How to Add Screenshots from Design Files to App Strings

Context is key! It ensures linguists can quickly provide you with the most accurate translations for an app. Visual context in the form of screenshots helps them better understand your app’s message, the overall user journey, and get a feeling for how much space is available for translated strings.

With that kind of context on Applanga, you cut down on back and forth between the linguits and your team, which means cutting down in overall project time while improving translation quality.

But what if it's not easy to generate that kind of context from your app? The strings might be there, but the UI may not be ready yet or - as it is in many cases - the development team simply doesn’t have the time to help generate screenshots.

In these cases, you can use your design files to pull only screenshots and automatically match them up with your app strings. Using the Applanga design tool plugins, you can upload screenshots to Applanga and link them to already existing strings. The mechanism the plugin uses is text matching; comparing the text in your design files with the ones on Applanga.

Follow these steps to add design tool screenshots to your Applanga projects.

1. Connect the design file to the existing Applanga project.

   • See the Integration Documentation for Sketch, Figma, or Adobe XD to configure the connection between the design file and the Applanga project that contains the app strings.

2. Upload screenshots to Applanga.

   • Follow instructions outline in the Upload section of the relevant Integration Documentation - Sketch, Figma, or Adobe XD
   • In the Upload Options, only select the following to ensure you only link screens with already existing strings in the Applanga project: Include Text, Merge Adobe XD text with existing Applanga strings, and Include Screenshots

   

3. Check screenshots on Applanga.

   • Navigate back to the Applanga project and open the Editor
   • Click the screens icon on the side menu

   

   • Select the first screen in the list, then navigate through the screens using the Prev and Next buttons to review the strings linked to the screens

   

4. Link remaining strings.

   • If there are any strings not yet linked to the correct screen, you can link them via tagging.
   • Use the filter to find any untagged strings

   

   • Mark the checkbox next to the string (A), click the tag button (B), select the correct screen tag (C), then click Apply (D)

   

Once screenshots are uploaded to the project, see the Working with Screenshots article for more information on accessing screenshots, navigating through them, and using the screens menu.

Got stuck or have questions? Email us at support@applanga.com. We’re here to help!