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Storing and Viewing Content in Separate Languages

March 3, 2026 06:46 AM
1 min read

Technical Documents have provisions to support storage and management of multiple language instances of document content. The content for each supported language evolves with the original. The assumed process is that a Technical Document is authored in one language (the default language) with 0 or more additional translated versions of this content stored with the document. Translated content is immutable; only the original default content will be edited by the author. The concept is shown below:

Figure 36.
Referring to Figure 36, authors will create and update document content as part of their organization’s normal workflow. At some point the document content is deemed complete and hence ready to be translated. The Technical Documentation Framework does not have the capability to translate between languages. This must be done by an external process or service. There is also no ability for the Technical Documentation Framework to verify the correctness or completeness of translated content. Once the translated content is complete, it is stored with the original Technical Document in language-specific properties.

Note
It is important to note that document content is stored as XML with all the necessary markup that enables this content to be managed by the Technical Documentation Editor. All text is embedded within this markup. All translated content must include the original markup, exactly as it was stored, along with the translated text. To see the XML content, select the Display As XML button in the Document View Dialog (see Viewing Documents Side-by-Side).

Support for additional languages and locales are configured as part of standard Innovator configuration. Note that the language and locale settings for the user’s browser also affect how content is edited and displayed. Additional language names will be included in the language selection combo-box list in the toolbar. The content of the displayed language is loaded into the editor. Note that only the default language is editable; all others are treated as read-only.