How to translate an Articulate Storyline or Rise course

To translate a Storyline 360 course, export its text from File > Localization > XLIFF/Word Translation, have it translated, import the file into a copy of the project, then deal separately with what the export skips: player text labels, trigger conditions and closed captions. Rise 360 works the same way with an XLIFF 1.2 file, one duplicate course per language and a separate label set. Both apps also offer built-in AI translation into 80+ languages, according to Articulate's FAQ updated 6 October 2026. Articulate's FAQ says its AI feature does not translate text inside images or videos at this time, and neither manual guide says its export reaches that text.

The clicks take minutes. Your hours go into the Next button still in English and the screenshot nobody rebuilt.

Which parts of a Storyline course get translated?

The Storyline 360 export carries your slide text out to the translator and back; closed captions, trigger conditions, player text labels and variable names stay behind.

Trigger conditions and player text labels can’t be translated using this process. They’ll need to be translated manually in Storyline 360.

Articulate, "Storyline 360: Translating Courses", updated 10 September 2026

Skip the player text labels and your buttons and messages stay in the source language. Captions are translated separately and imported back. Variable names cannot be translated, so leave variable references in the file alone unless you will rename the variables by hand, and never translate result slide variable references.

Some text sits outside Articulate's AI route, and neither manual guide says its export reaches it. Articulate's Localization FAQ, speaking only of its AI feature, says text within images or videos, media embedded from outside Articulate 360, and attached files such as PDFs "are not translated at this time". Count those images before you set a delivery date: each one is a design job, not a translation job.

Should you export to Word or XLIFF?

Export to XLIFF unless your translator works in Word, and use XLIFF whenever the course has bulleted lists, numbered lists or custom paragraph spacing: Articulate recommends it because Word can break formatting and spacing for those.

Storyline's XLIFF export asks for the source language and a version, 1.2 or 2.0, whichever your translator's tool needs. XLIFF is an OASIS standard for carrying localizable data "from one step of the localization process to the other", in versions 1.2 (1 February 2008) and 2.0 (5 August 2014).

The Word export suits human translators: Articulate describes it as an easily readable list of text for translating manually, and adding slide thumbnails puts a screenshot of each slide and layer with the supporting text. Your translator edits only the column titled Translation.

Rise 360 uses XLIFF 1.2. If your translator asks for 2.0, the Rise answer is 1.2.

How is translating a Rise 360 course different?

In Rise 360 you duplicate the course once per language, export XLIFF 1.2 from Settings, Translations, Traditional XLIFF Translation, import the translation into that same duplicate, then translate the labels. Articulate presents this manual route as best suited to single-language translation into left-to-right languages.

Keep Include HTML formatting on, since without it your formatting is not retained after import, and tell your translator the extra tags are there to preserve formatting. The file fits only the duplicate it came from. Anywhere else, Rise shows "Translation file doesn’t match this content".

Code blocks and survey blocks can't be translated by the XLIFF export, and questions drawn from question banks display in their original language. Labels travel as their own XLIFF 1.2 label set, exported from the Labels tab and brought back with Upload from XLIFF. The labels must carry the same ISO language code as your content so assistive technologies pronounce it correctly.

The Rise 360 guide notes that manual translation "is available only for Articulate 360 AI courses and microlearning" and does not say what counts as an Articulate 360 AI course. Other Articulate pages tie features to an Articulate 360 AI subscription or license, so check your plan, then test the export on a duplicate before you promise a date.

If your Rise course embeds a Storyline block, Rise does not translate it. You translate that block in Storyline 360 and embed each language version in the matching Rise language.

Is Articulate's AI translation good enough?

Articulate's AI translation is good enough for a first draft that someone fluent then checks. Articulate's FAQ says accuracy "can vary depending on the language pairs involved" and pairs the feature with human validation in Review 360.

You find Articulate Localization at File > Localization > Translate Course in Storyline 360, or behind the Translate button in Rise 360. Articulate Localization defaults to DeepL for most languages and uses AWS or Google Cloud where DeepL has no coverage. A validator needs only an email address, not an Articulate 360 license.

Credits run at 2 per character of source content, times the number of target languages, which Articulate estimates at "about $0.05 per word, per language". If AI is disabled for your subscription, you need a paid, course-based localization plan to publish translated content; the pages read for this guide do not say what that plan costs.

The limits you will meet:

• You cannot connect your own translation management system or translation provider.
• A multi-language course cannot export or import XLIFF or Word files; you would save a language as a separate file first and lose validation on that copy.
• Glossaries, which pin how terms such as your brand name are translated, work on course-based plans; for translation with credits they are "coming soon".
• Storyline needs build 3.125.37980.0 or later to translate with credits.

Your learners hit the last limit after launch. In an LMS, a learner's saved progress includes the language they chose, so switching language means resetting progress, and Rise 360 currently cannot let learners do that themselves.

What needs care beyond the slide text?

How do you handle right-to-left languages?

Storyline 360 supports right-to-left scripts on both routes. In Rise 360, right-to-left support is documented for the AI route; the manual guide covers left-to-right languages and does not say what happens if you import Arabic anyway.

For a single-language Storyline copy, Articulate lists a right-to-left player font such as Arial Unicode MS, player labels in Arabic or Hebrew (or custom labels for Farsi or Urdu), and "Text is read from" set to Right to Left under Player, Other. On your slides, the Right-to-Left Text Direction button appears on the Home tab only if a right-to-left keyboard input language is installed on your computer.

Since the March 2025 update, one Storyline project can hold both text directions. Right-to-left versions get right-to-left text and swapped left and right alignment, while slide layouts stay the same in every language. Where right-to-left slides need a different layout, a built-in variable, Player.LanguageIsRightToLeft, can show an alternate layout on a slide layer.

In a multi-language course, Rise 360 shows right-to-left versions in a left-to-right layout while you edit, then flips them in preview, review and the published course. Judge your Arabic version in preview, never in the editor.

What happens to voiceover and captions?

Recorded voiceover is not translated on the AI route, and neither manual guide mentions audio. The AI route translates text-to-speech narration and closed captions; on the manual Storyline route, captions are translated separately and imported back, and the guide does not mention text-to-speech.

The AI route also translates customized alternative text, in both apps. Articulate's text-to-speech page says AI voices cover up to 32 languages depending on the model, and Icelandic, Welsh, Catalan and Irish exist only in classic text-to-speech. AI text-to-speech has no SSML phoneme tags, so a mispronounced product name is harder to fix.

A human recording stays the same in every language until you replace it in the target language, which the July 2025 update made possible; the timeline then labels it, for example, "Audio 1(FR)". Since the March 2026 update, timing can differ per language, so a longer French narration does not drag the English slide with it.

Replacing a video in a target language removes its closed captions, so export them as a.VTT file before the swap and import them afterward. In Rise 360, captions on video and transcripts on audio blocks translate with the course, so add them before you translate.

What should you check after the import?

Check text fit, the player, triggers, anything left untranslated, and your LMS. Articulate's own import steps end only with a text-fit review, since some languages need more room or a smaller font.

Preview each language as a learner: take the quiz, fail it once, open every layer. In a multi-language Storyline project, preview builds only the current language, so switch the language dropdown first. If you publish a multi-language course, launch it twice from your LMS test area; the second launch shows the saved language choice.

How long does a Storyline or Rise translation take?

The translation run is the fast part: Articulate says its AI route translates a Storyline project into more than 80 languages "in seconds". Your time goes into the player Text Labels, the images with English baked in, and the review pass.

As a working estimate, not an Articulate figure, plan one full run-through per language at the course's seat time, plus fixes. What custom compliance training costs lists the number of languages among the 5 drivers that move a custom quote.

How do you translate a Storyline or Rise course yourself?

You need your Storyline 360 or Rise 360 license, a translator or fluent reviewer, and someone who knows the course. The tools: Word for the Storyline export, Storyline's text label spreadsheet, an XLIFF tool (Articulate notes many free ones exist), and Review 360 for validators.

1. List what the export will miss. Images and videos with text, PDFs, external embeds, captions, player labels, triggers that test text, and in Rise, code blocks, survey blocks and question banks.
2. Choose the route. Manual for one language you control; Articulate Localization for several, or for both text directions in one file.
3. Clean the source if you will use the AI route. No all caps for emphasis, no sentence split across text boxes, no shift+enter line breaks.
4. Export. Storyline: XLIFF for lists or custom spacing, Word with thumbnails otherwise. Rise: XLIFF 1.2 with Include HTML formatting on.
5. Brief the translator in writing. In a Word export, edit only the Translation column and leave variable references alone; in the text label spreadsheet, leave %count% and %total% alone; handle captions and labels as separate files.
6. Import into a copy of the Storyline project, or into the Rise duplicate the file came from.
7. Translate the labels. In Rise, make a new label set, because editing a set changes every course that uses it.
8. Rebuild images with text and import the translated captions. Multi-language Storyline projects can swap an image per language since the July 2026 update.
9. Set right-to-left where a language needs it.
10. Run the QA table for each language, then test in your LMS.

Expect the first import to look finished and not be. A list-heavy course sent out as a Word file can come back with broken bullets and spacing, the reason Articulate recommends XLIFF for lists. The slide built on a screenshot of your LMS dashboard still shows English menus, because Articulate says its AI translation does not translate text in an image.

Both surface at step 10 and send you back to step 4 or step 8.

These times are working estimates, not Articulate figures. The AI route shortens the translation row and none of the others.

Which translation mistakes waste the most time?

1. Finding text in images during QA. Articulate says its AI translation does not translate it, so each late find is a design task at the end.
2. Leaving the player in English. Player text labels and trigger conditions sit outside the Storyline export.
3. Translating variable references. They stop matching the variable names.
4. Editing the shared label set in Rise. The change reaches every course on that set.

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Other questions about translating Storyline and Rise

What is a Storyline translation file?

The XLIFF file (version 1.2 or 2.0) or Word document that Storyline 360 exports from File > Localization > XLIFF/Word Translation, holding the course text for a translator.

Does Storyline 360 have AI translation?

Yes. Articulate Localization translates a project from File > Localization > Translate Course into more than 80 languages and keeps them in one project file; translating with credits needs build 3.125.37980.0 or later.

Can one Storyline file hold several languages?

Yes, on the AI route. All languages are stored in the same project file, and a slide edit in one language applies to every language except the text itself.

Can learners switch languages in an LMS?

Only after their progress is reset. In Storyline 360 you can set the player to Prompt to resume, so learners choose Restart and another language; Rise 360 learners cannot reset it themselves, so your LMS administrator has to.