Import
The Editor lets you bring content from external files into your Flex container to create new segments or update existing ones. Whether you are uploading a single file, a batch of files in a ZIP archive, or re-importing a previously exported spreadsheet with offline edits, the import wizard guides you through each step and provides a detailed log of every change.
Import New File: Upload one or more files from an external source to add new content or translations to your database.
Import Modified File: Re-import a previously exported Excel file to update existing segments with changes made offline.
The Import menu in the top menu bar, showing the Import New File and Import Modified File options.
Import New File
This workflow is for uploading files that come from an external source or that have not been processed by the system before. Use it when adding new source strings, bringing in translated content from an external team, or loading multilingual files into the database for the first time.
Supported File Formats
The import accepts files in the following format families: Excel, CSV, JSON, XML, and POT.
In addition to the standard extensions for each format (such as .xlsx, .csv, .json, .xml, .pot), any custom file extension that is mapped to one of these format families in your project's document format profiles is also accepted. For example, if your project has a parser configuration that maps .tsv files to the CSV format family, you can upload .tsv files directly.
File extensions are matched regardless of case: .JSON, .Json, and .json are all treated the same way.
Import Process
The import wizard guides you through three steps: Upload, Configure, and Preview.
1. Upload
Open the Import menu from the top menu bar and select Import New File. Drag and drop your file into the upload area, or click to browse from your device. The system validates the file extension against your project's parser configurations.
You can also upload a ZIP archive containing multiple files to process them in a single operation. All files in the ZIP must share the same file extension. The maximum number of files in a ZIP is 100.
The Upload step showing the drag-and-drop area with supported file extensions listed below.
2. Configure
Set up how the system will extract and handle your content:
Under Select how text will be extracted from your file, choose a parser configuration from the dropdown. The list shows only configurations compatible with the uploaded file's extension. Each entry displays the configuration name followed by the format domain in parentheses. Click View details next to the dropdown to inspect the selected parser's settings.
Under Choose how target content should be handled during import if matching entries already exist in the system, select one of the following:
Import source and targets. Keep existing targets: the system will add or update content, leaving existing target content unchanged.
Import source and targets. Replace existing targets: the system will add or update content and overwrite all existing target content.
Only import source content: the system will ignore all target content.
Optionally, under Select a branch, pick a branch if your project uses branching.
Under Advanced, the Automatically count words option is enabled by default. Leave it on to recalculate word counts after the import.
Click Continue to proceed to the Preview step.
The Configure step showing the parser selector dropdown, the three target handling options, the branch selector, and the Advanced section.
The parser selector dropdown expanded, showing multiple parser configurations filtered by the uploaded file's extension. Each entry shows the configuration name and format domain (e.g., "WP1428_Aria (Microsoft Excel)").
3. Preview
Review the changes that will be applied upon import. The layout depends on whether you are importing a single file or multiple files.
Single file import
The preview shows two sections:
File Summary: the total number of paragraphs, how many are valid, and how many were skipped.
Import Updates: the number of affected paragraphs, affected segments, added segments, modified or unchanged segments, removed segments, and invalid segments. An Affected languages breakdown lists the number of text changes per language.
Click View full preview to see the complete breakdown.
The single-file Preview step showing the File Summary (paragraph total, ok, skipped) and Import Updates (affected paragraphs, segments, added, modified, removed, invalid) with a per-language breakdown.
Multi-file import (ZIP)
The preview shows a File Summary table that aggregates results across all files in the ZIP:
Column | Description |
|---|---|
Files | Total number of files processed |
Segments | Total number of segments in the files |
Added | Number of new segments added |
Modified | Number of existing segments modified |
Removed | Number of segments deleted |
Valid | Segments processed successfully |
Affected | Segments that were updated |
Errors | Number of segments skipped due to errors (displayed in red) |
Hover over the info icon next to each column header to see its description. Click View full preview for the per-file breakdown.
When you are satisfied with the summary, click Import to proceed. Click Go back to return to the Configure step and make adjustments.
The multi-file Preview step showing the File Summary table with columns for Files, Segments, Added, Modified, Removed, Valid, Affected, and Errors, with aggregate counts for all files in the ZIP.
A tooltip showing on hover over the Files column info icon: "Total number of files processed."
Import Confirmation
Single file import
The confirmation screen displays:
A Transaction ID at the top for traceability.
A success (or partial success) banner.
The same File Summary and Import Updates sections from the preview, now reflecting the actual results.
A View full log link that opens the detailed import log in a new tab.
Click View updated segments to navigate to the imported content in the grid. The Editor automatically applies a Transaction ID filter so you see only the segments from this import.
The single-file import confirmation screen showing the Transaction ID, a green success banner, the File Summary and Import Updates, and links to View full log and View updated segments.
The detailed import log opened in a new tab, showing the full breakdown including received content totals, segment-level statistics, and per-language affected text counts.
The Editor grid filtered by the import's Transaction ID, showing only the segments that were added or modified during the import.
Multi-file import (ZIP)
The confirmation screen displays:
A success banner: "Your import has been successful."
A File Summary heading with the description "Overview of the segments updated during the import process."
The same summary table from the preview (Files, Segments, Added, Modified, Removed, Valid, Affected, Errors) now reflecting the actual results.
A View full log link to open the detailed per-file log.
The multi-file import confirmation screen showing the success banner, the File Summary table with aggregate results, and the View full log link.
Import Modified File
This workflow lets you update existing segments by re-importing a previously exported Excel file. Use it when you have exported content for offline review or editing and want to apply the changes back to the database.
You can update translations, metadata, labels, or any combination of fields included in the export. The system matches each row in the spreadsheet to the corresponding segment using the Context/Key column.
Supported File Format
Only Excel files (.xlsx) that were originally exported from the system are supported. The file must retain the structure generated by the export to ensure correct segment matching.
Import Process
The import wizard follows the same three steps: Upload, Configure, and Preview.
1. Upload
Open the Import menu and select Import Modified File. Drag and drop your updated .xlsx file, or click to browse. The system validates the file structure and prepares it for field mapping.
The Upload step for Import Modified File showing a file ready for processing.
2. Configure
The Configure step for a modified file has two screens: field selection and label assignment.
Field selection
The screen displays the heading Configure which fields to include or exclude during import with a list of all columns from the exported file, each with a toggle switch.
Use Select/Unselect All in the top-right corner for quick bulk selection.
Toggle individual fields on or off to control exactly what gets updated.
You do not need to include the source language column. If your file contains updates for one or more target languages only, the system matches segments using the Context/Key column alone. This is useful when different teams or reviewers work on individual languages independently: each team can export, edit, and reimport only their language without affecting others.
Click Continue to proceed to label assignment.
The field selection screen showing toggles for Database, Branch, Key, and multiple language columns (English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese), with the Select/Unselect All toggle in the top-right corner.
Label assignment
Labels can be applied to the imported segments to support tagging and categorization.
Click + Add Label to manually select a label from the project.
Click Continue to apply automatically assigned labels based on project settings.
Under Advanced, the Automatically count words option is enabled by default.
Click Continue to proceed to the Preview step.
The label assignment screen showing the + Add Label button, helper text, and the Advanced section with the Automatically count words checkbox.
3. Preview
Review the changes that will be applied. The layout is the same as for a single-file import: a File Summary section and an Import Updates section with per-language breakdowns. Click View full preview for the complete breakdown, then click Import to apply the changes or Go back to adjust.
The Preview step for a modified file import, showing the File Summary and Import Updates with affected language counts.
Import Confirmation
The confirmation screen displays the Transaction ID, a success banner, and the results summary. Click View full log to open the detailed log. Click View updated segments to navigate to the updated content in the grid.
The import confirmation screen for a modified file import, showing the Transaction ID, success banner, and the View updated segments button.
Example Scenarios
Use Case | How To |
|---|---|
Add new source strings from an external file | Use Import New File. Select the appropriate parser, then choose Only import source content to skip any target columns in the file. |
Import translations from a vendor and overwrite existing content | Use Import New File. Select the parser matching the file format, then choose Import source and targets. Replace existing targets. to overwrite current translations with the imported ones. |
Bulk import multiple files in one operation | Compress all files into a ZIP archive (all files must share the same extension, up to 100 files). Upload the ZIP in Import New File and configure the parser once for the entire batch. |
Import a file with a custom extension (e.g., .tsv) | Upload the file in Import New File. The parser selector shows only configurations compatible with the uploaded extension. Pick the matching parser (for example, a CSV parser that has been mapped to |
Update only one target language after offline review | Export the content including the target language. Edit translations in the spreadsheet. Use Import Modified File and toggle off the source language and any other columns you do not want to update. The system matches segments by Context/Key alone. |
Update metadata without changing any translations | Use Import Modified File. Toggle off all language columns and keep only the metadata or custom field columns toggled on. Only the selected fields are updated. |
Apply labels to segments during a modified file import | In the Import Modified File workflow, use the label assignment step after field selection. Click + Add Label to select labels manually, or click Continue to apply the project's automatic labels. |
Find all segments changed by a specific import | After the import completes, click View updated segments to open the grid filtered by the import's Transaction ID. You can also add a Transaction ID filter manually from the Filters panel at any time. |
Learn More
Export: Download content as Excel or external file formats for offline review or sharing with external teams.
Document Format Profiles: Configure parser settings and custom file extension mappings that determine which file types are accepted during import.
Filters Panel: Use the Transaction ID filter to locate segments from a specific import operation.