1. Language IO
  2. Zendesk Support
  3. Zendesk Chat & Tickets User Guide (Inline app)

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Translating messages in Chat, Messaging, and Tickets in Zendesk with the Language IO Inline Translation app

The Language IO Inline Translation app allows users to translate messages within Zendesk’s conversation area with a side bar app companion to easily perform inbound and outbound translations.

When the Language IO Inline Translation app is enabled, agents see a Language IO button in the text editor (1), as well as a settings panel in the side bar (2):

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When a Chat, Messaging or Ticket session is loaded, the toggle values are determined by the default admin settings for the current organization:

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The customer’s locale is detected and set from the first message they send to the agent. This also updates the customer’s profile language:

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Translation

Auto-translate (inbound)

When the "Auto-translate" setting is turned on when the session is loaded, it automatically translates all untranslated customer messages as they are received.

If this setting is turned off and the agent turns it on after receiving a message, it will only start automatically translating again when a new message comes in. At that point, it will translate all untranslated content.

Translation are posted as an internal note:

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Note: Due to the nature of how Chat, Messaging and Tickets operate, automatic translation occasionally may not happen if the agent is viewing another session when an incoming message comes in. If this happens, the agent may need to manually translate the untranslated messages when they return to the session. 

Translate previous messages

If the Auto-translate setting was turned off and some messages are left untranslated, the agent can use the Translate previous messages button:

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Pressing this button translates all untranslated customer messages and posts them as a single internal note:

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Translate and send (outbound)

Once the Chat, Messaging or Ticket session starts and the customer locale is detected, the agent can translate their replies to the user.

To translate the message, click on the Language IO icon in the text box editor:

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If the “Translate and send (outbound)" setting is turned on, the translation is automatically sent to the customer when the agent clicks the icon.

If the setting is turned off, the agent's original reply is replaced with the translation in the text box editor and the agent must click Send to manually send the message to the customer.

Expected behaviors

  • The Inline app does not include features such as quality flag rating for end users, partial translation, and human translation.
  • Agents cannot select which content gets translated. If the "Auto-translate (inbound)" setting is enabled, all incoming customer content is translated.  The Translate previous messages button also translates all untranslated messages.
  • If an agent needs to change the customer locale, they must go and update the Zendesk customer profile language, then perform a hard refresh of the browser.
  • If two agents are looking at the same session, the translations may duplicate if the agents are speaking the same language.
  • The app is currently only designed to detect the locale on the first incoming message.

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