# Translation manager copy/paste

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/translation-manager-copy-paste/91484>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** ignition81\
**Created:** [June 6, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/translation-manager-copy-paste/91484 "2024-06-06T14:13:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![taglias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@taglias](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/taglias)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/translation-manager-copy-paste/91484/1 "2024-06-06T14:13:17Z")

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In Ignition version 8.1.18 it is possible to copy rows from the translation manager and paste them to a text editor or Excel.

I don't know exactly from which version, but in a site I am using version 8.1.36 and the copy is not working. I tried the latest version, 8.1.41, with no luck.

Is this behavior wanted or is this a bug (maybe due to some java jdk update)?  
I used this feature a lot, to copy some existing translations to a text file, modify them and import through scripting.

Thanks

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**Author:** ![jcoffman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jcoffman/32/6429_2.png) [@jcoffman](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jcoffman)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/translation-manager-copy-paste/91484/2 "2024-06-06T15:36:10Z")

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it looks like we did this intentionally. Im curious though: we have an import/export mechanism in the Translation Manager's term table, was this just out of convenience for your workflow or does the export/import mechanism not work for your use case?

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**Author:** ![taglias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@taglias](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/taglias)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 6:24am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/translation-manager-copy-paste/91484/3 "2024-06-07T06:24:17Z")

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First of all, thank you for the reply.

My use case is the following:  
I use the translation manager to insert the description of interlocks of motors and valves, lets say pump P1; the keys for the translation are in the form: P1/Ilk/0001, P1/Ilk/0002, P1/Ilk/0003 and so on.

When I add another motor, P2, I have to add the interlocks too, so I need to add only a few rows in the translation manager.

The fastest way was to:

- copy the rows of pump P1
- paste them to a text editor
- rename the keys P2
- write the descriptions
- copy and paste to a Text Area in a window in the designer in preview mode
- import using a script

This was much faster than exporting all the translations, modify the files (more than one if you have more than one language) and import them back.