Applies to: BarTender 2021 R1 and later

You can create a library to store translated phrases and text in a Data Builder file or embedded data tables (See Introduction to Data Builder for more information). A BarTender document can then be configured and connected to the phrase library that dynamically reads the translated phrases and text into the label design. The specific language of phrases and text in a phrase library can also be selected at print time.

Creating a Phrase Library

A phrase library is created and stored in a either a Data Builder file or embedded table.

A phrase library is stored in Data Builder similarly like a database table. Each phrase and text are stored as rows, and each column will be the language of the translated phrase or text. There are also category, tags, and comments columns which are more used for reference.

Adding Languages

You can click the  button in the ribbon toolbar to add languages and a column will be added as well for the selected languages.

Adding Phrases

You can enter your desired phrases and text into each row under the desired language and column to build your phrase library.

Translating Phrases

1. To translate phrases and text, click the auto-translate button in the ribbon toolbar.
2. Select the language that you want to translate your phrases to. Click translate and it will translate the phrases to the desire language.

Connecting to a Phrase Library in BarTender Designer

One method to populate your BarTender document and template is by connecting to the Data Builder file and phrase library using a database connection. The translated phrases and text can be populated on the template similarly to using any database connection. The other option to dynamically populate your document and template with translated phrases and text is by creating a phrase library connection.

1. In the data source toolbox pane, right click on Libraries.
2. Click connect to an existing library.
3. Browse and connect to your Data Builder file that you created for your phrase library.
4. Click add and you should see that your document is now connect to your phrase library.
5. Drag and drop your phrase library data source onto the template.
6. Select the desire phrase you want to place on your template. You can also preview through your translated phrases.
7. Right click on the text object containing the phrase and click properties to open the text properties. Notice in the data source tab and the phrase library data source options.
8. Click the configure languages button to use additional languages. It opens the BarTender document properties → language tab to allow you to configure additional languages. If you enable the select at print-time checkbox for a language, you can choose the language of the phrases you want to print at print time.
9. Go to file→ print. If you have the select at print-time checkbox enabled from step 8 for a language, you can choose the specific language for the translated phrases to print at print time.
10. Additionally, if you create a data entry form and control such as a drop down list and have the select at print-time checkbox enabled from step 8 for a language, you can link the dropdown list control to a language to be selected at print time.