LocaleSheet AI guide#
LocaleSheet translates a column of product titles, descriptions or ad copy into new columns, one per language. Tags, variables and brand names are locked before translation and checked after, and copy is kept within the length limit you set.
Quick start#
- Open the sheet with your copy and click Extensions → LocaleSheet AI → Open LocaleSheet.
- Pick the Source column and tick one or more Target languages.
- Optionally set a Max length, a Tone and Brand terms.
- Click Translate. New columns named like Title (de) appear to the right.
Cost: 1 credit per 25 cells per language. Overnight mode costs half.
What's protected#
These never reach the translator as text; they're replaced with numbered tokens and restored afterwards:
| Kind | Examples |
|---|---|
| HTML tags | <b>, <span class="x">, <br> |
| Liquid and Handlebars | {{ product.title }}, {% if %} |
| Placeholders | {name}, {0}, %s, %1$d |
| Links and emails | https://…, name@shop.com, Markdown link targets |
| Code | `inline code`, [[shortcodes]] |
| Your brand terms | Anything you list under Brand terms |
Every token must come back exactly once. If one is missing, repeated or new, LocaleSheet retries; if it still fails, the cell is flagged instead of being written with broken markup.
Length limits#
Set Max length and choose how to count:
- Ad characters (CJK = 2): full-width Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count as 2, the way Google Ads counts them. Common limits: headline 30, description 90, path 15.
- Characters: plain character count.
- UTF-8 bytes: for systems that limit bytes.
HTML tags don't count towards the limit. Anything over the limit is automatically shortened, and anything still too long is flagged with its length.
Only rows that changed#
With Only rows whose source changed ticked (the default), LocaleSheet remembers a fingerprint of each source cell per language in a hidden _ls_hashes tab. Edit 15 products out of 5,000 and only those 15 are translated again. Changing the length limit counts as a change.
Your keywords per market#
Open Your keyword list per market, pick a language and paste the search terms you researched for that market, one per line. LocaleSheet weaves them in where they read naturally. It never invents keywords or search volumes.
Overnight mode#
Tick Overnight mode for big catalogs. The job is queued at half the credit price and results are written into the sheet automatically, usually within a few hours and always within 24. The Overnight jobs card shows what's pending; Check now checks immediately. Rows you edit while a job is running are left alone and picked up next time.
Reviewing#
- Orange cells either broke a tag or are still over the limit; the note says which.
- Fix them by hand, or edit the source and run again.
Review translations before publishing.
Permissions#
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| This spreadsheet | Read the source column and write translations |
| Your email | Identify your account and credits |
| Connect to external services | Send text to our server for translation |
| Run on a schedule | Collect overnight results |
Troubleshooting#
- "Pick at least one target language": tick a language.
- Everything skipped: nothing changed since last time. Untick Only rows whose source changed to force a re-run.
- Overnight job never finished: jobs expire after 48 hours; queue it again.
More fixes in Troubleshooting.