Memsource Plugin

Why Install Memsource Plugin?

Translating strings of text to other languages can break UI components within a layout, which takes up valuable development resources to fix. For example, an English text string in a button component can expand up to 30% when it translates to other European languages. With the Figma Memsource Plugin, a TMS (Translation Management System) connector, we can introduce a localization process to Workday designers and help lessen the burden of fixing layout problems that resulted from language string translation.

Sample English design:

German translated design:

Get Memsource Account

Join the Slack channel #figma-memsource-plugin. Click Attachments & shortcuts

and select Get Memsource Account from the list.

You should receive a direct message from Slackbot. After you fill in the form, you will receive the memsource account information.

Install Plugin

Log in to Figma from the desktop app on a web browser, navigate to “Explore Community” at https://www.figma.com/community/explore. Enter “Memsource” in search bar. Select the “Plugins” tab and install the Memsource plugin from the search result. You can find more details about the plugin and version history when you click on the plugin.

Open the Figma desktop app or in a web browser, then locate the Memsource plugin in the plugins list.

Refresh the Figma file or tab if you’re unable to find the plugin.

Translation Guide

Open an English project and select the page you want to translate.

Connect to Memsource

Select Plugins->Memsource->Connect to Memsource…, and login with your Memsource credentials. You only need to login once since the plugin will remember your credentials.

Get Machine Translation

Submit page for translation

Select Plugins->Memsource->Submit page for translation… Select New from template, choose Figma Template from the list and click next. If you submitted this page before, you could select Update existing. However, you will only be able to select the target language you selected when you first submit the page.

Select the target languages and click submit. We recommend selecting at least one European language, one East Asian language, and one bi-directional language for optimal coverage.

Manage strings to translate (Optional)

All the strings on the selected page will be submitted for translation by default. However, you can unselect the strings you don’t want to translate. Examples of items that you may choose not to translate should include proper product names.

Select Plugins->Memsource->Manage strings to translate…

You can select frames/groups before clicking Manage strings to translate. Then the string list will only include the strings from those frames/groups.

Check translation status

Select Plugins->Memsource->Check translation status… The status Delivered means the machine translation is done. In progress (0%) means the translation is not finished or something goes wrong. For a project with 200 strings, the translation time should be around 5 seconds. Please refer to the “Question/Bug report” section to get support if the process takes too long.

Select the language you want and click retrieve. You should be able to see the translated page in the Pages section.

You may need to change the font for some languages like Arabic to see the translated text.

Get Pseudo Translation

Pseudo-translation is used to create dummy text based on the target language. Both ASCII and Non-ASCII characters are supported. The dummy text simulates how a translated text may appear inside a layout based on contraction or expansion due to the translation.

Select Plugins->Memsource->get pseudo-translate page… Choose the characters and the target language and click translate. The percentage in the second drop-down list indicates the length change of the translated string. You can also change the bracket that represents the translation to something else.

You should be able to see the translated page in the Pages section.

Questions/Bug report

If you have any questions or find any bugs, please reach out to Ximing Guo (ximing.guo@workday.com) or Leo Saguisag (leonides.saguisag@workday.com)