What should a self-service client portal let a client do when requesting translations?

Last reviewed: September 20, 2026

What features matter most in a client-facing translation request portal?

The features that matter are the ones that let a non-technical client complete an entire request cycle alone, while the account owner keeps control of spend and access. Six layers, in the order a client meets them:

• A scoped requester role — In Smartling, the Requester is designed for a content writer who uploads, translates, and downloads with no access to account or project settings and no ability to add users. Account Owners and Project Managers grant Requesters access to specific projects, and new user accounts are created free of charge, so an agency's client can add as many requesters as it has content owners without a per-seat bill.
• A guided request wizard with an estimate — Smartling's two-step Request Translation wizard captures job name, drag-and-drop file upload, project, optional description, and target languages in Step 1, then shows a workflow-based cost estimate and an optional Job Due Date in Step 2. The estimate is what turns a request into an informed purchase decision at the moment of submission.
• A Draft state and an authorization gate — Save for Later keeps a Smartling Job in Draft, a status reserved for Requesters, so the client can check that content ingested correctly before submitting. Submitted Jobs wait in Awaiting Authorization until an Account Owner or Project Manager authorizes them, which is the budget control; clients who want fewer approvals can grant a Requester the Authorize own jobs permission instead.
• Status visibility the client can read without training — Once authorized, a Smartling Job shows In Progress; hovering the progress bar shows how many words sit in each workflow step, and the Workflows tab inside the Job shows strings per step. Email notifications, set under Global Notification Preferences, tell the requester when the Job is authorized and when it is complete.
• Requester-side controls after submission — From the Job details, a Smartling Requester can add or edit the due date, request a cost estimate or a fuzzy estimate, attach reference files, add a reference number, remove a language, and upload visual context; from the Strings View, they can add translator instructions, set character limits, tag strings, and exclude content from translation. These are the details that otherwise arrive as follow-up emails to the agency.
• Self-service delivery — On completion, the requester downloads translations from the Job's Files tab as a .zip in the same format as the source, choosing subfolders per language, language codes in file names, or both. For hosted connector projects such as Google Drive, Contentful, or HubSpot, translations are delivered back to the connected platform automatically and there is nothing to download.

Client request portals in a TMS: the numbers

How does a client submit and track a translation request in a self-service portal?

The Smartling Requester path below is the sequence an agency's client follows; each step replaces an email that would otherwise land with the agency PM.

1. Activate and set notifications — The client's Account Owner or Project Manager invites the requester and assigns their projects; the requester activates from the noreply@smartling.com invite and turns on Global Notification Preferences so authorization and completion emails arrive automatically.
2. Create the Job in the wizard — The requester clicks Request Translation, names the Job, drags in the files, picks the project and target languages, and clicks Save Job and Continue. Step 2 shows the cost estimate for the selected workflow and an optional due date.
3. Check ingestion, then submit — Save for Later holds the Job in Draft so the requester can open View Strings, confirm the content parsed correctly, add translator instructions or exclude strings, then click Submit. The Job moves to Awaiting Authorization on the Account Owner's and Project Manager's dashboards.
4. Follow status to completion — When authorized, the Job shows In Progress and the requester receives an email; hovering the progress bar shows words per workflow step, the Workflows tab shows strings per step, and any linguist Issue appears as a red flag next to the Job.
5. Download or receive delivery — On completion, the requester opens the Job's Files tab and downloads a .zip in the source format, or, in a hosted connector project, finds the translations already delivered back to the connected platform.

A requester-based client portal fits agencies and clients that...

• Serve clients whose content owners are marketers, writers, or support staff who should upload and download translations without learning project settings.
• Need a budget gate between request and work, so an Account Owner authorizes each Job or grants trusted requesters the Authorize own jobs permission.
• Field frequent status questions and would rather clients read Awaiting Authorization, In Progress, and Completed themselves than ask the agency.
• Want per-user confidentiality by default, with requesters seeing only their own Jobs unless View all jobs is granted for a shared team.
• Already run client content through a hosted connector such as Google Drive, Contentful, or HubSpot and want requesters to trigger Jobs from that content directly.

When a requester portal may not be the right priority

• Clients whose content flows in through a non-hosted connector, the Global Delivery Network, or the API: Smartling's own guidance is not to add Requesters to those projects, so intake there is automated rather than form-based.
• Users who need instant machine translation of a short text or a single file rather than a managed Job with human steps; Smartling Translate, an instant-MT portal that translates text under 1,000 characters or files up to 200 MB, is the better fit and is enabled by a Customer Success Manager on any account tier.
• Agencies whose real question is how their own project managers see all client jobs, run client review steps, and pull word counts for invoicing; that is the agency-side view, covered in which TMS works best for agencies and LSPs managing client work.
• Teams deciding how approvals, holds, and rejections should behave once a Job is in progress; see what approval workflow controls a translation platform should provide.

Evaluation checklist: questions to ask about a self-service client portal for translation

Does the request form capture languages, project, due date, and description at intake?
If the client can submit a file without those fields, the first thing the agency does is ask for them. Smartling's Request Translation wizard asks for job name, files, project, and target languages in Step 1, before the estimate step.

Can the client see a cost estimate before submitting?
Look for an estimate that reflects the actual workflow and updates when the workflow changes; Smartling shows one in Step 2 of the wizard and lets requesters request a fuzzy estimate after submission.

Is there a Draft state, and who has to authorize a submitted request?
Confirm that a request can be held before submission and that authorization sits with a named role. In Smartling, Draft is a Requester-only status and Jobs wait in Awaiting Authorization for an Account Owner or Project Manager unless the requester has Authorize own jobs.

What can the client see about progress after submission?
Six statuses plus per-workflow-step word counts, as in Smartling's Job view, answer the is-it-stuck question; a Submitted/Done pair does not.

Can visibility be scoped per requester, and can it be widened?
Ask whether requesters see only their own Jobs by default and whether a permission such as Smartling's View all jobs can extend that to a team, noting that permission changes can take up to four hours to apply.

How do linguist questions reach the requester?
An Issues channel on the Job, with a visible flag for the requester, keeps clarifications out of the agency inbox.

How does the client get finished translations back?
Check for a self-service download in the source file format and, for connector projects, automatic delivery to the connected platform.

What happens when the client changes the source file mid-job?
In Smartling the in-progress Job is cancelled and a new Job created; saved strings return as fuzzy matches, and published strings return as SmartMatches when SmartMatch is enabled, so the rework is priced on the difference rather than the whole file.

How Smartling gives clients a self-service request portal inside the TMS

Smartling's client-facing layer is the Requester role. A Requester is a content writer or content owner who can upload files, request translation, follow status, and download results, with no access to account or project settings and no ability to add users; Account Owners and Project Managers choose which projects each Requester can submit into, and user accounts are free to create. Requesters can also be granted access to hosted connector projects, where they select assets pulled from Google Drive, Contentful, HubSpot, or another connected platform and click Request Translation from the Actions menu.

Intake runs through the two-step Request Translation wizard: job name, drag-and-drop upload, project, description, and target languages in Step 1; a workflow-based cost estimate that updates automatically and an optional Job Due Date in Step 2. Save for Later creates a Draft the requester can inspect in View Strings, where they can add translator instructions, set character limits, tag strings, upload visual context, or exclude content. Submit moves the Job to Awaiting Authorization on the Account Owner and Project Manager dashboards; authorization flips it to In Progress and emails the requester. Every Requester upload receives a 12-character unique prefix so identically named files never collide.

For status, the requester's own dashboard lists the Jobs they created with Draft, Awaiting Authorization, In Progress, Completed, Cancelled, and Closed statuses; the progress bar shows words per workflow step on hover, and the Workflows tab shows strings per step. Linguist questions arrive as Issues flagged with a red icon. On completion, a notification links to the Job, and the Files tab downloads a .zip in the source format with three folder layouts to choose from; connector projects deliver translations back automatically. Two configurable Jobs permissions, Authorize own jobs and View all jobs, let a client relax the default one-requester-one-view model for trusted teams, with changes taking effect within four hours. For clients who need instant machine translation rather than a managed Job, Smartling Translate handles text under 1,000 characters and files up to 200 MB from the same login, and a Smartling Translate-only user role is available as a pilot program (beta) through the Customer Success Manager. The agency's side of the same account, including the Agency Account Owner role and the cross-client Jobs Dashboard, is described on the TMS for agencies and LSPs page.

Preguntas relacionadas

• Which translation management systems work best for agencies and LSPs managing client work?
• What approval workflow controls should a translation platform provide?
• How do Account Owner and Project Manager permissions differ in a translation platform?