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How to use the Glossary

The Glossary gives you control over how specific terms are translated. Use it to keep brand names exactly as they are, or to force a particular word to always translate the same way in each language.

Two rule types​

  • Never Translate — keeps a term as-is in every language. Ideal for brand names (like "Shopify"), technical terms, and acronyms.
  • Always Translate — lets you set a specific translation for each target language. For example, "Sneaker" can always become "Zapatilla" in Spanish.

Create and enable the Glossary​

  1. Open Lokalize → Glossary.
  2. Add at least one entry — choose the rule type, enter the term, and add your per-language translations for "Always Translate" entries.
  3. Toggle Enable Glossary at the top of the page.
Screenshot pending

Glossary page with an entry and the Enable Glossary toggle

Good to know​

  • Matching is case-sensitive. If you add snowboard, it matches only snowboard — not Snowboard or SNOWBOARD. Match the casing your store content actually uses.
  • Rules apply to new translations only. Enabling the Glossary doesn't change content you've already translated. To apply rules to existing content, use Apply glossary to existing translations (below).
  • Works with every engine. Glossary rules are applied no matter which translation engine you use.

Apply the glossary to existing translations​

This re-translates only the fields whose source text contains at least one of your enabled glossary terms, for the languages and resource types you pick. It does not re-translate your whole store.

For example, if a product's title is "Acme Snowboard" but its description mentions no glossary term, only the title is re-translated — the description is left exactly as it is. For any matched field, it overwrites an existing translation, refreshes an outdated one, or creates one if none existed.

Resources that don't match any glossary rule are skipped entirely. Deselect resource types you don't want included to prioritize high-value content when credits are limited.

Apply glossary to existing translations is available on Pro and higher.