# General Translation Integrations: Translating content
URL: https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/translating-content.mdx
---

title: Translating content
description: "How to translate Google Docs and Google Slides files with General Translation: this guide covers selecting files and locales, starting translation, and finding translated copies."
related:
  links:
    - /docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/managing-translations

---

Use the Google Drive integration's management page to translate linked files into one or more target locales. General Translation writes translated content to Drive copies, leaving the source files unchanged.

## Select files [#select-files]

Open **Project > Integrations > Google Drive**, then select one or more linked files.

Each selected file keeps its own source locale. New files start with your current Dashboard language; change a file's language in the **Source** column. When selected files use different source locales, General Translation groups them into separate translation runs and excludes each source locale from that file's targets.

To add another source file, click **Add files**. The picker accepts Google Docs and Google Slides files. See [Supported content](/docs/integrations/google-drive/reference/supported-content).

## Select target locales [#select-locales]

Use **Translate into** to choose one or more target locales.

* If no locale is selected, the action reads **Select locales** and opens the locale selector.
* A source locale cannot also be a target locale for the same file.
* You can add a Project target locale from the selector without leaving the integration.

You must select at least one file and one applicable target locale before translation can begin.

## Start translation [#start]

The action label indicates what the run will do:

* **Translate:** none of the selected files has a translated copy yet.
* **Apply changes:** at least one selected file already has a translated copy. General Translation reuses existing translations where possible and updates the translation.
* **Retranslate:** **Force retranslate** is selected. General Translation ignores reusable translations and translates from scratch.

Click the action. The Dashboard starts one background job for each selected file and target locale.

## Monitor progress [#progress]

The Dashboard reports progress by file and locale. Google Slides runs include a formatting phase after text translation so the translated deck can be adjusted for the new text.

You can leave the page while jobs run. If some files or locales cannot start, the Dashboard reports a partial failure rather than marking the whole selection as started.

## Find translated copies [#copies]

The first successful run creates one Drive copy per source file and target locale. By default, the copy is named:

```text
<source file name> [<target language in the source language>]
```

For example, translating an English file named `Launch plan` into French creates `Launch plan [French]`. Translating a Spanish source into French uses the Spanish language name, such as `Launch plan [francés]`. If the language name cannot be resolved, the integration uses the target locale code.

Later **Apply changes** and **Retranslate** runs update the same copy. If the stored copy was deleted or moved to the bin, the integration creates a new one on the next successful run.
## Next steps

- /docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/managing-translations