Workiva uses machine translation to translate text in cells and entire spreadsheets. You can improve translation accuracy by uploading a glossary of product names, acronyms, and key terms unique to your business.
Requirements
- Translation is available only for supported languages
- Contact Workiva Support if you need to enable translation in your workspace.
Translate text
You can translate pieces of text in your spreadsheet by typing in the Translation panel or selecting existing text in cells.
You can type directly into the Translate Selection panel to see your text translated in real time.
To translate text:
- Open the Language Translation panel to view the Translate Selection tab.
- Click the second dropdown and select a language to translate to. If you’re translating from a language other than the locale set in Spreadsheet Properties, adjust the selected language in the first dropdown to match the language of your text.
- Begin typing in the first text box. Your translated text automatically appears in the second box.
- Copy the text from the second text box and use CTRL + V to add the translated text to your spreadsheet.
Note: You can translate up to 3000 characters at a time.
You can directly translate a selection of text within cells in your spreadsheet.
- Select the text you want to translate by single-clicking a cell. Hold SHIFT to select multiple cells.
- Right-click the selection and choose Translate.
- Click the second dropdown at the top of the Translate Selection panel and select a language to translate to. The translation automatically appears in the second box.
- To add the translated text to your cells, click Copy Translation to Clipboard and paste it into your file using CTRL + V.
With the Language Translation panel open, you can select other cells in your spreadsheet and see the new translation appear in the second text box.
Translate a spreadsheet
You can also translate a specific sheet or the entire spreadsheet using the Language Translation panel.
- Open the Language Translation panel and select the Translate Spreadsheet tab.
- Click the second dropdown and select a language to translate to. The language in the first dropdown is set by your spreadsheet's locale.
- Click Translate and select to either translate the entire spreadsheet or just selected sheets. If you’d like to translate a set of sheets, select those sections in the window and click Translate.
Your translation automatically opens in a new tab. You can also access this translation from the Translate Spreadsheet tab at any time.
View a translation
The Language Translation panel lets you see what translations of your spreadsheet have already been made. This panel lists translations for both the entire spreadsheet and selected sheets.
Click the open icon next to a translation to view it. When viewing a translation, you can only export the translated file.
The language code of the translated document appears in brackets next to the spreadsheet's title.
To share with collaborators outside of Workiva, you can export your spreadsheet.