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Export your translations

BuiltLast updated 2026-11-07

Your translations are yours. You can download them whenever you like. Export keeps working even if your plan has lapsed.

Formats#

The export keeps the text, inline tags, placeholders, special characters, line breaks and the state of each translation (machine, reviewed or manual). Formats with one language per file are delivered as a zip.

How#

• Command line: rl export --format xliff --out backup.xlf. Add --lang fr for one language. See The command-line tool.
• API: a request to the site's export address with the format you want. The key needs the scope translations:read. See API keys.
• Dashboard: open your site, choose Export translations, tick the languages, pick a format and choose Download. See the next section.

Export from the dashboard#

The Export translations button is on every site page. Editors, admins and owners can use it. It works while your plan has lapsed.

1. Tick the languages you want. Each one shows how many strings are translated.
2. Pick a format.
3. Choose Download.

One language arrives as one file. Several languages arrive as one zip with a file per language. The file is prepared while it downloads, one language at a time, so large sites work too. The file is never cached, so it shows your latest edits. Every download is written to your audit log.

Download everything#

The account owner also sees Download everything on the export page. It gives one zip with the whole account:

• every site: name, languages, domains (allowed addresses) and settings;
• every source string, and every translation of every language with its state (machine, reviewed or manual), the reviewed flag, quality flags and time;
• the glossary and the do-not-translate list;
• the history of published manifests and the list of public files they point to;
• a README and a note on how to restore.

Not in it, on purpose: API keys, signing keys, provider keys, billing and payment data, team members and the audit log.

Protect it with a passphrase (optional). Fill in the two passphrase fields (at least 12 characters) and the file is encrypted with AES-256 and ends in .zip.enc. We do not keep the passphrase. If you lose it, nobody can open the file. To open it on your computer, use rl-recovery decrypt --archive file.zip.enc --passphrase-env NAME, with the passphrase in that environment variable (it is never taken from the command line).

Big accounts and protected files are prepared in the background. Without a passphrase, a small account downloads straight away. A passphrase, or a big account, starts a background job: the page lists it under Prepared archives and shows Download when it is ready. A prepared archive stays for 7 days, then it is deleted. You can keep up to three. Asking again within a few minutes is refused, and so is a second download within a minute, to keep the service fair for everyone.

Only the owner can download everything, and every request and download is written to your audit log. The file is written as it is prepared, so it does not need to fit in memory.

Restore. The translations of each language are in the same shape as the LgTranslate JSON import, so you can import them back (one import file holds up to 100,000 strings). There is no one-click restore of a whole account yet: for that, write to support and attach the archive. The operator also keeps a separate full-archive tool for data requests. It is not offered in the dashboard, because it reads the database across accounts.

What the web API offers#

The export address takes format set to json, xliff, xliff2, po, pot, csv or tmx, and an optional lang for one or more languages. The answer is a file download. It is never cached, so it always shows your latest edits. Export is not blocked by a lapsed plan.

CSV and spreadsheets#

Cells that start with =, +, - or @ are written so that a spreadsheet does not run them as formulas. Reading the file back restores the original text.

What is not in an export#

Your account data, keys, billing data and the audit log. The audit log can be exported separately. See Webhooks and the audit log.

Make it a habit#

Export after each publish that matters. See Keep your own copy.