Translating a Zendesk Help Center

Help center content is often created in one main language. If your products or services are available internationally, you may also need to provide this content in your customers’ languages.

There are several ways to translate a Zendesk Help Center. The right option depends on the number of articles, languages, and updates you need to manage.

Which translation options are available?

AI translations directly in Zendesk

Zendesk can generate article translations directly in the new article editor. Select a language enabled for your Help Center, generate the translation, and review or edit the content before publishing.

The feature supports all languages currently available in your Help Center. However, it does not support content blocks. Translations are also not updated automatically when the source-language article changes and must be generated again manually.

Zendesk also offers bulk AI translation through the Knowledge copilot Early Access Program. This allows multiple language versions of an article to be generated simultaneously and reviewed, accepted, or rejected individually or in bulk.

Guide Importer by LEAFWORKS

For larger translation projects, the Guide Importer by LEAFWORKS lets you import and export articles, sections, and categories in Excel format.

The exported content can be translated by your own team, a translation agency, or an external service. It can then be imported back into Zendesk.

The app supports bulk updates and lets you manage brands, permission groups, languages, user-group visibility, article labels, and the assignment of Excel columns.

Manual translation in Zendesk

You can also create and edit language versions manually in Zendesk. This option works well for smaller Help Centers or when translations are managed directly by your own team.

For translated articles to be visible, their parent sections and categories must also be available in the same language. Translations can also be flagged as outdated when they need to be reviewed or updated.

Custom translation workflows

For more specific requirements, you can connect an external translation service or develop your own workflow using the Zendesk Help Center API.

This can be useful for automated exports and imports, terminology management, approval processes, or integrations with other content systems. The API provides endpoints for creating and updating article, section, and category translations.

Which option suits your setup?

The best approach depends on your content volume, update frequency, available languages, and translation process.

Need support? Feel free to contact us. We will be happy to take a look at your setup and find the solution that best fits your requirements.