# Documents in other languages

> Print spec sheets and catalogs in French or Spanish from the same templates: translate your labels and texts once, then pick the language when you generate.

Source: https://www.speclatch.com/guide/documents/languages
Who: Admin, Engineering or Marketing. Plan: Growth plan and up.
Last verified: 2026-11-11

Customers abroad read your sheets in their own language, and keeping a French copy of every template would double the upkeep. SpecLatch keeps one template instead: you pick the language when you generate, and the same template prints in English, French or Spanish. You translate your own words once, on one page, and every document reuses them.

## What gets translated

A document mixes two kinds of words.

- Words SpecLatch adds itself, such as *Yes*, *No* and the draft watermark, come translated. Numbers and dates follow the language too: a French sheet writes 1 234,5 where an English one writes 1,234.5, and puts the metric unit first, such as m³/h before GPM.
- Your words come from the translations you enter: table names, field labels, field group headings, choice values, chart titles and axis labels, record descriptions, *Several lines* text, and text typed on a template.

Anything you haven't translated prints in English, so a half-translated sheet stays readable. Record names, model numbers, *One line* text and your branding footer print as typed, since they are mostly codes, names and addresses.

## Before you start

- Documents in a language other than your default need the Growth plan and up.
- You need the Admin, Engineering or Marketing role to translate and to generate.

## Translate your words

1. Open **Translations** in Settings.
2. Under *What to translate*, pick a table, such as *Close-Coupled Pumps*. For text on your templates, pick *Portal & document templates*.
3. Click **Français** or **Español**.
4. Type each translation in the box beside its English. It saves when you leave the box, and a check mark appears.
5. Tick *Only what still needs work* to hide what is done.

![French translations for a pump table: the table name and the Rated speed label translated, other labels still blank, and a meter counting what is done.](https://www.speclatch.com/guide/documents/languages-1.png)

*A blank box prints in English, so you can translate the most-read words first.*

If someone later edits the English, the row says so. Documents keep printing your translation, so check it, then click into the box and out again to save it and clear the flag.

> **Tip:** An agency without a login can translate too: click **Export CSV**, have them fill the *fr* and *es* columns, then click **Import CSV**. A file with a bad row changes nothing.

## Generate in another language

1. For a catalog or a whole table's sheets, click **Export** in the table's grid. For one record, click **Spec sheet** on its record page.
2. Under *PDF language*, or *Language* on a record, pick *Français* or *Español*.
3. Click the document you want under *Generate*.

Each language is a separate PDF. A French catalog sits beside the English one, generating French again replaces only the French one, and the menus list each by language, such as *Catalog PDF · Français*.

> **Tip:** French and Spanish labels often run longer. Before you generate, pick *Français* in the designer's *Preview as* menu to see which ones outgrow their box.

> **Words on the built-in layouts.** The built-in spec sheet and catalog print the words *Model* and *Generated* in English in every language. A template of your own can translate them: select the text in the designer and open *Translations*.

## The default language

*Default language* in the generate menus means your workspace's default, which is also the language the portal opens in. An Admin sets it on **Portal**, under *Languages*. A new choice saves as soon as you pick it.

![The Languages section of the portal settings: Default language English, and English, Français and Español ticked under Offer on the portal.](https://www.speclatch.com/guide/documents/languages-2.png)

*One setting serves both: the default for generated PDFs and for portal visitors.*

> **Documents and the portal.** A document can be in any of the three languages without the portal offering it. Ticking a language under *Offer on the portal* lets visitors switch to it: one language besides the default on Growth, both on Professional.