How do I push translations to Intercom?

Learn how to publish your translated articles to Intercom as drafts or live content.

After translating and reviewing your articles, you can push them to your Intercom Help Center. This guide explains the different publishing options and how to push translations.

Before You Push

Make sure you have:

Publishing Options

When pushing translations to Intercom, you can choose how they're published:

Push as Draft

Creates a new draft article in Intercom that you can review and edit before publishing.

  • Use when: You want to review the translation in Intercom before making it live
  • Best for: Important articles, first-time translations, or when you want final approval
  • Workflow: Draft is created → Review in Intercom → Publish manually in Intercom

Update Existing

Overwrites an existing translation if one already exists in Intercom.

  • Use when: You're updating a translation that's already in Intercom
  • Best for: Re-translations, corrections, or updates to existing translated articles
  • Workflow: Existing translation is replaced with the new version

Publish Directly

Publishes the translation immediately as a live article in Intercom.

  • Use when: You've already reviewed the translation and are confident it's ready
  • Best for: Articles you've reviewed thoroughly, or when you want to publish quickly
  • Workflow: Translation is published immediately and goes live

How to Push Translations

Pushing a Single Article

  1. Navigate to the Articles page
  2. Click on the article you want to push
  3. The article details panel opens
  4. Select the language version you want to push using the language dropdown
  5. Click the "Push" button or use the action menu
  6. Choose your publishing option (Draft, Update, or Publish)
  7. Confirm the action

The translation is pushed to Intercom and the status updates to "In Sync" once complete.

Pushing Multiple Articles

You can push multiple translations at once:

  1. On the Articles page, select multiple articles using the checkboxes
  2. Click the "Push" button in the header
  3. Choose your publishing option
  4. Confirm the action

All selected articles with "Ready to Push" translations will be pushed to Intercom.

Bulk Push Workflow

For large batches:

  1. Filter articles by status to find all "Ready to Push" translations
  2. Select all articles you want to push
  3. Choose your publishing option
  4. Push all at once

This is more efficient than pushing articles one by one.

What Happens During Push

When you push a translation:

  1. Content is sent to Intercom: The translated title, description, and body are sent to your Intercom workspace
  2. Article is created or updated: Depending on your publishing option, a new article is created or an existing one is updated
  3. Status updates: The translation status changes from "Ready to Push" to "In Sync"
  4. Collection structure maintained: If your article is in a collection, the translation is added to the corresponding collection in Intercom

The push process typically takes a few seconds per article. For multiple articles, they're processed in sequence.

Verifying Pushed Content

After pushing translations, verify they appear correctly in Intercom:

  1. Go to your Intercom Help Center
  2. Navigate to the article you pushed
  3. Switch to the language version you pushed
  4. Verify the content looks correct:
    • Title and description are correct
    • Body content is formatted properly
    • Links work correctly
    • Images and media are displayed

If you pushed as a draft, you'll find it in your drafts section in Intercom.

Handling Push Errors

If a push fails, you might see an error message. Common issues include:

  • Connection problems: Your Intercom connection might need to be refreshed
  • Permission issues: Translate Desk might need updated permissions
  • Content issues: The translation might have formatting that Intercom doesn't accept

If you encounter errors:

  1. Check your Intercom connection status
  2. Verify you have the necessary permissions in Intercom
  3. Try pushing again
  4. If issues persist, check the article content for any problematic formatting

Translation Status After Push

After successfully pushing a translation:

  • Status changes to "In Sync": This means the translation exists in Intercom and matches the version in Translate Desk
  • Automatic syncing: If the source article is updated in Intercom, the status may change to "Needs Sync" to indicate the translation might be outdated

Learn more about status types in What do the translation statuses mean?.

Updating Existing Translations

If you need to update a translation that's already in Intercom:

  1. Re-translate the article with updated settings or after source changes
  2. The new translation will have "Ready to Push" status
  3. Push the translation using the "Update Existing" option
  4. The existing translation in Intercom will be replaced

This is useful when:

  • You've updated your glossary and want to apply it
  • The source article was updated in Intercom
  • You want to change the formality level
  • You found errors that need correction

Best Practices

  1. Review before pushing: Always review translations before pushing, especially when publishing directly
  2. Use drafts for important content: Push important articles as drafts first to review in Intercom
  3. Push in batches: Group related articles and push them together for efficiency
  4. Verify after pushing: Check a few pushed articles in Intercom to ensure everything looks correct
  5. Monitor status: Keep an eye on translation statuses to catch any sync issues

Next Steps

After pushing translations:

  • Monitor your help center to see how the translations perform
  • Track language coverage to identify gaps
  • Update translations when source articles change
  • Create glossaries to improve consistency for future translations
Previous←How do I review translations?NextHow do I translate multiple articles at once?→