Uploading a Multidirectional Glossary

Version 1.0, updated September 30, 2026

You can upload a multidirectional glossary as a CSV or a TBX file. This package includes a template for each format, and both contain the same glossary:

multidirectional-glossary-template.csv
multidirectional-glossary-template.tbx

1. How the glossary is applied

The glossary is multidirectional and multilingual: the system matches all language combinations included in the file.

For example, if your file includes en-US, fr-FR and it-IT, the glossary applies to:

en-US → fr-FR and fr-FR → en-US
en-US → it-IT and it-IT → en-US
fr-FR → it-IT and it-IT → fr-FR

Language codes must match exactly the supported language codes in Lara (e.g. en, es, fr, en-US, it-IT). See the full list of supported language codes.

2. CSV format

File format

CSV (Comma-Separated Values).

Header row

The first column is the entry identifier. Its name must be either guid or id; no other names are allowed.
All remaining columns must be valid Lara language codes.
Language codes must not be duplicated, and there must be at least two language columns.

Column structure

Column 1: entry identifier (guid or id)
Columns 2…N: language codes

Each row represents one multilingual concept.

Requirements

The entry identifier must be present and non-empty in every row, and unique within the file.
Each row must contain at least two non-empty language values; otherwise the entry cannot be used for translation.
Empty language cells are allowed. However, translations involving that missing language cannot be enforced for that row.

Example

guid,en-US,fr-FR,it-IT
g_1,Settings,Paramètres,Impostazioni
g_2,Account,Compte,Account
g_3,Save,Enregistrer,Salva
g_4,Cancel,Annuler,Annulla

The same file shown as a table:

guid	en-US	fr-FR	it-IT
g_1	Settings	Paramètres	Impostazioni
g_2	Account	Compte	Account
g_3	Save	Enregistrer	Salva
g_4	Cancel	Annuler	Annulla

3. TBX format

File format

TBX v3 (TermBase eXchange, ISO 30042:2019), an XML format, saved with the .tbx extension and encoded as UTF-8. A file in another encoding can be imported with corrupted characters.

Only the TBX-Basic dialect in DCA style is supported: the root element must declare type="TBX-Basic" and style="dca", and data categories must be written as <descrip> and <termNote> elements, not as nested <descripGrp> elements. Anything nested in <descripGrp> or <termNoteGrp> is ignored without any warning.

Files in the older TBX v2 format, whose root element is <martif>, are rejected.

Structure

<tbx>: the root element. It contains a <tbxHeader> and, inside <text> and <body>, the entries.
<conceptEntry>: one multilingual concept (the equivalent of a CSV row). Its id attribute is the entry identifier.
<langSec xml:lang="…">: the terms in one language. The xml:lang attribute must be a valid Lara language code: a code that Lara does not support is imported without any warning.
<termSec>: one term, written in its <term> element.

Requirements

Every <conceptEntry> must have an id attribute: an entry without one is a format error. The identifier must be unique within the file: if two entries share it, the later one replaces the earlier one.
Each <conceptEntry> must contain terms in at least two languages; an entry with only one language is skipped on import. Terms that must not be translated are the exception (see below).
Every <term> must contain text, and every <langSec> must contain at least one <termSec>. An empty <term> or <langSec> is a format error, and the whole file is rejected.
A language missing from an entry is allowed. However, translations involving that missing language cannot be enforced for that entry.

Example

The beginning of the template, with its first entry:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<tbx type="TBX-Basic" style="dca" xml:lang="en-US" xmlns="urn:iso:std:iso:30042:ed-2">
  <tbxHeader>
    <fileDesc>
      <sourceDesc><p>Lara multidirectional glossary template</p></sourceDesc>
    </fileDesc>
  </tbxHeader>
  <text>
    <body>
      <conceptEntry id="g_1">
        <langSec xml:lang="en-US">
          <termSec><term>Settings</term></termSec>
        </langSec>
        <langSec xml:lang="fr-FR">
          <termSec><term>Paramètres</term></termSec>
        </langSec>
        <langSec xml:lang="it-IT">
          <termSec><term>Impostazioni</term></termSec>
        </langSec>
      </conceptEntry>
      <!-- … -->
    </body>
  </text>
</tbx>

See multidirectional-glossary-template.tbx for the complete file.

Synonyms

A <langSec> can contain several terms (synonyms), but only one is used for each language. To choose it, add a <termNote> of type administrativeStatus to the term:

preferredTerm-admn-sts: this term is used.
deprecatedTerm-admn-sts: this term is used only if the language has no other term.
When several terms have the same status, the first one in the file is used.

In this entry, Sign in is used for English:

<conceptEntry id="g_5">
  <langSec xml:lang="en-US">
    <termSec><term>Log in</term></termSec>
    <termSec>
      <term>Sign in</term>
      <termNote type="administrativeStatus">preferredTerm-admn-sts</termNote>
    </termSec>
  </langSec>
  <langSec xml:lang="it-IT">
    <termSec><term>Accedi</term></termSec>
  </langSec>
</conceptEntry>

Terms that must not be translated

To keep a term unchanged in every language, for example a product or brand name, add <descrip type="translatable">no</descrip> to its <conceptEntry>. The entry needs only one language: its term is used for every language in the file.

Languages that the entry lists explicitly keep their own terms, for example the spelled-out form of an acronym.

In this entry, Lara stays unchanged in every language:

<conceptEntry id="g_6">
  <descrip type="translatable">no</descrip>
  <langSec xml:lang="en-US">
    <termSec><term>Lara</term></termSec>
  </langSec>
</conceptEntry>

4. Help

If you need help, visit https://support.laratranslate.com or contact our support team at support@laratranslate.com.