What are the best tools for translating Salesforce content?

Last reviewed: September 8, 2026

Can I use third-party tools like Smartling with Salesforce?

Yes — third-party translation platforms such as Smartling connect to Salesforce through dedicated connectors and installed packages, working alongside the Translation Workbench rather than replacing it. A complete Salesforce translation stack layers like this:

• Native metadata layer — the Translation Workbench handles field labels, picklist values, validation messages, and managed-package label overrides inside the core org, keeping the UI itself multilingual.
• Marketing content layer — Smartling's Salesforce Marketing Cloud Connector translates emails, Content Builder email content, data extensions, and multirow data extensions, with change detection that flags edits to previously translated source content and visual context capture so translators see the asset's actual design.
• Support content layer — Smartling's Salesforce Knowledge Connector translates Lightning and Classic Knowledge articles, while the separate Salesforce Service Cloud Connector translates cases and Enhanced Chat messages through instant machine translation so agents work in their own language.
• Commerce layer — Smartling's Salesforce Commerce Cloud Connector brings storefront content into the same pipeline, though catalog translation is not supported per Smartling's documentation.
• Shared linguistic assets — one translation memory, glossary, and style guide apply across all four connectors from a single Smartling account, so the terminology in a translated email matches the Knowledge article it links to.

Which translation tool covers which Salesforce product?

Coverage reflects Smartling's published Help Center documentation and Salesforce's own Translation Workbench documentation as of September 2026 — worth re-confirming at purchase time, since both vendors expand and retire coverage on their own schedules.

What are the best plugins for translating content in Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

The most complete plugin approach for Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a dedicated connector — Smartling's SFMC Connector is a paid integration that authenticates through SFMC's own API framework and covers emails, Content Builder email content, data extensions, and multirow data extensions. Setup runs in five steps:

1. Create an API integration in Salesforce Marketing Cloud — the connector authenticates with the Client ID and Client Secret from your SFMC API integration setup, so access is scoped and revocable rather than tied to a personal login.
2. Create a Salesforce Marketing Cloud Connector project in Smartling — connect the SFMC instance to the project with those credentials and add every target language the campaign calendar needs.
3. Select the content to translate — the connector's content dashboard and filtering options narrow thousands of assets down to the emails and data extensions actually going multilingual.
4. Request translations from within Smartling — route each asset to machine translation, AI translation, or human translation depending on its visibility, with translators seeing captured visual context of the asset's design.
5. Let delivery and change detection run automatically — translated content is sent back to your Salesforce Marketing Cloud instance without manual import, and the connector detects changes to previously translated source content with optional automated resubmission.

Este enfoque se adapta a equipos que...

• Run campaigns from Salesforce Marketing Cloud and need emails and data extensions localized as quickly as they're created, not batched into quarterly translation projects.
• Already maintain a multilingual UI through the Translation Workbench but keep hitting its ceiling on record data and marketing content.
• Use two or more Salesforce clouds and want one translation memory and glossary applied across all of them instead of per-cloud vendor silos.
• Run AppExchange managed packages whose English-only labels need per-language overrides alongside translated content.
• Need different translation tiers — machine, AI, or human — for different content visibility levels rather than one mode for everything.

Cuando esto puede no ser la prioridad adecuada

• Teams that only need the Salesforce UI itself in a second language can get there with the Translation Workbench alone — connector spend adds nothing until actual content needs translating.
• Teams whose main Salesforce translation need is Knowledge articles should start with the dedicated Salesforce Knowledge Base translation guide — the Knowledge Connector has its own permission model and setup path.
• Teams weighing live case and chat translation, or comparing Salesforce against Zendesk for support, are covered in the Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk translation setup guide.
• Teams with a handful of assets in one extra language may not need any integration yet — a manual translation pass covers low volume until it stops scaling.

What features should I look for in a Salesforce translation plugin?

Which Salesforce products does it actually connect to?
"Salesforce integration" can mean the core org, Marketing Cloud, Knowledge, or Commerce Cloud — and these are separate connectors on separate APIs. Confirm the specific product by name before assuming coverage.

Does it detect source content changes automatically?
Without change detection, every edited email or article means a manual re-export — ask whether previously translated content is flagged and optionally resubmitted on its own.

Does it give translators visual context?
A translator who can see the rendered email or asset design catches layout-breaking string growth before delivery; Smartling's SFMC Connector captures this context automatically.

Can content route to different translation tiers?
Internal data extensions and public campaign emails don't warrant the same treatment — confirm the plugin can route content to machine translation, AI translation, or human review by visibility rather than pricing everything at one tier.

Does it share linguistic assets across clouds?
If Marketing Cloud, Knowledge, and Service Cloud content each translate in separate tools, terminology drifts between an email, the article it links to, and the agent reply that follows — one translation memory and glossary across all of them prevents that.

How does it authenticate?
Scoped credentials — an SFMC API integration's Client ID and Client Secret, or an installed package with a revocable API token in Service Cloud — pass a security review far faster than anything requesting broad admin access.

How does Smartling translate Salesforce content?

Smartling covers Salesforce through four dedicated integrations, each matched to where the content lives. The Salesforce Marketing Cloud Connector translates emails, Content Builder email content, data extensions, and multirow data extensions, with automatic change detection and visual context capture for translators. The Salesforce Knowledge Connector handles Lightning and Classic Knowledge articles bidirectionally — the full setup, including permissions and Draft vs. Published sourcing, is covered in the Salesforce Knowledge Base translation guide. The Salesforce Service Cloud Connector translates cases and Enhanced Chat messages through Smartling's instant machine translation service, and the Salesforce Commerce Cloud Connector brings storefront content into the same account. Behind all four sit the same shared assets: a translation memory, glossary, and style guide that keep terminology consistent from a campaign email to the Knowledge article it links to, plus Smartling's AI Hub with 20+ machine translation engines and LLMs and a network of 4,000+ professional linguists for content that warrants human translation. Smartling holds ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, HITRUST e1, PCI Level 1, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications — relevant here because Salesforce content routinely carries customer data. That combination is what lets a team keep the Translation Workbench for UI metadata while every layer of actual content flows through one managed pipeline.

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