Form Translations
Buildocs UI Engine can translate every string in your forms and interfaces into all supported project languages with a single click.
This includes:
- field labels
- placeholders
- dropdown options
- table headers
- validation messages
- button text
- built-in UI messages
- system-generated labels
Once a language is initialized, translations are applied automatically when forms are rendered.
Automatic translation is powered by Google Translate, and every translation can be manually reviewed and edited later.
This makes Buildocs UI Engine suitable for multi-language SaaS platforms, international teams, and white-label enterprise systems.
How It Works
Translations are managed at the project level.
This means one translation set covers all forms and interfaces inside the project.
When you initialize a language, Buildocs UI Engine:
- scans every form in the project
- extracts all translatable strings
- sends them to Google Translate in batches
- stores translated values alongside the original source text
When a form is rendered, the SDK automatically replaces the original text with the translated version for the active locale.
No frontend redeployment is required.
No manual JSON translation files are needed.
Supported Languages
Buildocs UI Engine currently supports the following languages:
| Language | Code | Language | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | af-ZA | Korean | ko-KR |
| Arabic (Saudi Arabia) | ar-SA | Lithuanian | lt-LT |
| Arabic (UAE) | ar-AE | Latvian | lv-LV |
| Bulgarian | bg-BG | Dutch | nl-NL |
| Czech | cs-CZ | Norwegian | nb-NO |
| Danish | da-DK | Polish | pl-PL |
| German | de-DE | Portuguese (Portugal) | pt-PT |
| Greek | el-GR | Romanian | ro-RO |
| English (US) | en-US | Russian | ru-RU |
| Spanish | es-ES | Slovak | sk-SK |
| Estonian | et-EE | Slovenian | sl-SI |
| Persian (Farsi) | fa-IR | Serbian | sr-RS |
| Finnish | fi-FI | Swedish | sv-SE |
| French | fr-FR | Thai | th-TH |
| Hebrew | he-IL | Turkish | tr-TR |
| Croatian | hr-HR | Ukrainian | uk-UA |
| Hungarian | hu-HU | Urdu | ur-PK |
| Indonesian | id-ID | Vietnamese | vi-VN |
| Italian | it-IT | Chinese (Simplified) | zh-CN |
| Japanese | ja-JP | — | — |
This list matches the languages currently available inside the language selector.
Initializing a Language
Adding a new language takes only a few steps.
Step 1
Open your project and go to Translations
Step 2
Click Add Language
Step 3
Select a language from the searchable dropdown
Step 4
Click Initialize
Buildocs UI Engine will immediately:
- extract all translatable strings
- auto-translate them
- save the translations to the project
The result shows how many strings were found and how many were translated automatically.
Translation Summary
Each initialized language displays a summary card with useful statistics.
Total
Total number of strings extracted from all forms
Translated
Strings that currently have a translated value
Reviewed
Translations that were manually checked and approved
Untranslated
Strings that still need translation
Orphaned
Strings from fields that no longer exist in any form
This makes translation maintenance much easier for large projects.
Keeping Translations Up to Date
When you add or update fields in the Form Builder, new strings are not added automatically.
Use the Sync action on the language card to scan all forms again.
Sync will:
- add newly discovered strings
- preserve existing translations
- mark removed strings as orphaned
It does not delete anything automatically.
After syncing, use Auto-translate to translate only the newly added untranslated strings.
This keeps your project translations clean and up to date.
Reviewing and Editing Translations
Click Manage Entries on any language card to open the translation editor.
From there, you can:
- search for any string
- filter untranslated entries
- filter orphaned entries
- edit translations manually
- mark translations as Reviewed
- add custom translation entries manually
This is especially useful when automatic translation needs correction for industry-specific terms or legal wording.
For example:
Construction, finance, legal, and healthcare projects often require manual review.
Orphaned Strings
A string becomes orphaned when the original field no longer exists in any form inside the project.
For example:
If you delete a field called “Warranty Expiration Date,” its translations become orphaned.
Important:
- orphaned strings are not deleted
- users never see orphaned strings
- they can be reactivated automatically if the same field is added again
This prevents accidental data loss.
Manual Translation Entries
You can also create translation entries manually.
These are useful for:
- shared business terminology
- system-wide labels
- legal text
- reusable messages
- words that should always exist regardless of form structure
Manual entries are never marked as orphaned.
They remain permanent until removed manually.
Required Permissions
Managing translations requires the correct project permissions.
Allowed for project_manager
- initialize languages
- sync translations
- run auto-translate
- edit translations
- manage entries
Available for all project members
- view translation statistics
- review translation status
This keeps translation management controlled while allowing visibility for the whole team.
Why This Matters
Most form builders treat translations as a secondary feature.
Buildocs UI Engine treats localization as part of the platform architecture.
This allows teams to:
- launch faster in new markets
- support multiple customer languages
- maintain white-label products more easily
- keep terminology consistent across large systems
- manage translations without frontend deployments
For multi-tenant SaaS and enterprise systems, this becomes a major advantage.
Summary
Form translations in Buildocs UI Engine are:
- project-wide
- automatically generated
- easy to review
- safe to maintain
- fully editable
- backend-independent
You initialize once, sync when needed, and keep your interfaces ready for users in any supported language.
This makes multilingual application delivery dramatically simpler.