Export & Sync

Export translations for your apps and sync with external translation management systems.

Overview

Once your translations are reviewed and approved, you need to get them into the hands of your developers and into your apps. Bosca provides two ways to do this: exporting translation files in the format your apps need, and syncing with external translation management systems for teams that use tools like Crowdin.

Export Formats

Bosca supports eight export formats covering the most common mobile, web, and interchange standards. When you export, you choose the format that matches your app or platform.

Format	Typical Use	File Type
Android XML	Android mobile apps	`strings.xml`
iOS Strings	iPhone and iPad apps	`.strings`
iOS Stringsdict	iOS apps with plural rules	`.stringsdict`
JSON i18n	Web apps using i18next	`.json`
JSON Flat	Simple key-value JSON for any platform	`.json`
JSON Nested	Nested JSON — dot-separated keys become nested objects	`.json`
ARB	Flutter mobile apps	`.arb`
XLIFF	Industry-standard interchange for translation tools and agencies	`.xliff`

If you are unsure which format to use, ask your development team. They will know which format their app or framework expects. XLIFF is a good choice when sharing with translation agencies, as it is universally supported by professional translation tools.

Choosing Which Translations to Export

You do not have to export every translation in your project. You can filter by translation state to control exactly what goes into the export file:

Published only — For production builds. Only includes translations that have been fully reviewed and published. This is the safest option for anything your users will see.
Approved and Published — For staging or testing environments. Includes translations that have been approved but may not yet be published, so you can preview them before they go live.
All translations — For development or review purposes. Includes everything, regardless of state.

For production apps, always export with the Published filter. This ensures only translations that have been through the full review and approval process reach your users.

External Sync

If your team uses an external translation management system (TMS), Bosca can connect to it for bidirectional synchronization. This means you can manage your strings and projects in Bosca while giving translators access to the specialized tools they prefer.

How Sync Works

Sync operates in two directions:

Push (Bosca to external TMS) — Sends your strings and source text to the external system so translators can work on them there.
Pull (External TMS to Bosca) — Brings completed translations back from the external system into Bosca so they can go through the review workflow.

Translations pulled from an external system enter Bosca in the Draft state, so they still go through your normal review and approval process before being published.

Crowdin Integration

Bosca includes built-in support for Crowdin, a popular cloud-based translation management platform. Here is a typical workflow with Crowdin:

Connect your project — Link your Bosca project to a Crowdin project
Push strings — Send your source strings to Crowdin
Translate in Crowdin — Translators use Crowdin's editor, translation memory, glossaries, and machine translation features
Pull translations — Bring the completed translations back into Bosca
Review and publish — The imported translations go through your standard review workflow before going live

Sync Results

After each sync operation, you can see a summary of what changed:

How many strings were added or updated
How many translations were added or updated
Any errors that occurred during the sync

This helps you keep track of sync activity and catch any issues early.

When to Use Export vs. Sync

Export and sync serve different purposes, and many teams use both:

Use Export When	Use Sync When
You need translation files for your app's build process	Your translators work in an external tool like Crowdin
You are generating files for a CI/CD pipeline	You want bidirectional updates between Bosca and your TMS
You need a one-time download of translations	You have an ongoing collaboration with external translation teams
You want to share translations with a development team	You want to use Crowdin's translation memory and glossary features

A common setup: use sync to collaborate with your translation team in Crowdin during the translation phase, then use export to generate the final translation files for your app builds.