About the glossary

What is a glossary and how do I use it?

A glossary allows you to specify translations for words and short phrases. Each glossary consists of one or more glossary entries with the term in a source language (source text) and your preferred translation (target text). Your glossary can include one or more language pairs.

Glossary entries are automatically adapted to agree with the grammatical rules of the target language, rather than following a "search and replace" method.

That means, similar to a standard dictionary, there is no need to enter plural forms or inflected verbal forms.

Some subscription plans allow you to create multiple glossaries.

This article helps you learn more about the following topics:

• Supported languages
• Creating a glossary
• Managing entries manually
• Uploading entries to a glossary
• Generating a glossary
• Enabling and disabling a glossary
• Editing the name of a glossary
• Deleting glossaries

Supported languages

We currently support the following languages:

• Chinese*
• Danish
• Dutch
• English*
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Norwegian
• Polish
• Portuguese*
• Romanian
• Russian
• Spanish
• Swedish

You can create glossaries for any combination of these languages. More languages will be added in the near future.

Find more information about the use of glossaries within CAT tools and plug-ins here.

*

All language varieties supported by DeepL Translator available.

Creating a glossary

To create a glossary via the DeepL website and DeepL desktop apps, do the following:

1. Open the glossary list next to the language selector
2. If you are creating your first glossary, you can decide if you want to manually add terms to the glossary or upload a glossary. To manually enter terms into the glossary, select Create glossary manually.
3. Enter your first term in your source language under Replace (source text) and the respective preferred translation under With (target text). 
4. Select the correct language pair
5. Click on Create

Managing entries manually

1. Open the glossary list next to the language selector
2. Select Manage glossaries
3. Select the glossary to which you want to add entries to

Adding entries

1. Select the language pair
2. Enter the term and the preferred translation
3. Confirm and save

Editing entries

1. Existing entries are displayed in a list. Editable entries have a pen icon next to the entry. Click on the pen icon .
2. Change the entry 
3. Confirm and save

Deleting entries

Existing entries are displayed in a list. Deletable entries have a cross icon next to the entry.

1. Click on the cross icon . Entries are deleted immediately. 

Uploading entries to the glossary

You can upload several entries to the glossary at once. For more information on uploading several entries at a time, see Uploading glossaries. 

Generating a glossary

You also have the option to generate a glossary from previously translated files via the glossary generator. For more information, see Generating glossaries.

Enabling and disabling a glossary

To enable a selected glossary for translation, switch on the toggle next to the glossary name . 

To disable glossaries for translation, switch off the toggle next to the glossary name .

Editing the name of a glossary

The names of glossaries can only be edited when your plan allows for multiple glossaries and you are the owner of the glossary. For more information, see Sharing glossaries.

1. Open the glossary list next to the language selector
2. Select Manage glossaries
3. You'll see a pen icon next to the glossaries which you can edit from your account. Click on the pen icon by the glossary name. 
4. Change the name and confirm  

Deleting glossaries

1. Open the glossary list next to the language selector
2. Select Manage glossaries
3. You'll see a cross icon next to the glossaries which you can delete from your account. Click the cross icon next to the glossary name and confirm the deletion.