AI Translation Profiles: Configuring Linguistic Assets and Translation Engines

Overview

AI Translation Profiles are pre-configured settings that control how translation engines and linguistic assets work together in your Smartcat workspace. Use profiles to create standardized workflows for different clients, departments, or use cases — ensuring the right translation memories, glossaries, and AI engines are applied consistently across projects.

When to use it

Use AI Translation Profiles when you need to:

• Apply different linguistic assets (TMs, glossaries) to different clients or departments

• Control which translation engines are used for specific language pairs

• Prevent new translation memories from being automatically added to all projects

• Disable AI translation entirely for certain workflows

• Maintain consistency across projects without manual configuration each time

Requirements and Limitations

• AI Translation Profiles are available on all paid Smartcat plans

• You must have workspace administrator permissions to create or modify profiles

• Profiles apply at the workspace level. They cannot be shared across workspaces

• By default, new translation memories are automatically added to all profiles unless you disable this setting

• Profiles do not override project-level translation rules. They provide defaults that can be adjusted per project

⚠️ If you need to use only specific TMs for certain clients, create a dedicated profile with only those TMs selected, then set it as the default or apply it during project creation.

How it works

Step 1 — Access AI Translation Profiles

1. Go to Settings in your Smartcat workspace.

2. Select AI Translation Profiles from the menu.

   

3. Click Create new profile or select an existing profile to edit.

Step 2 — Configure basic profile settings

When creating a new profile, you can start from scratch by clicking + Create profile, create from an existing profile template by clicking the three dots to the right of an existing profile and selecting + Create from existing, or duplicate an existing profile in your workspace.

1. Enter a Profile name that identifies its purpose (e.g., "Client A - Marketing", "Legal Department").

2. Open Additional attributes to link the profile to specific clients or departments. Select the Clients and Subjects from the menus.

Step 3 — Configure translation memories

1. In the Translation Memories configuration section select which TMs to include in this profile. Smartcat adds all TMs by default, and you can remove TMs by clicking the Unlink icon to the right of the TM. You can connect TMs to the profile by clicking Connect Translation Memories and selecting one from the list.

   

2. Click Configuration and enable Auto-link new translation memories to automatically add newly created linguistic resources to this profile. Disable this option to prevent new TMs from being automatically added.

   

3. Toggle dialect/root language settings for source and target languages if needed.

⚠️You can add up to 250 Translation Memories to a single AI Translation Profile.

Step 3 — Configure glossaries

1. Under Linguistic resources, click the Glossaries tab

2. Select which glossaries to include in this profile. Smartcat adds all glossaries by default, and you can remove glossaries by clicking the Unlink icon to the right of the glossary. You can connect glossaries to the profile by clicking Connect Glossaries and selecting one from the list.

3. Click Configuration and enable Auto-link new translation memories to automatically add newly created linguistic resources to this profile. Disable this option to prevent new TMs from being automatically added.

4. Toggle dialect/root language settings for source and target languages if needed.

Step 4 — Configure Translation Engines

1. Under Linguistic resources, click the Translation engines tab.

2. To use only TMs without AI translation, disable translation engines by clicking Settings to the right of Linguistic resources and disabling Translation engines.

   

3. To keep AI translation enabled, proceed to engine configuration.

Step 5 — Set engine rules for language pairs

1. Under Linguistic resources, click the Translation Engines tab.

2. Click Add new rule to select a specific engine for a language pair.

3. Add multiple engines if needed. Drag and drop rules to set priority order (lower numbers = higher priority).

4. Google NMT remains available as a fallback option. When the fallback engine is enabled, Smartcat automatically reruns translation using Google NMT as a reliable backup if the primary engine fails.

Step 6 — Configure advanced engine settings

1. In the Translation Engines tab, click Engine configuration.

2. Toggle Fallback translation off if you want only your chosen engine used (empty segments will require human review if the engine fails).

3. Toggle Use LLMs off to keep translations consistent with TMs and glossaries only.

Step 7 — Apply the profile

1. Click Save as new profile

2. Set the profile as your workspace default, or

3. Select the profile when creating new projects, or

4. Use project templates with the profile pre-selected.

Controlling translation style or formality

AI Translation Profiles do not include a dedicated formality or language style setting. Instead, formality is controlled through the System prompt of a custom AI translation engine preset — which you then assign as the engine inside your profile.

This method works with LLM-based engines: OpenAI GPT, Gemini, and Anthropic. Non-LLM engines such as Google NMT, DeepL, and Microsoft Translator do not support custom prompt instructions for formality. Some workspaces may have access to additional engine variants with built-in formality options — contact your Smartcat account manager if you need formality control without an LLM engine.

Step 1 — Create or edit an AI translation engine preset

1. Go to Settings in your Smartcat workspace.

2. Select AI translation engine presets from the menu.

3. Click Add preset and select OpenAI GPT (or Gemini or Anthropic), or open an existing preset to edit it.

4. In the System prompt field, add your formality instruction to the existing prompt text. For example:

5. "Always translate into German using the informal 'du' form."

6. "Always use formal address (usted) when translating into Spanish."

7. "Use a formal register throughout. Avoid colloquial expressions."

8. Give the preset a descriptive name (e.g., "OpenAI GPT — German informal") so it is easy to identify when configuring profiles.

9. Click Save.

⚠️ The System prompt supports placeholders such as {SOURCE_LANGUAGE}, {TARGET_LANGUAGE}, and {GLOSSARY_TERMS}. Add your formality instruction alongside the existing default text — do not replace the default prompt entirely, as it controls core translation behavior.

Step 2 — Assign the preset to your AI Translation Profile

1. Return to Settings → AI Translation Profiles and open the profile you want to update.

2. Under Linguistic resources, click the Translation engines tab.

3. Click Add new rule and select the language pair the formality instruction applies to (e.g., English → German).

4. Select your custom preset (e.g., "OpenAI GPT — German informal") as the engine for that rule.

5. Repeat for each language pair that requires a formality instruction.

6. Click Save as new profile (or save your changes to the existing profile).

⚠️ Formality instructions set via the System prompt apply only when that specific engine preset is used for AI translation. They do not affect translations run with other engines in the same profile.

A note on the "profiles vs. presets" distinction

If you previously configured a language style setting and can no longer find it after a recent UI update: the style instruction lives in the AI translation engine preset (Settings → AI translation engine presets), not on the AI Translation Profile screen itself. The profile controls which preset is used for each language pair — the style instruction is inside the preset.

Troubleshooting

Problem: All my translation memories are being added to every project.

Solution: Create a custom profile with only the TMs you need, disable "Automatically add new Translation Memories" in the profile settings, and set this profile as your default.

Problem: The wrong translation engine is being used for a specific language pair.

Solution: In your profile's Translation Engines tab, add a rule for that specific language pair and set your preferred engine. Ensure the rule has higher priority (lower number) than other rules.

Problem: I want to use only TMs without any AI translation.

Solution: In the profile's Linguistic resources block, click Settings and switch off Translation Engines entirely.