File processing settings control how LingoHub formats, encodes, names, imports, and exports your resource files when downloading them manually or pushing them to a repository.
To access these options, navigate to Projects, select your project, and go to Settings. Then choose the File processing tab.
Format settings
Under the General section, you can configure character encoding, file naming, comments, indentation, and formatting:
File encoding options
The Encoding setting dictates the character encoding format used for exported files:
UTF-8: The industry standard for almost all web, mobile, and software file formats. Recommended for nearly all project types.
UTF-16: Used primarily by specific ecosystem conventions, such as default iOS
.stringslocalization files.
Language in file name
Controls which exported files carry locale codes in their filenames:
Targets only: Keeps the original filename for the source language file while appending language codes to translated target files (e.g.,
messages.jsonfor English,messages.de.jsonfor German).All files: Appends language codes to both source and target files (e.g.,
messages.en.jsonandmessages.de.json).None: Preserves original filenames without adding locale codes.
Fall back to source language
When enabled, if no language code can be detected automatically from an imported file, LingoHub treats it as the project's primary source language (e.g., English).
Export comments to
Controls whether segment descriptions and translator notes added in the Editor are written into exported files:
Source only: Includes description metadata exclusively in the primary source file (default setting).
All files: Exports comments into both source and target language files.
đŹ Please note: If a file format does not natively support comments (e.g., standard .json), LingoHub automatically omits comments regardless of this setting.
Additional formatting options
Custom indentation: Allows you to define custom spaces per indent level in generated files. Toggle off to use the file format's default indentation.
Trailing new line: Adds an empty line at the end of every generated resource file.
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Import behavior
Import behavior defines how LingoHub updates existing translations and segments when syncing from a repository or uploading files manually:
Keep existing translations (Recommended): Uses the source file to create, update, and delete segments, but does not overwrite existing target language translations.
Update existing translations: Uses the source file to create, update, and delete segments, and also updates translation text from imported target-language files.
Advanced: Allows you to customize source text, translation text, metadata, and deletion rules separately.
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Export behavior
Under Export behavior, you can configure HTML encoding as well as source and target content filtering rules:
General: HTML in values
Defines how HTML content inside XML-based resource files is formatted upon export :
HTML encoding type | Description & behavior | Recommendation |
Raw | Applies minimal HTML encoding, preserving original character formatting. | Recommended for standard web and software workflows. |
Escape | Encodes all HTML special characters (e.g., converting | Best for environments requiring strict HTML entity escaping. |
CDATA | Wraps text content inside | Recommended for XML-based files with embedded HTML or special markup. |
Source export rules
Empty content handling: Choose whether empty source text segments should be kept (Keep) or omitted (Skip) during export.
Export segments with the statuses: Choose whether to export All segments or filter by Specific statuses using the dropdown menu.
Target export rules
Empty content handling: Choose whether untranslated/empty target segments are kept (Keep) or omitted (Skip) during export.
Export segments with the statuses: Choose whether to export All target segments or filter by Specific translation statuses (e.g., Draft, Translated, Approved).
Need more help?
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