# General Translation Integrations: Supported content
URL: https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/docs/integrations/google-drive/reference/supported-content.mdx
Docs index: https://generaltranslation.com/llms.txt
Description: Review the Google Drive file types and text structures the integration can translate. Reference for supported Google Drive content.

The integration translates native Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides files. Other Drive file types cannot be added, and non-text content is left unchanged.

## Overview [#overview]

| Topic                                     | Description                                                        |
| ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [Supported file types](#file-types)       | Drive file types that can be added and what is translated in each. |
| [Formatting and structure](#formatting)   | Styling that carries over and how structural changes are handled.  |
| [Skipped content](#skipped-content)       | Text and elements the integration leaves unchanged.                |
| [Translated copies](#translated-copies)   | Where copies are saved and when they are reused.                   |
| [Updating translations](#update-behavior) | What happens when a source changes.                                |

## Supported file types [#file-types]

| File type     | MIME type                                  | Translated content                                                                                                                               |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Google Docs   | `application/vnd.google-apps.document`     | Body paragraphs and table cells, tabs and child tabs, headers, footers, and footnotes.                                                           |
| Google Sheets | `application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet`  | Text cells, formula text, dropdown and filter values, rule text, notes, number-format words, and labels in charts and other spreadsheet objects. |
| Google Slides | `application/vnd.google-apps.presentation` | Text in shapes, table cells, and speaker notes.                                                                                                  |

PDFs, Microsoft Office files, images, and folders are not supported.

Connection modes, OAuth scopes, and the permissions required for each action are covered in [Connection](/docs/integrations/google-drive/reference/connection).

## Formatting and structure [#formatting]

The translated file starts as a copy of the source, so the source is never modified and the copy keeps its Drive structure. In Google Docs and Google Slides, the integration applies the source's paragraph styling, text styling, links and lists to the translated text.

For Google Sheets, translated text includes:

* Plain and formatted text cells.
* String values compared by formulas, dropdowns, filters, slicers, pivot filters and conditional-format or validation rules.
* Text displayed by formulas that the integration can parse safely.
* Cell notes and validation help text.
* Chart titles, subtitles, axis titles and descriptions; pivot labels; slicer and filter-view titles; and protected-range descriptions.
* Words embedded in custom number formats.

The integration keeps formulas, formatting, links, charts, tables, named ranges, merged cells, dimensions, groups, filters, validations and other workbook structure synchronised with the source. It updates translated values inside supported formulas and rules, but does not translate sheet tab names. If translated text changes a checked formula result, the affected cells keep their source text so that the spreadsheet continues to work.

Google Slides gets an extra layout pass after the text is applied, because translated text rarely occupies the same space as the original. The Dashboard shows per-locale progress while translation and layout processing run.

Once a copy exists, the three file types update differently:

* **Google Slides** does not merge incrementally. Every run — forced or not — rebuilds the copy as a faithful transplant of the source, so its structure always mirrors the source: obsolete slides disappear, and added or reordered slides appear. Because rebuilding re-mints Slides object IDs, existing translations are matched to the new copy by structural position rather than by ID.
* **Google Sheets** rewrites the existing copy from the current source on every run. It adds, removes, reorders and resizes sheets, and restores the source workbook structure while matching translations and edits by structural position. Repeated source text with the same formatting is one translation unit across all of its cells. A manual edit is imported as that unit's translation only when every matching cell in the translated copy shows the same edited text.
* **Google Docs** does merge incrementally. The integration reapplies translations to the units that still match by structural location and leaves the rest of the copy in place. Content added to the source and not present in the copy is not applied, and content that exists only in the copy is left untouched.

For Slides, the integration also restores the previous copy's text-box geometry and run styles on non-forced runs, matching them by content signature.

## Skipped content [#skipped-content]

The integration skips content that contains no translatable text or cannot be safely represented:

* Empty text.
* Unsupported structural elements or document regions.
* Rich content with no supported text representation.
* Text ranges that cannot be resolved in the source structure.
* Google Sheets smart-chip cells, checkbox values and text in formulas that cannot be safely parsed.

Images, videos, chart graphics and other non-text Drive content are never translated.

Google Sheets connected-data tabs remain in place but are not translated.

## Translated copies [#translated-copies]

The integration creates one copy per source file and target language in the source file's folder, and records which copy belongs to which source and language. (See [Using translated content](/docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/using-translated-content#names) for details of how each copy is named).

Later runs update the same copy. If the recorded copy is missing, inaccessible or in the bin, the integration creates a replacement the next time it can copy the source.

The active Drive identity must be able to create and edit translated copies. If it cannot edit an existing copy, the integration stops processing that file and language rather than creating an unrelated duplicate.

## Updating translations [#update-behavior]

* **Apply changes** reuses existing translations where possible and updates the translated copy.
* **Force retranslation** translates from scratch and replaces translated text, manual edits and Google Slides layout changes in the copy.

Both actions match content between the current source and the existing copy, following the per-file-type behaviour in [Formatting and structure](#formatting). Review the copy after you change slides, spreadsheet formulas or rules, tables or other structural content.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://generaltranslation.com/sitemap.md) for all pages.