Workflow Statuses and Rules

GL Strings supports workflow statuses and rules to help manage translation workflows. Both features exist at the team level and are applicable to all projects under the same team.

There are two types of workflow statuses: pre-defined statuses and custom workflow statuses.

Pre-defined statuses are available by default in every GL Strings team and can't be deleted. The Pre-Defined statuses include: Needs Translation, Needs Review, Accepted, and Rejected.

Custom workflow statuses can be added at the team level in addition to the pre-defined, default statuses. They can be edited or deleted at any time.

Both types of workflow statuses can be configured to require comments and/or make them visible to specific user roles.

Rules are used to automate certain steps in the translation workflow and they can be applied to strings and screenshots.

Table of Contents

1. How to Create a Custom Workflow Status
2. How to Apply a Status to an Entry
   • Applying a Status to Multiple Entries at Once
   • Applying a Status to a Single Entry
3. How to Manage Statuses
   • How to Edit an Existing Status
   • How to Reorder Statuses
   • How to Delete a Custom Status
4. What Are Rules and How to Use Them
   • Status Rules
   • Screenshot Rules

How to Create a Custom Workflow Status

1. Navigate to the team's page and scroll to the bottom towards the Workflow Statuses and Rules panel.

2. To add a custom workflow, click Add a New Status in the Workflow Statuses and Rules panel.

3. Add a name for the custom status.
4. Enter the hex code for the custom status’ color in the color field.
   • To pick a specific color, click the black box (A) then use the eyedropper tool (B) to select the shade (C).
   • Use the sliding scale (D) to change the color or enter the RGB values below.

5. To hide your custom workflow status from one or multiple user roles, uncheck the applicable checkboxes next to each user role.

6. Under Other configuration options:
   • Check the Require a comment when this workflow status is applied box if you want to make comments mandatory when a user applies the custom status to a string.
   • Leave the box unchecked if adding a comment should be optional.
7. Click on Add Status.

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How to Apply a Status to an Entry

Through the editor view, users can apply status at a string level or to multiple strings at once.

Applying a Status to Multiple Entries at Once

1. Open the editor for a project.
2. Mark the checkboxes for entries that require the new status and click Status.

3. The dropdown menu will show the pre-defined statuses at the top and the custom statuses towards the bottom.
   • If a custom status with mandatory comments is selected, the Update workflow status dialog will open automatically so that users can enter a comment and save it.
   • If a custom status with optional comments is selected, the status will be applied automatically. For this type of status, it's still possible to add a comment by clicking on Comment & More instead of the desired status. Users will be redirected to the Update workflow status dialog, where they can select the status from dropdown menu and add a comment.

4. To save the changes and exit the Update workflow status dialog, click Save.

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Applying a Status to a Single Entry

1. Open the editor view for a project.
2. Click on the translation status indicator of a given string.

3. The dropdown menu will show the pre-defined statuses at the top and the custom statuses towards the bottom.

   • If a custom status with mandatory comments is selected, the Update workflow status dialog will open automatically so that users can enter a comment and save it.
   • If a custom status with optional comments is selected, the status will be applied automatically. For this type of status, it's still possible to add a comment by clicking on Comment & More instead of the desired status. Users will be redirected to the Update workflow status dialog, where they can select the status from the dropdown menu.

4. To save the changes and exit the Update workflow status dialog, click on Save.

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How to Manage Statuses

How to Edit an Existing Status

1. Navigate to the team's page and scroll to the bottom to find the Workflow Statuses and Rules panel.
2. Hover on the status then click the pencil icon to edit.
   • Pre-defined, Default Statuses: users can limit which roles can use the status and/or require a comment when the status is set manually in the editor. (Click Reset to Default if you need to undo the changes to the status)
   • Custom Statuses users can edit the status name, color, access by role, and/or require a comment.

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How to Reorder Statuses

Users with the Manager, Admin, or Owner role can reorder statuses in the Status dropdown.

1. Navigate to the team's page and scroll to the bottom to find the Workflow Statuses and Rules panel.
2. Click Change the Order of Statuses.
3. Click the up or down arrows to move a status up or down in the display order.
4. Click Apply to save changes to the status display order.

1. The status dropdown will now display in the order defined in the previous steps.

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How to Delete a Custom Status

1. Navigate to the team's page and scroll to the bottom to find the Workflow Statuses and Rules panel.
2. Hover over the custom status and click the trash can icon.
3. Click Delete to confirm.

Note: custom statuses that are being used in a read-only branch can't be deleted.

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What are Rules and How to Use Them

Status Rules

Status rules can be used to automatically update a string's status when they are manually saved as draft, published, or Machine Translations are applied. These rules don't apply to strings added via file import, order delivery, or any integrations. To enable statuses rules, navigate to the team's page and scroll down to the bottom. Under the Workflow Statuses and Rules panel, click on the Rules tab.

1. The first rule will automatically update a string's status to a pre-defined or custom one when the string is manually saved as a draft. To activate it, switch the toggle then select the status from the dropdown menu.

2. The second rule will automatically update a string's status to a pre-defined or custom one when the string is manually published. To activate it, switch the toggle then select the status from the dropdown menu.

3. The third rule will automatically update a string's status to a pre-defined or custom one when Machine Translations are applied manually in the editor. To activate it, switch the toggle then select the status from the dropdown menu.

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Screenshot Rules

If you work with screenshots on GL Strings and want to review the screenshot layout as well as the translated strings, you can use screenshot rules to automate this process. Screenshot rules allow teams to define if and when a screenshot can be marked as verified or unverified. At the same time, it automates workflow status updates each time that a new screenshot is uploaded to GL Strings.

To enable screenshot rules, navigate to the team's page and scroll down to the bottom of the page to the Status and Rules Panel. Under the Workflow Statuses and Rules panel, select the Screenshot Rules tab.

Verify Screenshots

The first rule defines which workflow status must be applied to all the strings associated with a screenshot in order to designate the screenshot as verified. To activate this rule, switch the toggle (A). Then the workflow status can be selected from the dropdown menu (B).

Remove Screenshot Verification

The second rule will automatically mark a screenshot as unverified when a new variant is uploaded to GL Strings. To activate it, switch the toggle (C).

**Keep Screenshot Verification if New Variant is Identical **

Once the unverify rule is enabled, you can define that a verified screenshot keeps its verification status when an identical variant is uploaded to GL Strings. To activate this rule, switch the toggle (D).

Automated Status Updates for New Variants

Additionally, you can further specify the rule to automatically update statuses for translations associated with newly uploaded screenshot variants. This allows reviewers to quickly find and review new updates to screenshots. To activate this rule, switch the toggle (E). Then specify which status (F) should be changed to a new status (G).

For example, once a review round is complete all translations marked as Rejected receive a new status of Needs Review when new screenshot variants are uploaded to GL Strings. You can create multiple rules to automate status-based workflows by clicking Add Rule (H).

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