My translation request failed - what can I do?

>>>This article deals with issues after a project is successfully submitted - for issues creating Projects or uploading files check this article instead.<<<

Different reasons may cause a translation request to fail. Requests may generate and fail to enter our translation pipeline correctly, fail to process or see an issue during translation. You can spot a failed request by checking their status tag of filtering by project status.

Depending on the nature of the issue, a Project can fail completely or only see some specific orders or translations jobs fail. If an order or translation fails, the Project will still progress with the remaining jobs and we will try to complete them successfully.

A translation that fails within a translated Project will need to be requested again in an entirely new Project - while it is advisable the cause for the fail is known to be fixed before re-uploading.

Below are some common causes for an order to fail and their respective resolution.

Invalid subscription

If for any reason, your subscription has become inactive, or the request is pointing to an inactive subscription, the request will fail. Make sure you're selecting a Pipeline group associated with an active subscription - reach out to Unbabel when in doubt.

An invalid subscription will cause an entire project to fail.

The translatable content is too big

File size is built up of the different types of contents within it. Files can contain text, code, images or even videos. Unbabel strips all non-translatable content to create another file used during the translation process. This resulting file cannot exceed 2,5 Mb in size. 

If you upload a source file that results in a translatable file over this limit, the order will fail and you will receive an error message via email, giving you an idea of by how much the limit was exceeded.

Notice that file size on its own may not be responsible for the failed translation. For example, a .docx document that has 1 page of text but almost 2,5 Mb in size due to containing images will likely be translated, while a file under 2 Mb but wholly comprised of text may fail for having too much translatable content.

A "file too big" error will affect individual orders, with the rest of the project able to be translated.

Common solutions

- Splitting the file

A common solution to this is to split the file into several smaller ones. While this may be relatively easy to accomplish for some formats not so heavily dependent on structure, such as plain text, presentations, etc, other formats such as .json, .xliff have a structure that needs to be respected and can't be simply split at will. Please be sure that your resulting splits are structurally sound and that you take this into consideration once you are rebuilding the larger file upon receiving the translation.

Tip: name your order splits with an adequate convention so it is easier to manage the orders in Portal and the resulting translations.

- Leveraging filter configurations to prevent content from undergoing translations

Some generic filtering configurations will purposely ignore some content and never consider it for translation, which will then not add to translatable content the size. For example, a column or row hidden in a xlsx file is not extracted. More information on default filtering configurations can be found here.

If you have custom filter configurations, make sure you are selecting the correct one and structuring your file accordingly.

Generic error message

If a generic message like the one below is sent via email, it means the order failed at one point of the process due to an unspecified reason.

Common reasons for this include:

• you submitted a file which has invalid content or format

This may encompass invalid structure for files of certain formats, or use of illegal characters.

• our file conversion process had an issue

File content has immense variety, and sometimes our conversion may run into issues.

• our systems had a glitch

Temporary issues may affect one or more translations.

If you receive this error, please carefully review the file you are uploading and make sure to exclude all possible issues with the file content. If you are sure the file is valid, try re-submitting it. If this still doesn't prove enough, reach out to customer support.

Generic errors can affect whole projects or individual translations.

How should I report failed translations?

Good reporting practices and necessary elements are described in this article.