The Contentful Native app runs directly within the Contentful Editor, allowing you to seamlessly translate your content without leaving the platform. If you’re looking for a Lokalise-first solution, check out the Contentful article for more info on using Lokalise’s standalone app.

Main features of the native app:

If you're using the Contentful Native (CN) plugin and you add new locales to your Contentful space or to your Lokalise project, these new languages are not picked up automatically by the plugin. Here's how to make sure everything stays in sync:

Without this refresh, you may encounter an error like: "Locale 'en-IE' not found in Lokalise" or "Language is missing or not configured in Lokalise".

Lokalise app supports Contentful Native aliases, but there are important details to keep in mind to ensure smooth operation.

To install the Lokalise app with alias support, ensure you're working within the right alias:

You can switch your alias to a different environment while keeping Lokalise functional. The recommended approach is:

Once installed, the Lokalise section will appear in the sidebar for entries of the content types you selected during installation. If you don’t see this section, refer to the Adding plugin below.

After exporting, head over to your Lokalise project and open the editor. You’ll notice that the relevant Lokalise tags have been automatically linked to the keys created from the exported entries.

The following tags are added by default:

Key names are generated using the Entry ID and Field ID, separated by a : (colon).

To import translations back into Contentful, use the Lokalise section in the sidebar. You can choose to import one or multiple locales at once.

When importing from Lokalise to Contentful, you have two options:

All translations from Lokalise will be imported regardless of their status (e.g. verified/unverified, reviewed/unreviewed).

If a translation in Lokalise is empty, but the corresponding field in Contentful is non-empty, it will not be imported — the existing Contentful content stays untouched.

When you run an export using the Lokalise app, it exports the entry where the export was initiated, along with all referenced entries from the page. This includes references in both separate fields and within RichText content.

In the export dialog, you can preview the entries that will be exported.

The Lokalise app follows all linked entries, except for those considered separate pages. An entry is treated as a separate page if it contains a field with the slug ID.

Fields from referenced entries are exported as separate keys, with key names containing the ID of the referenced entry. The connection between exported and referenced entries is maintained via tags, where referenced entries will have a tag that includes the title of the originally exported entry.

Not all fields are eligible for export to Lokalise. Fields that cannot be exported will have greyed-out checkboxes, and tooltips will provide explanations. For example, in the screenshot below, the ISBN field is not exportable.

To enable localization for a specific field in Contentful:

If you're working with custom content types and need to connect them to Lokalise, follow these additional steps. You can also find more details in the Contentful documentation.

You can now send entries from Contentful to multiple Lokalise projects using Contentful tags. This feature gives teams more flexibility to organize their translation workflows by content type, team, or strategy — all within the same Contentful space.

You might want to:

Instead of sending all entries to a single Lokalise project, you can now route entries to different projects based on tags.

Once multi-project support is enabled:

Example: If you tag an entry with AI translation and that tag is linked to the Contentful AI Project in Lokalise, the entry will be exported there. If you use a different tag, such as Human review, and it’s linked to another Lokalise project, entries with that tag will be routed accordingly.

After you click Save connection, you’ll see a list of all tags connected to Lokalise projects.

Once you've created tags and connected them to Lokalise projects, you can assign these tags to your entries.

The selected tag determines which Lokalise project the content will be sent to when exported.

You can also add tags to multiple entries in one go. To achieve that, navigate to the content page, select one or more items, and click Add or remove tags:

Once your entry is tagged and ready, click Export content to Lokalise from the entry view.

You’ll see a dialog where you can confirm or select the tag.

Make sure the proper tag is selected and click Export to Lokalise.

When exporting:

After exporting, you can open the connected Lokalise project (based on the selected tag), go to Content management > Imported, and see your entry.

Head to the Editor to start translating the content as usual.

Tip: If you have already associated the entries to the proper tag, instead of manually exporting them from Contentful to Lokalise, you could proceed to your Lokalise project, open Content management page, and click Refresh. This will import all entries associated to that project (entries that have the Contentful tags):

Before setting up multiple projects, we recommend reading through the details below. This will help you avoid common pitfalls and ensure your team’s workflows continue smoothly.

To view or manage your tags:

From here, you can:

You can move between using a single Lokalise project or multiple projects at any time. If you've enabled multi-project support but want to go back to the old way (one Lokalise project per Contentful space), follow these steps:

After this, your Contentful space will be connected to just one Lokalise project. However, you'll be able to switch to multiple projects again using the steps listed above.

When you switch back to a single project, the content linked to other Lokalise projects during multi-project use won't automatically move over. You'll need to manage this manually. Any changes made to translations in other Lokalise projects won't carry over to the single project unless they were using the same project.

Example:

If you switch back to single-project mode and reconnect to Contentful Blank:

In other words, switching back doesn’t merge content. You need to manually sync or copy any translations you want to keep from other projects before changing the setup.

If you assign more than one tag linked to different Lokalise projects, behavior will vary depending on how you export:

Exporting from the entry view (recommended):

Exporting via bulk actions:

When exporting entries to Lokalise in bulk, keep the following in mind:

Each Lokalise project created through a multi-project setup is treated as a completely new, standalone project: it doesn’t inherit any settings from previous ones. This applies whether you’re linking a new Contentful tag or creating a project manually.

Here’s what that means:

While this setup may require more configuration initially, it offers flexibility — each project can have its own workflow, access control, and translation strategy. Teams also benefit from isolating content streams where not everyone needs visibility into every project.

If you're transitioning from a single-project setup to multiple projects, you don’t have to recreate everything (like automations and permissions) for all your content.

Instead, here's a smart way to reuse your existing Lokalise project and minimize setup work:

Now you’ve activated multi-project support without losing your current configuration. You’re still using your original project — just through the lens of the new tag.

From there, if some entries need to follow a different workflow or live in a separate project, you can:

This lets you scale up gradually and only create new projects when needed — not for everything at once.

When you create a new Lokalise project via Contentful (e.g., by linking a new tag to a new project), the project is technically created on behalf of the user who originally installed the Lokalise integration — not necessarily the person who’s setting up the new tag/project in Contentful.

This is a known limitation, and it ties directly into the broader behavior explained above: new projects are fresh. No permissions are inherited, and only the Lokalise team owner/admin will initially have access.

To make the transition smoother:

Q: When I move from a single project to multiple projects, do I lose my initial project?
​A: No, your original Lokalise project remains intact. However, it will be disconnected from Contentful unless you assign a new tag and connect it back to that project.

Q: Are tags connected to specific fields (e.g., title, body) or to the entire entry?
​A: Tags apply to the entire entry. It's not possible to tag just individual fields like the title or body.

Q: What if an entry has linked (child) entries — will they be exported too?
​A: Yes, linked child entries will be exported to the same Lokalise project as the parent entry. However, keep in mind that they won’t automatically inherit the parent’s tag and you'll need to tag them explicitly if needed for visibility or automation purposes.

Q: I connected a tag to a new project and tagged the entries I want, but I don’t see anything in Lokalise. I even tried importing from Contentful and got a success message, but still no content appears.
​A: You’re almost there but there’s one key step left. After tagging your entries, you need to export them to Lokalise to make them appear in the new project.

Tip: When exporting, choose whether to export only your source language or both source and target translations. If you already have translations and don’t want to retranslate them, exporting both source and targets will preserve existing content.

Q: I created new tags and connected them to new Lokalise projects, but I can’t access those projects. What’s going on?
​A: This usually happens when you're not the Lokalise team owner. Here’s why: when a new Lokalise project is created via Contentful, it’s created on behalf of the person who originally set up the Lokalise integration (usually the team owner).

So if you're not that person, you won't have access by default. To fix this, ask your Lokalise team owner to grant you access to the new projects.