Creating and Using Project Templates

Overview

Project templates are pre-configured workflows that save your standard project settings — language pairs, workflow stages, translation memories, glossaries, and automatic translation rules — so you can reuse them for future projects. Instead of configuring the same settings each time you translate marketing content or localize software, you create a template once and apply it to new projects with a single click.

Templates are ideal for teams with recurring translation needs: weekly marketing updates, monthly product releases, or ongoing documentation localization.

Project Templates and Translation Profiles

Project templates define the structure and process of a project — workflow stages, languages, deadlines, and custom fields — so teams can spin up consistent projects without rebuilding the setup each time. Translation profiles define how the text is actually translated — which AI/MT engine, translation memories, glossaries, and custom prompts to use — and live at the workspace level so they can be shared across many projects. The two are designed to work together: a project template references a translation profile, meaning you configure the linguistic layer once and reuse it across multiple templates. Update the profile once and every template pointing at it automatically inherits the new engine and asset behavior.

Prerequisites

• Permission to create projects in your workspace

• At least one completed project (so you understand which settings work for your content type)

• Translation memories and glossaries already created (if you want to include them in the template)

How it works

Creating a template from the project wizard

Step 1 — Start a new project

1. From your workspace homepage, select Projects in the left navigation and click + New Project

   

2. Click the Change template button at the top right of the workflow

   

3. Select + Create template > Project template to configure a custom template. You can also apply an existing template from this menu.

Step 2 — Define your template

1. Enter a template name that describes the use case (e.g., "Marketing Content - EN to DE/FR/ES")

2. Add a description explaining when to use this template and any special instructions

3. Click Set workflow to move to the next step

Step 3 — Set your workflow stages

1. AI translation is placed as the first workflow stage by default and cannot be moved. Click Add stage to open the stage selection menu.

2. Select stages from source-file processing (e.g., Source layout check) and target-file processing (e.g., Translation, Editing, Review, QA)

   

3. Drag and drop stages to reorder them as needed

4. Click Set project properties to move to the next step

📌Available Workflow Stages

When creating your template, you can select from these workflow stages (in order):

1. Source layout check - Review source file formatting and layout

2. Certified translation - Official translation requiring certification

3. Editing - Content editing and refinement

4. Layout check/DTP - Desktop publishing and layout verification

5. Legalization - Legal document processing

6. Notarization - Notary services for official documents

7. Translation review - Quality review of translated content

8. Proofreading - Final proofreading and error correction

9. Transcreation - Creative adaptation for target market

10. Translation - Core translation work

11. LQA review - Linguistic Quality Assurance review

📌Stage selection rules:

• The Source layout check stage can only be added once at the beginning or end

• All other stages (Translation, Editing, Review, etc.) can be added multiple times

• If you select two or more source languages, linguistic assets and automatic translation options are disabled

Step 4 — Set project properties

Configure optional fields:

• Deadline — Set a default deadline offset. This number of days will be added to the date of the project creation and will be set as the deadline

• Project name mask — Create a naming pattern for projects using this template. Enter any text or [Date] variable to make a project name mask. Every project name will start with the text added by user.

• Project description — Select to allow users to enter or edit the project description. Clicking the box opens a field to write a default description.

• Client — Select this field and a client in your workspace to automatically add the linguistic assets associated with that client

• Subject — Select this field and one or more subjects from the dropdown to automatically add translation memories associated with the subject(s).

• Custom fields — Add values for any custom fields configured in your workspace (Settings > Custom fields)

Step 5 — Set up linguistic assets

1. Select any of the with dialects fields desired. When selected, Smartcat matches the specified linguistic asset with any dialect for the identified language. If not selected, only linguistic assets matching that specific dialect are used.

2. Select translation memories (TMs). Click the percentage next to Threshold to specify match thresholds from the dropdown

3. Select glossaries to apply terminology rules

4. The TMs you select here can be used in automatic translation rules

⚠️ If you skip this step, you can still add TMs and glossaries when creating individual projects from this template.

Step 6 — Set Linguistic asset rules

1. Configure translation memory rules — set the order and thresholds for TM matches.

2. Configure AI translation rules — select AI engines for specific target languages

3. Drag and drop rules to set priority order

💡See the Linguistic Assets Rules Reference section of this article for additional details.

Step 7 — Configure assignments

Choose the source of suppliers you want to invite for all project tasks. Use the auto-launch feature, located at the bottom of the page, to invite suppliers right after creating the project from a template.

Select an assignment source to determine how the agent determines which suppliers to invite:

• AI assignments: Smartcat selects the most suitable suppliers using an AI-driven translator search

• Template assignments: Assign a custom template to determine the assignments for this project

Step 8 — Upload reference files

Drag and drop, or browse your files, to add reference documents which may assist translating and editing projects with this template.

Step 9 — Configure advanced settings and save the template

1. Set repetitions settings for how duplicate segments are handled

2. Configure quality assurance settings for automated checks

3. Enable reference file uploads if your workflow requires them

4. Click Create a project template to save your configuration. The template appears in your template list on the homepage.

Once you have created a template it appears as a tile on your Smartcat Home screen.

💡See the Advanced Configuration Settings Explained section at the bottom of this article for additional details regarding these steps.

Using a template

Option 1 — From the homepage

1. On your workspace homepage, locate the Custom Templates section

2. Click the template you want to use

3. Upload your files and adjust any project-specific settings

4. Click Create project

Option 2 — From Smartcat AI chat

1. Upload your file to the Smartcat AI chat

2. Tell Smartcat AI you want to use a custom template (e.g., "Use my Marketing Content template for this file")

3. Smartcat AI applies the template and creates the project

4. Follow the link to continue in the project interface

⚠️ Custom templates work the same way in both the traditional interface and Smartcat AI — the template settings are applied, and you continue work in the standard project view.

Editing a template

1. From the homepage, locate your template in the Custom Templates section

2. Click the template options menu (three dots)

3. Select Edit template

4. Modify settings as needed and save

⚠️ Changes to a template do not affect projects already created from that template.

What templates save

Linguistic Asset Rules Reference

Configure rules that control how segments are automatically translated before human review.

Translation Memory Rules

Translation memory rules determine when and how TM matches are applied to segments. For each TM you add, configure:

• Minimum match percentage — The lowest fuzzy match percentage to accept (e.g., 75%, 85%, 100%). Higher values mean stricter matching. A 100% match requires exact source text; lower values allow partial matches with differences.

• Minimum TM segment quality — The quality level required for TM entries to be used:

• AI translation — Segments from machine/AI translation (lowest quality tier)

• Lightly reviewed — Segments with minimal human review

• Reviewed — Segments that have been reviewed by a linguist

• Professionally edited ★ — Segments that have been professionally edited (highest quality tier)

• Minimum word count in a segment — Only apply TM matches to segments with at least this many words (0-10). Use this to skip very short segments where TM matches may be unreliable.

• Confirm segments — Choose when to auto-confirm TM matches:

• Do not confirm — Leave segments unconfirmed for human review

• At the "[Stage]" stage — Auto-confirm at a specific workflow stage (e.g., "At the Translation stage")

AI Translation Rules

AI translation rules control how automatic translation is applied. Configure:

• Confirm segments — Choose when to auto-confirm AI-translated segments:

• Do not confirm — Leave for human review (disabled if AI translation stage is in workflow)

• At the "[Stage]" stage — Auto-confirm at a specific workflow stage

• Translation engines — Select which AI engines to use for specific target languages. Click Add translation engine to assign engines to language pairs.

Drag and drop rules to set their priority order. Rules are applied in sequence — the first matching rule wins. Place stricter rules (higher match %, higher quality) before looser ones.

Advanced Configuration Settings Explained

Repetitions settings

Repetitions settings control how Smartcat handles duplicate segments that appear within individual documents or across all documents in a project. These settings prevent translators from translating the same text multiple times and ensure consistency.

Key options include:

• Allow auto-propagation — When enabled, translations of repeated segments are automatically copied to all instances of that segment throughout the project

• Propagate to segments with different case — Controls how to handle repetitions with different capitalization:

• Use the original case — Matches the case of the new segment (e.g., "continued" vs "Continued")

• Use the match case — Uses the capitalization from the previously translated segment

• Propagate to confirmed segments — Determines whether translations are copied even to segments that have already been confirmed

• Confirm auto-propagated segments — Automatically confirms all repeated segments when one instance is confirmed

Quality assurance settings

Quality assurance settings configure automated checks that monitor translation quality in real-time as translators work in the Editor. The system checks for spelling errors, punctuation issues, terminology consistency, formatting problems, and consistency with translation memory.

Three levels of error criticality are available:

1. Ignore errors — Disables warnings for specific error types

2. Notify me about errors — Shows yellow triangle warnings in the Editor (default)

3. Require error correction — Shows red triangle warnings and prevents segment confirmation until the error is fixed

💡 Some errors (like "Target exceeds character length limit" and tag-related errors) are critical by default and cannot be disabled.

Reference file uploads

Enable this option if your workflow requires reference materials. When enabled, users creating projects from this template can upload supporting documents that translators can consult while working. Reference files are not translated — they provide additional context such as:

• Style guides and brand guidelines

• Previous versions of documents

• Visual references and context materials

Save your template

Click Create a project template to save your configuration. The template appears in your template list on the homepage and can be reused for future projects.

Limitations

• Templates cannot be shared between workspaces

• If you select multiple source languages, you cannot configure linguistic assets or automatic translation rules in the template

• Template editing is done through the traditional wizard interface (not in Smartcat AI chat)

Troubleshooting

Template not appearing in the list

Problem: Your saved template doesn't show up in the Custom Templates section.

Solution: Check that you have the correct permissions to view templates in your workspace. Contact your workspace administrator if templates are missing.

"Translate file" vs "Create a project" confusion

Problem: Users accidentally select "Translate file" instead of using a project template.

Solution: Always use "Create a project" from the templates section on your homepage. "Translate file" creates a simple translation without your template settings.

Translation memories not merging properly

Problem: Client TMs don't merge with template TMs when creating a project.

Solution: Template TMs and project-specific TMs work independently. If you need to combine them, add the client TM to your template configuration or manually add template TMs when creating the project.

Extra workflow stages appearing

Problem: New users see unexpected stages in their template workflow.

Solution: Some stages are automatically added based on your workspace configuration. Review your template settings and remove any unwanted stages using the stage editor.

Template settings not applying to Smartcat AI projects

Problem: Projects created through Smartcat AI chat don't use template settings correctly.

Solution: Explicitly mention the template name when asking Smartcat AI to create a project (e.g., "Use my Marketing Content template"). The AI needs the specific template reference to apply the correct settings.

I receive a message that “project templates aren’t available in this workspace.”

Anyone who has access to create projects should be able to create and use project templates. If you receive this message, check if your Smartcat subscription has changed or expired, which may chave changed your permissions. Contact Smartcat Support for additional assistance.

Can I clone a project template?

No — Smartcat does not have a built-in option to duplicate a project template directly. Templates are also workspace-specific and cannot be exported or copied to other workspaces.

If you need a new template with similar settings, the best workaround is to create a new project using the existing template, then save your adjusted configuration as a new template. You can do this during project setup by selecting Change template and following the template creation wizard.