Translate your survey with translation files
Note: Translation files are a Corporate plan feature. On other plans, translate with Quick translation.
About translation files
Translation files move the texts of your survey into an Excel file and back. Export a file for one language, have it translated, for example by a translation agency, and import the translated file. The translations land in the survey without anyone working in the editor.
The survey needs at least two languages. Add them in Settings > General. See Run a survey in several languages with Quick translation.
Export a translation file
In the editor, click Translations, the 文A icon in the left toolbar (1), and then Translation files (2).
Under Survey language, pick the language you want to translate to (3). The base language of your survey is shown above it.
Click Export changes (4) or Full export (5). Your browser downloads the file as an XLSX file.
- Full export: all texts of the survey in the chosen language.
- Export changes: only the texts that changed, so your translator gets just the new work.
Translate the file
Open the file in Excel or a similar program, or send it to your translator. Translate the texts and keep the layout of the file as it is, so LimeSurvey can read it again.
Import the translated file
Drop the file on Upload file (6), or click the area and select the file. XLSX files up to 50 MB are accepted.
Click Import file (7). The message Translations imported successfully confirms the import.
The file carries its language, so you do not pick a language to import.
Tip: Check the result in the editor: pick the language in the language list above the survey, or preview the survey in that language.
Next steps
FAQ
What is the difference to Quick translation?
Quick translation is a page in LimeSurvey where you translate text by text. Translation files take all texts of a language out of LimeSurvey, for work in Excel, in a translation tool or at a translation agency.
Can I use translation files on my plan?
Only on the Corporate plan. On all other plans, translate with Quick translation, text by text in LimeSurvey.
Why does the Translations icon not react?
The survey has only one language. Add a language in Settings > General first.
Related Articles
Run a survey in several languages with Quick translation
About multilingual surveys A multilingual survey is one survey with one set of responses, shown in the language of each participant. You build it in a base language, add the other languages and translate the texts: questions, answer options, screens ...Resources: manage survey files
About resources Resources holds the files of a survey, for example images you show in the survey. Here you upload files, see which files the survey has, and move all of them to another survey as a ZIP archive. Upload and find files In the editor, ...Survey permissions
About survey permissions Survey permissions give another user of your survey site access to one survey, without access to the rest of the site. Use them for colleagues who edit, translate, invite participants or look at results. The user must already ...Overview: Survey settings
About the survey settings Everything about a survey that is not a question lives in the panels behind the icons of the left toolbar. The Settings panel, behind the gear icon, holds the survey-wide options in five pages. Changes are saved as you make ...Overview: Survey menu
About the survey menu The survey menu holds the pages of a survey that live outside the editor: participants and their emails, quotas, assessments, panel integration, files and plugin settings. The pages open in the classic view. Unlike the editor, ...