings, screenshots can be managed in the Weblate UI, kept in sync from the repository, or handled through the Weblate’s REST API.

Managing screenshots in the UI

Each screenshot is stored for a specific translation language. In the translate page, screenshots attached to the source language are shown for every translation of the string, while screenshots attached to any other language are shown only for that language. You can add a screenshot directly from the translate page using Add screenshot in the Screenshot context panel, or open the separate management interface under the Operations menu. There you can upload screenshots, assign them to source strings manually, or use optical character recognition (OCR) by pressing the Automatically recognize button.

Once a screenshot is uploaded, this interface handles management and source string association:

You can upload a screenshot from a local file, paste it from the clipboard, or provide a URL to download an image from an external source. URL-based uploads may be restricted based on the ALLOWED_ASSET_DOMAINS setting, which controls which domains are trusted for downloading external assets, including any redirects followed while fetching the image, and ASSET_RESTRICT_PRIVATE, which rejects internal or non-public targets unless they are included in ASSET_PRIVATE_ALLOWLIST. The ALLOWED_ASSET_SIZE setting limits maximal size for the asset.

Managing screenshots from the repository

You can add or update screenshots directly from your Version Control System (VCS) repository.

To enable this feature, you can either set a screenshot file mask when creating a component, which will be monitored for updates in the repository, or you can add or update screenshots when uploading them manually.

To connect a manually uploaded screenshot with later repository updates, fill in Repository path to screenshot with the path tracked in the repository.

When the repository is updated, the system will automatically scan for changes. Existing screenshots in the repository will be updated, and new screenshots matching the specified screenshot file mask will be added to the component.

See also

Screenshot file mask

Managing screenshots through the API

Screenshot workflows are also available through the REST API. Use GET /api/components/(string:project)/(string:component)/screenshots/ to list screenshots for one component, POST /api/screenshots/ to create screenshots, POST /api/screenshots/(int:id)/file/ to replace the image, POST /api/screenshots/(int:id)/units/ and DELETE /api/screenshots/(int:id)/units/(int:unit_id) to manage source string associations, and DELETE /api/screenshots/(int:id)/ to delete screenshots. Screenshot API objects include the related translation and the optional repository path used for repository-based updates.