XLIFF Documents

The XLIFF format (XML Localization Interchange File Format, file extension *.xliff or *.xlf) is an XML-based standard format for the exchange of localization resources. It is used in translation processes or as export format of content management systems.

As the XLIFF format is an XML-based document format, the procedure for the translation of XLIFF files is similar to that for the translation XML files. For example, XLIFF files also contain inline elements that must be used in the translation. However, the XLIFF format also has some special characteristics, which are explained below.

• Please note the following peculiarities in connection with the support of XLIFF files:
• The contents of the optional XLIFF element alt-trans, which may contain alternative translations, is ignored during the check-in to Across and are thus not displayed in crossDesk.
• Across only supports XLIFF source documents in which only one source language and one target language are defined. As usual, however, several target languages can be selected during the project setup in Across. In this case, several XLIFF documents with the source language and the respective target language will be created during check-out.
• You cannot change the splitting settings for XLIFF. This means that the texts in crossDesk are always displayed in the form of paragraphs.

Paragraphs in XLIFF files that contain the attribute translate with the attribute value no and that must therefore not be translated are automatically locked in crossDesk.