1. Creating an account

This quick start will help you get started with Crowdin and will walk you through the steps for submitting your first translation. To begin, you need to first sign up with Crowdin and create a profile.

When you done with the registration and have logged in, you will be brought to your Crowdin profile page. Use the button at the right-top corner with your login name on to jump to this page from any other Crowdin page.

After you join a Crowdin project it will appear on your profile page for quick access.

2. How to join a translation project

Find the Crowdin project you would like to contribute to by using the Quick Search field in the head of the site or use the URL provided by the project manager.

If you are looking for an open Crowdin project to help out with translations in your free time you can look through public projects here.

If you was invited to help with a private project hosted at Crowdin and can not find how to join translations please contact the projet manager and ask for the invitation URL. It's not possible to join private project in any other way.

Suppose you found a suitable project and are ready to start translating. The first you have to do is select the language you would like translate into (in the case that your language is missing please contact the project manager).

Once you choose your language, you can start translating. Click on the Translate button for one of the project files as shown below to start.

Below is the usual translators' workspace. On the left side there are texts to translate and on the right hand side you can see the list of tools that help to translate selected source text. Tools include suggestions from Microsoft Translator, MyMemory, Crowdin Translation Memory as well as other Crowdin translators.

Do not fully trust these examples since they are provided only as a guideline. If there is no any text in the translation field, that means the original words have not been translated yet. Those are the ones we need you to work on.

The green dot left to the string is telling you that it has already been translated; -red means the string does not have any translations yet and a green tick means that the string has an approved translation.

When translating, you can either choose from the suggestions below the translation field or type in your own. When you have found the right translation, commit it by pressing the button "Commit Translation".

After clicking "Commit Translation", you will be automatically moved to the next source string. Consider the messages that appear when committing translations, as they often tell you about possible problems with the translation you are suggesting.

Creating a project

To get started with Crowdin you should prepare the localization files of your application or the document files you would like to translate.

Before creating your first project you have to signup or log in with your Crowdin account.

When you log in, you will see the "Create Project" menu item in the main menu.

After clicking the project creation screen will appear. Let split the new project creation wizard to three steps.

1. Project Settings

The project name asked here might be your application name or anything associated with your translation materials. This name will be used when displaying your project on Crowdin pages or for translators finding you (for public projects).

Use only application name when creating new Crowdin project, it is not recommended to use names like "MyApplication Translation", the correct name will be "MyApplication".

The second field is project identifier is used to identify your project when creating unique URL's for your project pages, integrating with Crowdin API and more. The value for this field will be generated automatically after you type the project name, and you will be able to modify it if needed.

It is not recommended to use your application versions in project identifier (even if the version is present in project name). Keep project the identifier clear, only the app name in identifier is the best variant. (The project identifier can not be changed after the project is created)

The Join Policy is the set of privacy rules of your project, and it defines whether your project will be visible for everyone at Crowdin or only for invited translators. Could they start translating right away, or should pass the moderation procedure and be approved as translator. Often the Join Policy is private when setting up new project and after changing to the appropriate one when project configuration is finished. Read more about Crowdin projects Join Policies.

The source language field defines the language your application has been developed with. This field can not be changed after the project is created.

language access policy

2. Project Files

Upload files for translation by clicking the "Select File" button. When uploading finished, Crowdin will display the file added in the table, showing the strings number and words number imported.

3. Project Languages

The final form section is the project target languages. To make the languages filtering easier you can use the input field above the languages list. After the languages are selected, the project is ready to be created. Click "Create Project" button at the very bottom of the page. If the fields were filled correctly you will be moved to the "Project Created" page with further instructions. If some fields contain invalid data you will be warned and asked to fix or add necessary information.

Open

Means everyone can find your project at Crowdin, even users who are not registered. Your project will be indexed by Google. Translation editor will be available for each registered user at Crowdin.

This join policy is suitable for project owners who would like to involve a large community in the translation process but it also requires significant efforts to control the translations quality. It is recommended to promote community translators to proofreaders and verity translations before using them on production.

Private

Is the policy when the project becomes completely hidden for everyone at Crowdin except the project owner and invited translators. Search engines do not index private projects, projects can not be found via Crowdin search. When someone is viewing a translator profile and the translator is involved in a private project, it will not be displayed for the viewer.