Introduction

Creation automations

Automation mechanics

Running automations on demand

Using automations during key creation

Using automations during file import

Monitored language — select a language that you would like to monitor. Whenever this language is changed within the current project (find detailed information on trigger conditions below), certain action(s) will be applied to the automated languages.

Automated languages — choose one or more project languages to apply automations to. You can also select All project languages from the Automated languages dropdown. In this case, all newly added languages will also be automated, and the number of available automations will be re-calculated.

Minimal change required — possible values range from 0% to 100%. This setting provides the minimal monitored language change required to trigger the automation.

Allow cascade triggering — when enabled, the current automation can be triggered by other automations. For example, suppose you've created a rule to monitor English language and apply TM to Russian translations. You also have another rule to monitor Russian language and use machine translation for French language. If cascade triggering is allowed for the second rule, then the corresponding action will be run whenever Russian translations are modified by the action from the first rule.

Actions — provide an action sequence that should be applied to the target languages. Next action in the sequence will only be attempted if the previous one failed or is not applicable. To remove an action, click on the small "cancel" icon next to the action (in the top right corner). Please remember that by default automations are applied only to the empty translation values but this can be adjusted (checks the Common action options section below).

Insert monitored language translation — copy the monitored translation language value into the automated languages values.

Apply translation memory — try to use translation memory to perform translation. You will also need to provide a value for the translation memory threshold.

Use machine translation — employ MT to perform translation. You'll need to choose a translation provider: Google Translate or DeepL. Please note that the MT values inserted by automations won't get saved into the translation memory.

Pseudolocalize — apply pseudolocalization to the automated languages. You can also increase translation length by entering a percentage number.

Change translation status — modify translation status for the automated languages (see the common action options below).

Clear translation — remove translation value by setting it to Empty. This is the only action that will always be executed, even if the target translation is not empty.

Force this action — the chosen action will be forcefully applied even if the target language translation is not empty. By default, automations are applied only to the empty translation values; if the value is not empty, it will be skipped. The only exception is the Clear translation action which always fires.

Clear statuses — unassign all statuses from the translation value before applying the new ones.

Mark as Unverified — when enabled, the translation value will be marked as unverified.

Mark as Reviewed — when enabled, the translation value will be marked as reviewed. This option is not applicable if your project has a reviewing feature disabled (you can enable it in the general project settings).

Auto-toggle Unverified — if you update the base language translation, Lokalise will automatically mark translations for all other languages as Unverified. This action is performed before applying automations. Please note that previously this option was found in the Project settings but we've moved it under Automations.

Find and replace — never triggers

API v1 — never triggers

API v2:

Graphical interface (Lokalise web interface):

Bulk actions:

Language settings (change plural forms) — never triggers

File import via Git integrations — triggers only if the corresponding checkbox is enabled

Content integrations (Contentful, WordPress, Zendesk Guide, Intercom Articles etc) — always triggers

Design integrations (Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch etc) — always triggers

Link keys, merge keys — never triggers

Translation image set — never triggers

Translation editor, in-context editor — always triggers

Branch merging — never triggers

Machine translation orders — never triggers

Gengo orders — always triggers

If a contributor is making changes to a monitored language, the automation will be triggered even if this contributor has no permissions for the target language.
For example, suppose you have an automation monitoring the English language. Whenever a change is made, an MT provider should be used to populate translations for the French language. Ann is a contributor who has read/write access to the English language. She, however, has no permissions to view or modify the French translations. Still, if Ann modifies English translations, the automation will trigger and the chosen MT provider will be used to populate French translations.

If contributing within tasks only option is enabled in the project settings, automations will still propagate to the locked languages.

Only unlocked translations trigger automations. In other words, if some translation is locked because it was included in an order or a task, it should not trigger an automation.