This article will guide you through the process of effectively utilizing multilingual files in your wxrks projects.

1. Introduction

A multilingual file is a digital file that contains text or data in more than one language. These files often utilize specific formatting or coding to separate content by language.

Working with a multilingual file in your project can expedite the process of translating the same content into multiple different languages, as we can use a single file in project creation, work on translating multiple work units, and then download a single file containing all the translations, minimizing the need for pre- and post-manual file processing.

Audience and permissions

This article is for project managers, translators, and editors who create or work on multilingual-file projects.

Creating and configuring a project requires standard project-creation permissions.
Downloading files from the project level (Project Actions, Import/Export) requires the "Project Export/Import File" permission.

2. Requirements

The multilingual .xlsx mode works based on spreadsheet columns — each column holds one language. To configure it:

Specify the column letter for each language (source column and one target column per language).
If the file has multiple sheets, enter sheet names exactly as they appear in the file.

Notes

Source and target column order in the spreadsheet does not matter.
Each target-language work unit reads only its own corresponding column.
If the project has more target languages configured than the spreadsheet has columns for, wxrks still creates a work unit for each configured language; the translated content is written to the column defined in the multilingual parameters.
If the project is missing a target locale that exists as a column in the spreadsheet, that column is left unchanged in the output .xlsx.
If the file has multiple sheets, all sheets' content for a given language is consolidated into a single work unit for that language.
Sheet names must be entered exactly as they appear in the file; typos cause errors during work unit creation.

3. Creating a project using a multilingual file

Once you have prepared your multilingual .xlsx file according to the guidelines outlined above, you can proceed to create a new project in wxrks. You can read more on project creation in our corresponding article: How to create a translation project in wxrks.

Start a new project and fill in Step 1 as usual. Select every target language you want translated , this determines which work units get created for the multilingual file.
On Step 2, upload your multilingual file (.xlsx).
Once the upload completes, click the file to expand its parameters.
Enable the Multilingual File toggle and fill in the fields described in section 2 above.
Always click on save for each configuration change.
Complete the project creation.

Animation of the New Project wizard: the multilingual .xlsx file is uploaded on Upload Files, its parameters are expanded, Multilingual File is switched on under Multilingual Flags, Sheet Name, Exclude Rows, Source Column and one Target Column per language are filled in and saved, then Workflows Steps is completed and the project is created.

Configuration fields (available once "Multilingual File" is enabled):

Field	Purpose
Sheet Name	Required only when the file has multiple sheets. Leave blank for single-sheet files.
Source Column	Required. The column containing the original text.
Target Columns	One column per target language, where translated content will be written back.
Remove Configuration	Deletes the current sheet configuration.
Copy Configuration	Creates a new sheet configuration using the same settings as the selected one. For files with multiple sheets.
Add Configuration	Adds a new and empty configuration for another sheet. For files with multiple sheets.
Save	Applies the configuration.

Multilingual Flags section with Exclude Rows and Columns and Multilingual File switched on, and a filled Filtering Options block: Sheet Name UI Strings, Header Row, Exclude Rows 1, Exclude Columns, Source Column B, Target Column (fr_fr) D, Target Column (pt_br) C, Enable Target Char Limit, the Remove and Copy buttons, Add Configuration and Save.

Important: The options below are separate from the Multilingual File toggle. Enabling Multilingual File does not automatically enable or configure them.

Exclude Rows and Columns: This is a separate toggle under Multilingual Flags. Enable it independently when you need to exclude rows or columns from parsing. Read Combining Exclude Rows/Columns with Multilingual File for details.

Enable Contextual References: This is a separate toggle under Multilingual Flags. For configuration and usage details, read How to Configure and Use Contextual Reference Columns.

Data Transformation Parameters: his is a separate toggle under Multilingual Flags. However, it cannot be enabled when Multilingual File is enabled; the two options are mutually exclusive.

Enable Target Char Limit: This is an optional control in Filtering Options for multilingual .xlsx files. For configuration and usage details, read How to Configure and Use Target Char Limit in wxrks.

4. Translating a multilingual project

Once the project is created, wxrks generates a separate work unit for each target language you configured.

You can verify the parsing configuration used for a work unit by checking its filter settings. This confirms that the Source Column and Target Column mappings were applied as expected, along with any row or column exclusions configured separately through Exclude Rows and Columns.

Project Overview with two work units of the same .xlsx file (EN-US to FR-FR and EN-US to PT-BR); the menu of the first work unit is open with Filter Settings selected at the bottom.

Filter Settings window of a work unit scrolled to Multilingual Flags; the read-only Filtering Options block is outlined in red, showing Sheet Name UI Strings, Exclude Rows 1, Source Column B, Target Column (fr_fr) D and Target Column (pt_br) C.

When you open a work unit in the editor, wxrks applies the multilingual column mapping. If Exclude Rows and Columns was enabled and configured separately, those exclusions are also applied. Translatable content then starts from the rows and columns defined by your configuration.

Editor for the EN-US to FR-FR work unit with the file preview open below the segments. Red boxes mark the source segments and the empty target segments, and in the preview the en-US source column B and the fr-FR target column D; the header row 1 does not appear as a segment.

Continue with your standard translation workflow and confirm segments as usual.

5. Downloading the translated multilingual file

There are three different ways to get a translated file out of wxrks, and they do not all behave the same way for multilingual files. Use this section to pick the right one.

5.1 Editor → Download → Translated File (single work unit)

What you get: A file containing only the language of the work unit you currently have open. The other target-language columns are left unchanged from the source file — they are not filled in by this download.
When to use it: Quick check or handoff of a single language while still working inside the editor.

Behavior notes:

Includes any segments that have not yet been confirmed.
Font-mapping and file-name suffix options in the download modal apply regardless of language.
This is not the way to get every language at once — use section 5.2 for that.

Animation in the editor: Download > Translated file opens the Download translated file window with the file name suffix and font options; clicking Download shows the warning about unconfirmed segments, and Download Translated File starts the download.

5.2 Import/Export → Translated Files

What you get: This is the recommended way to generate a multilingual file with either all translated languages or only the specific languages you choose. Each selected target language is written back into its corresponding column in the same output file.

Groups work units by their original source file.
Resolves the full set of target locales for that file — from the work units you selected.
Merges every language's translations back into the corresponding column of one output file per original document.

When to use it: This is the recommended method whenever you need the complete multilingual file back, with every language filled in at once.

Behavior note: This export has two flows. If you choose Whole project at workflow, wxrks exports the complete multilingual file with all available target-language columns for the selected workflow. If you choose Selected Work Units, only the languages associated with the work units you selected are included in the exported file.

Animation on the project Overview: Import/Export is opened, Translated Files is selected and Whole project at workflow opens the Download Translated Files window with the Translation workflow; then one work unit is selected and Selected Work Units opens the same window asking to confirm the download for 1 work unit.

5.3 Work Unit → Download File → Translated File

What you get: A translated file generated from the single work unit you selected. Only that work unit's target language is applied to the multilingual file. The other target-language columns remain unchanged from the original file.
How to download it: Open the work unit menu → select Download File → choose Translated File → confirm the download options.
When to use it: Use this method when you need to download or validate only one target language, instead of generating the complete multilingual file with all translated languages.
Behavior note: If the work unit contains unconfirmed segments, wxrks displays a warning before processing the file. Unconfirmed translations are not included as completed translations in the generated output.

Animation on the project Overview: the work unit menu is opened, Download File shows Select the file type to download, Translated File is chosen and confirmed, and the Download Translated Files options window opens with the Download button.

5.4 Project Actions → Download Translated Files

Behavior notes:

What you get: A .zip file containing the translated files for the project. For a multilingual project, the package includes a single .xlsx file with all translated languages merged into their corresponding columns.
How to download it: Open Project Actions → select Download Translated Files → confirm the download.
When to use it: Use this option when you want to download the complete translated project at once, without selecting individual work units or languages.

Animation on the project Overview: the Project Actions menu is opened and Download Translated Files is clicked, a warning says the translations may be incomplete, OK opens the Download Translated Files window with the Translation workflow, and Download starts the download.

5.5 Quick reference

Method	Scope	Languages in output
Editor → Download → Translated File	One work unit	Only that work unit's target language; other columns stay unchanged.
Import/Export → Translated Files	One or many work units of a file	All target languages resolved for that file, merged into one file.
Project Actions → Download Translated Files	All work units of the project	Same behavior as Import/Export → Translated Files (same job).

6. Combining Exclude Rows/Columns with Multilingual File

If Exclude Rows and Columns is enabled, Excluded Rows and Excluded Columns become part of that same sheet configuration. These exclusions are applied before wxrks splits the multilingual file into separate work units by target language.

In practice:

Excluded Rows removes the specified rows from segment extraction for all work units generated from that sheet. For example, headers or locale-code rows will not appear as translatable segments in any target language.
Excluded Columns prevents the specified columns from being extracted as translatable content. This is useful for IDs, metadata, internal comments, or other auxiliary columns.
Since Source Column and Target Column(s) already define the columns used for translation, Excluded Columns is especially useful for ignoring additional columns that are not part of the language mapping.
Exclusions are configured per sheet. If the .xlsx file contains multiple sheets with different layouts, each sheet can have its own Source Column, Target Column(s), Excluded Rows, and Excluded Columns configuration.
In the editor, excluded rows and columns never generate segments. The resulting segment list contains only the content remaining after the exclusions are applied.

7. Auto-detecting language columns

Sections 2 and 3 describe how to map the source column and one target column per language, sheet by sheet. On a workbook with many languages or many sheets, that mapping is slow and easy to get wrong.

Auto-detection does it for you: wxrks reads the header row of every worksheet, recognizes each language by its code, and fills in the same Sheet Name, Source Column, and Target Column fields described in section 3. You review the result and save.

The button sits next to the Filtering Options label and is available for .xlsx project files when Multilingual File is on. It is not available for .csv, .xls, or multilingual XML files, and it does not appear on default org-unit filters, where target languages are chosen rather than detected. The project must already have a Source Language defined — detection uses it to decide which detected column is the source and which are targets.

Note: Auto-detection is an optional shortcut. The manual mapping described in section 3 keeps working exactly as before, and you can mix the two — run detection first, then correct or complete any field by hand.

7.1 Prepare the header row

Detection is code-based, not name-based: put the language code in the header cell, one language per column. A header written as Portuguese or Português is not recognized.

A	B	C	D
`Key`	`en-US`	`pt-BR`	`fr-FR`

With the project source language set to en-US, column B becomes the source column, C and D become target columns, and column A matches no code and is left unmapped. Separators and casing are interchangeable (pt-BR, pt_BR, PT-br), and a code inside a longer label (Target pt-BR text) is also recognized.

Two things to watch for:

Two columns carrying the same code on the same sheet cannot be resolved automatically.
Detection looks for two- and three-letter codes anywhere in the header text, so Segment ID matches id (Indonesian) and No. matches no (Norwegian). Rename such columns — Key, Reference, Row number — or expect them in the headers require manual mapping list.

Note: If your headers sit below a title or a logo block, you do not need to edit the file. Enter the real row number in Header Row instead.

7.2 Run the detection

Open the file parameters of your .xlsx file — during project creation, on the Upload Files step, click the file name to expand its parameters; on an existing project, open the project, select the file, and open its file parameters.
Under Multilingual Flags, turn on Multilingual File. The Filtering Options block appears, with the Auto-detect language columns button next to its label.

Multilingual Flags section of the XLSX file parameters. The Multilingual File toggle is switched on and outlined in red; the Auto-detect language columns button is now visible beside the Filtering Options label.

(Optional) In each worksheet block, set Header Row to the row number that holds the language headers. Leave it empty to use row 1.

Worksheet configuration block with the Header Row field outlined in red and badged as step 3, showing the placeholder value 1.

Click Auto-detect language columns. The button shows a spinner while wxrks reads the workbook.

The Auto-detect language columns button spotlighted against a dimmed page, outlined in red and badged as step 4.

Warning: Auto-detection replaces the current worksheet configuration blocks with the detected ones. Any manual mapping you had already typed for these sheets is overwritten. Run it before hand-tuning, not after.

7.3 Review what was detected

When detection succeeds, wxrks applies the results directly to the same fields described in section 3:

One worksheet configuration block per detected multilingual worksheet, with Sheet Name set to the real sheet name.
Header Row filled with the row that was actually used.
Source Column filled with the column matching the project's Source Language.
One Target Column (…) field per detected target language, filled with its column letter. The label shows the normalized language code, for example pt_br.
Exclude Rows and Columns turned on, with the header row added to that sheet's Exclude Rows field, so the header itself is not sent for translation. Section 6 explains how those exclusions are applied.

Detected worksheet configuration outlined in red: Sheet Name UI Strings, Header Row 1, Exclude Rows 1, Source Column B, Target Column (pt_br) C and Target Column (fr_fr) D.

Detected target languages are also added to the project's Target Languages, merged with the ones you had already selected. As section 3 notes, that list is what determines which work units get created for the multilingual file.

Configuration step of project creation with the Target Languages field outlined in red, listing French (France) and Portuguese (Brazil) from detection alongside the manually selected Spanish (Latin America).

Warning: A target language you selected by hand but that does not appear in the file keeps its place in Target Languages and loses its Target Column field in the detected sheet configuration. wxrks still creates a work unit for that language, but it has no column to write into for this sheet — the behavior described in the last notes of section 2. Either add its column to the file and run detection again, or remove the language from Target Languages.

If every detected field is complete, the configuration is saved for you and you see The worksheet configuration was detected and saved automatically. Running detection again with nothing to change produces no confirmation, because there is nothing new to save. When a field was left blank, fill it in and click Save in the Filtering Options block.

Note: Detected target languages are added to the project scope, never removed. If detection picks up a language you do not want to translate, remove it from Target Languages manually.

7.4 Detection messages

Message	Why it appears	What to do
The worksheet configuration was detected and saved automatically.	Every detected sheet has a source column and all target columns filled, and the configuration was persisted.	Nothing. Continue with the project.
No multilingual worksheet configuration could be detected.	No worksheet had both a source-language header and a target-language header.	Check the header row number and that the headers use language codes.
The following headers require manual mapping: …	A header matched more than one language, or two columns on the same sheet matched the same language.	Fill in the affected Source Column / Target Column fields by hand, then click Save.
Some sheets were ignored: …	The listed sheets had no source language, no target language, or neither. The reason is shown next to each sheet name.	Expected for glossary, instructions, or metadata tabs. Otherwise fix the headers, or map that sheet manually with Add Configuration.
Complete the missing mappings before saving automatically: …	Detection ran, but some columns stayed blank. Nothing was saved.	Fill in the listed fields and click Save.
Header Row must be a positive whole number.	A Header Row field contains `0`, a negative number, or a decimal.	Enter a whole number of 1 or greater, or clear the field to use row 1.

Notifications at the top right of the Upload Files step reading Some sheets were ignored: Instructions: source and target languages not found, and The worksheet configuration was detected and saved automatically.

7.5 If the button is missing or disabled

The Auto-detect language columns button appears only when the file is .xlsx, Multilingual File is on, and you are configuring a project file. It is visible but disabled while the upload has not finished, while the parameters panel is read-only for your role, or while a detection run is already in progress.

If the request fails with a reading error, the workbook could not be opened — it is password-protected, corrupted, or not a real .xlsx. Re-save it from Excel as .xlsx and upload again.

8. Troubleshooting

"My downloaded file only has one language filled in." You used the editor's or single work unit download (5.1). This is expected — use Translated Files at the project level (5.2) to get every language at once.
"Some languages are missing from my Translated Files export." Check which work units you had selected before exporting — only the languages tied to the selected work units are included. Select all work units for that file to include every configured target language.
"The file has untranslated segments." Both download methods (5.1 and 5.2) include unconfirmed segments. Confirm all segments first if you need a fully reviewed file.

How to work with a multilingual .xlsx file in wxrks