In this guide: Advantages of the JSON format for translating Oxygen pages.
Contents
- Summary
- Advantages of JSON
- Common risks of CSV
- Practical recommendation
Summary
The JSON format is the recommended workflow for exporting and importing Oxygen translations because it preserves the structure better and reduces common errors.
CSV can be useful in some contexts, but it is more fragile when there is HTML, quotes, line breaks, shortcodes, or complex content.
Advantages of JSON
- It preserves line breaks better.
- It handles quotes and special characters better.
- It keeps the structure clear.
- It is more reliable with HTML and shortcodes.
- It is more suitable for AI tools if correct instructions are given.
- It makes validation easier before importing.
Common risks of CSV
- Incorrectly escaped quotes.
- Line breaks interpreted as new rows.
- Commas that break columns.
- HTML or shortcodes altered by spreadsheets.
- Incorrect character encoding.
Practical recommendation
Use JSON as the main format. Reserve CSV only for specific cases where you know exactly how the external tool will handle it.
If you are going to use ChatGPT or another AI to speed up translations, JSON is the safer option because you can ask it to preserve the structure.