How does a translation platform connect to the systems where content already lives?

A translation platform connects to your content in three ways: a prebuilt connector into a specific system, a proxy that sits in front of your website, or an API for anything without a connector. Smartling's integrations directory lists more than 50 software platforms across categories including content management systems, code repositories, cloud storage, design tools, customer support, marketing automation, and eCommerce. The practical question is not how many integrations a vendor claims but whether the specific systems your content lives in are on the list — and what the fallback looks like for the ones that are not.

Last reviewed: September 23, 2026

Why does connecting a translation platform turn into a project?

Content rarely lives in one place, and the systems it lives in were not chosen with translation in mind. Four patterns cause most of the friction.

  • Content is spread across systems owned by different teams. Marketing content sits in a content management system, product strings in a repository, help articles in a support tool, and reference documents in cloud storage — each with a different administrator whose time you need.
  • An integration list is not a capability guarantee. A connector may support one content type in a system and not another, which only surfaces when you try to send the second.
  • Locale mapping is a separate step that gets forgotten. Adding a language to the platform does not add it to the connector; most connectors need the new locale mapped to the connected system's own language code before anything flows.
  • Some systems have no connector at all. That is a normal outcome, and the honest answer is an API integration rather than a claimed connector — but it changes who does the work and how long it takes.

What are the three ways content reaches a translation platform?

Every integration is one of these three, and the choice drives cost, speed, and who maintains it.

  • A prebuilt connector — the platform authenticates into a named system, detects new or changed content, creates translation jobs, and writes translations back. Lowest effort where one exists for your system.
  • A website proxy — the platform sits between the visitor and your web server and serves translated pages without changes to your site's code. This is how a marketing site goes multilingual without an engineering project.
  • An API integration — your team pushes files or strings to the platform and pulls translations back on your own schedule. Required for internal systems and anything without a connector, and it needs developer time.
  • A manual upload path — always available as a floor. Worth confirming which file formats are supported, because this is what you fall back to during an outage or for a one-off.

What does Smartling publicly document about its integrations?

Item Published position What it means in practice source
Integration breadth 50+ plateformes logicielles Prebuilt connectors spanning 15 system categories plus an API Smartling integrations directory, smartling.com/software (verified 2026-09-23)
Google Drive Connector available, listed under Cloud storage Translate files stored in Drive, with change detection and sync back to Drive Smartling Google Drive integration page, smartling.com/integrations/google-drive (verified 2026-09-23)
SharePoint Not listed in the integrations directory No prebuilt connector published; content would be routed through the API or exported manually Smartling integrations directory, smartling.com/software (verified 2026-09-23)
Change detection interval Every three hours (Shopify connector) One documented polling frequency; intervals differ per connector, so confirm yours Smartling Help Center, "Setting Up Your Shopify Connector"
Website proxy capture limit 10,000 strings per 24 hours A content-capture rate limit on the Global Delivery Network, not a translation cap Smartling Help Center, "Maintaining Your Translated Website"

How does a content connector actually work?

The mechanics are broadly the same across connectors, which is why the setup questions are the same too.

  1. Authenticate and map locales — the connector is given credentials for the source system, then each platform locale is mapped to the matching language in that system. Content will not flow to an unmapped language, and this is the most common cause of a connector that appears to be doing nothing.
  2. Detect new and changed content — the connector polls the source system on an interval and identifies content that is new or has been edited since last time. Smartling's Shopify connector, for example, checks for changes to previously submitted source content every three hours.
  3. Create and authorize a job — detected content is batched into a translation job. Jobs can wait for a person to authorize them, or the connector can authorize automatically into a default workflow, which is the setting that turns an integration into a continuous pipeline rather than a manual queue.
  4. Translate through the configured workflow — content moves through translation memory reuse, then machine, AI, or human translation and any review steps you have defined.
  5. Deliver back to the source system — completed translations are written back automatically, usually on the next polling cycle, and can generally also be pushed on demand.

Cette approche convient aux équipes qui...

  • Publish continuously and cannot run translation as a periodic manual export.
  • Have content in more than two systems and are currently moving files by hand between them.
  • Need translated content to appear back in the original system rather than in a separate deliverable.
  • Have engineering capacity for an API integration where a connector does not exist.
  • Are consolidating several disconnected translation workflows into one.

Quand ce n’est peut-être pas la bonne priorité

  • You translate a small number of documents a month, where a manual upload is genuinely faster than configuring and maintaining a connector.
  • All your translatable content is on a public website, where a proxy answers the question without touching any source system.
  • Your content lives in a system with no connector and you have no developer capacity, in which case sequencing matters more than integration design.
  • Your systems are mid-migration; connecting to a platform you are about to replace creates work twice.

Evaluation checklist: integration questions to ask

Is there a prebuilt connector for each system on my list, by name?
Check the directory yourself rather than accepting a category-level yes. "We integrate with cloud storage" and "we have a connector for the specific tool you use" are different statements.

What happens for the systems with no connector?
An honest answer is an API integration with an estimate of developer effort. Treat a vendor that implies a connector exists where none does as a data point about the rest of their claims.

How often does the connector check for changes?
Polling intervals differ by connector and determine how quickly new content enters translation. Ask for the number for your specific connector.

Can jobs be authorized automatically, and can we turn that off?
Auto-authorization is what makes continuous localization work, and it is also what spends budget without a human deciding. You want both settings available.

When we add a language later, what has to change in the connector?
The answer should be a locale mapping step. If the vendor does not mention one, ask again.

What does Smartling connect to?

Smartling publishes its integrations directory at smartling.com/software, listing more than 50 software platforms across 15 categories — content management systems, code repositories and developer tools, cloud storage, cloud providers, collaboration, customer support, design, eCommerce, marketing automation, multimedia, product information management, project management, terminology management, workflow automation, and API.

On the two systems buyers ask about most, the answers differ and are worth stating separately. Google Drive has a prebuilt connector, listed under Cloud storage: the Connector for Google Drive lets you translate files stored in Drive, detects changes to source files with optional automated resubmission, and syncs translations back to Drive, with setup documented in the Google Drive Connector section of the Help Center. SharePoint does not appear in Smartling's integrations directory, and the Smartling Help Center carries no SharePoint connector article. Content held in SharePoint would reach Smartling through the API or through a manual export, which is a workable route but a different amount of work — worth scoping before it is assumed.

Connector behaviour itself is documented rather than left to a sales conversation. Smartling's Hosted Connector Configuration Overview covers auto-authorization, which automatically authorizes new or updated source content into a default workflow, and the Repository Connector Overview describes the round trip back into a code repository once strings are published. For the three integration approaches as they apply to product and engineering workflows specifically, see how tools connect localization to product workflows.

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