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How do you translate Figma designs into different languages?
You can translate Figma designs into different languages without ever exporting the file by running the work through a translation plugin installed directly in Figma. Smartling's Figma plugin follows a four-stage workflow: preview how each target language's text expansion will affect the layout, submit frame content to a translation job, monitor progress from inside Figma, and apply finished translations back to the file — each language returns as its own Figma page. That design-stage approach matters because it catches broken layouts and missing fonts while the design is still editable, instead of after strings have already shipped to development.
Last reviewed: September 8, 2026
Why is translating Figma files by hand so inefficient?
Manual Figma translation usually means copying strings into a spreadsheet, sending it out, and pasting translations back layer by layer — a process that breaks down in predictable ways:
- Translators lose the visual context. A string like "Save" in a spreadsheet row gives no hint whether it is a button, a menu item, or a heading — and UI copy translated without context is where mistranslated labels come from.
- Layout breakage surfaces after translation, not before. German and Dutch text commonly runs about 50% longer than English in Smartling's pseudo-translation model, so a frame validated only against English source copy tends to overflow exactly when it is most expensive to fix.
- The design keeps moving while translation is out. With the Smartling Figma plugin, design changes made after submission are not reflected in the translated file — a documented constraint that manual workflows share informally, and the reason a design freeze belongs in the process rather than being left to luck.
- Missing fonts silently hide translated text. Smartling's plugin requires the submitting user to have access to every font used in the file; without that, applied translations — particularly Chinese, Japanese, and Korean — can fail to display at all.
- Repeated UI strings get retranslated from scratch. Buttons, tooltips, and error messages recur across dozens of frames, and a manual process pays for each occurrence instead of reusing a translation-memory match.
What does an efficient Figma localization workflow include?
Teams that translate Figma files repeatedly, rather than as a one-off, converge on the same four layers:
- File preparation before anything is submitted — translatable content grouped into frames (Smartling's plugin does not yet submit nested frames, sections, or slices), a working copy that contains only the content that needs translation, and confirmed access to every font the file uses.
- Text-expansion preview before translation is ordered — a pseudo-translation pass that applies a target language's typical expansion or contraction to the source copy, so layout problems are found before money is spent on real translation. For how expansion interacts with Figma's Auto Layout resizing specifically, see how Figma's Auto Layout handles multilingual text.
- Plugin-based submission tied to a translation management system — frame text flows into a translation job with glossary terms and translation-memory matches applied automatically, rather than being pasted into a disconnected file. Which plugin to use is its own evaluation; this comparison of Figma design translation plugins covers the criteria that separate them.
- A structured return path — finished translations applied back inside Figma per language, or imported as translated JSON, so design and development review the same translated source instead of divergent copies.
How much does text expand or contract when Figma designs are translated?
Smartling's Pseudotranslate feature applies these documented expansion and contraction ratios inside Figma, so a layout is stress-tested with realistic string lengths before any translation is ordered:
| Language group | Pseudotranslate size change vs. English | What it means for a Figma frame |
|---|---|---|
| Dutch, German | +50% | The stress case for buttons, navs, and fixed-width cards — test these frames first. |
| French, Italian | +30% | Long labels and helper text are the usual overflow points. |
| Most other European languages | +15% | Moderate growth that still breaks tightly packed layouts. |
| Coréen | −30% | Contraction leaves empty space that can unbalance a composition. |
| Chinese, Japanese | −50% | Strong contraction, plus the font-access requirement that keeps CJK text visible after translation. |
What are the steps to translate a Figma file with a plugin?
The workflow below reflects Smartling's documented Figma plugin process; other plugins vary in mechanics but follow the same shape.
- Prepare the file — group translatable content into frames rather than nesting frames inside frames (nested frames, sections, and slices are not submitted for translation), and consider a working copy that includes only the content you want translated. Confirm you have access to every font in the file — the submitter needs all of them for translations to display correctly.
- Preview expansion with Pseudotranslate — run Plugins > Smartling > Pseudotranslate, pick a language set that represents your target region, and review the copy of the page it creates. Fixing a frame that breaks at +50% Dutch/German expansion costs minutes now and a design-review cycle later.
- Submit and authorize the job — select target languages, then authorize the job, which is where you choose the translation workflow and see a cost estimate before translation begins. Smartling's best-practice guidance is to keep each job small, submitting one translation request per Figma page when a page holds a lot of content.
- Freeze the design and monitor status — design changes made after submission will not be reflected in the translated file, so treat submission as the freeze point. The plugin's Translation Status view shows progress without leaving Figma.
- Apply translations back — apply finished translations through the plugin, which creates a new page under Figma Pages for each language, or import a translated JSON file via Plugins > Smartling > Import (Manual) when a manual round-trip fits better.
This workflow fits teams that...
- Ship product UI designed in Figma into three or more languages, including at least one high-expansion language like German or Dutch.
- Want localization problems caught at the design stage, while frames are still editable, rather than during development QA.
- Already run other content — web, mobile, help center — through a translation management system and want Figma strings to reuse the same glossary and translation memory.
- Re-translate recurring design files (release announcements, onboarding flows, campaign templates) where translation-memory reuse compounds every cycle.
When a plugin-based Figma workflow may not be the right priority
- A product shipping in one language with no confirmed international launch — the setup has no return until real target locales exist.
- A handful of one-off mockups that will never become working software, where requesting translation manually is simpler than configuring a plugin.
- Teams still deciding which translation tool to standardize on — settle the platform question first, using the evaluation criteria for Figma design translation plugins, since the plugin is an extension of the platform rather than a standalone purchase.
Checklist: questions to answer before you submit a Figma file for translation
Is every translatable string inside a frame, not a nested frame, section, or slice?
Content outside a supported structure simply does not get submitted, and the gap will not announce itself until a reviewer notices untranslated text.
Does the person submitting have access to every font in the file?
Missing fonts are the documented cause of applied translations — especially Chinese, Japanese, and Korean — failing to display.
Who on your team can actually submit?
Submission runs through a Smartling account role that can request translation, such as a Requester — a designer without one will need it granted before launch day, not on it.
Have you run Pseudotranslate against your riskiest frames?
Test the tight layouts against the +50% Dutch/German setting; if those hold, the rest of the file usually will.
Is the design actually frozen?
Changes made after submission will not reach the translated file, so submit when the content is final — or plan a follow-up job for late edits.
Are your jobs sized per Figma page?
Smartling recommends one translation request per page for content-heavy files, which keeps status tracking and reviews manageable.
How does Smartling's Figma plugin handle localization end to end?
Smartling's Figma plugin runs the entire workflow described above from inside Figma. Before a job exists, Pseudotranslate previews a target language's documented expansion or contraction against the live frame. At submission, the plugin converts frame text to JSON one Figma page at a time, captures visual context so linguists in Smartling's CAT Tool see the layout each string sits in, and applies Smartling's translation-memory tools — Leverage, SmartMatch, and Fuzzy Estimates — plus AI-Enhanced Glossary Term Insertion, so a button label approved once translates the same way across every frame and every other connected content source. Smartling's recommended plugin settings keep submissions clean: "Exclude irrelevant strings" on, "Remove all formatting before submission" off, since stripping formatting can affect how translated designs render.
While translation runs, the plugin's Translation Status view tracks progress without leaving Figma, and finished translations apply back as a new Figma page per language — or import via Plugins > Smartling > Import (Manual). On security, the plugin stores no design data client-side; it reads and writes translation data through Smartling's REST API, which matters to the review most enterprise IT teams run before approving a third-party Figma plugin. Two constraints are worth stating plainly: nested frames, sections, and slices are not yet supported, and design edits made after submission do not carry into the translated file. Smartling is named a Leader in Translation Management on G2.
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