Can I use the Articles API to translate my articles?

Question

I have a Help Center full of articles in one language and want to programatically translate them into other languages. Can I use Intercom's API to do this?

Daniel F11 · Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! 😎 I recently localized an English help centre into pt-BR (Brazilian Portuguese) using Python and Intercom Articles API.Requirements- It is assumed that you already have an access token to retrieve and post data into your Intercom account (check from the Intercom Developer Hub)- It is assumed that you can create a localized version of your help centre (upgrade your Intercom subscription if necessary)- It is assumed that you have the latest version of Python and Python requests library in your machine together with some application to run code (ex: Visual Studio Code or similar)Step-by-step- Extract a JSON file from the Articles API containing all English articlesimport requestsarticles_url = 'https://api.intercom.io/articles#39;headers = {'Authorization' : '[ACCESS TOKEN]', 'Accept': 'application/json','content-type': 'application/json'}articles_list = []def get_data(articles_url):articles_response = requests.get(articles_url, headers=headers)articles_output = articles_response.json()pagination_data = articles_output['pages']articles_data = articles_output['data']for item in articles_data:if item['state'] == 'published':articles_list.append(item)if pagination_data.get('next'):get_data(pagination_data['next'])get_data(articles_url)with open('intercom_articles.json','w') as outfile:json.dump(articles_list, outfile)- Share the output with your in-house translator or translator agency so they can send you back the localized content as a JSON file as well (make sure that translations keep the original article IDs for reference purposes)The output should be formatted as a list of dictionaries where each item is a separate article, for example:[{"id":"4466498","type":"article","workspace_id":"[YOUR WORKSPACE_ID]","title":"Keyboard Shortcuts","description":"How to save time using keyboard shortcuts","body":"

Are you a Klaus pro already?

Then you can save even more time by using our keyboard shortcuts.

You can access the list of shortcuts by clicking on the question mark in the black toolbar on the left.

Shortcuts for Mac:

Shortcuts for Windows:

If you have any other possible shortcuts to suggest, please get in touch!

","author_id":3565392,"state":"published","created_at":1600697577,"updated_at":1600700522,"url":"http://support.klausapp.com/en/articles/4466498-keyboard-shortcutsquot;,"parent_id":2128132,"parent_type":"collection","statistics":{"type":"article_statistics","views":8,"conversations":0,"reactions":0,"happy_reaction_percentage":0,"neutral_reaction_percentage":0,"sad_reaction_percentage":0}},...]The translations should be formatted as a list of dictionaries where each item is a separate article translation, for example:[{"id":"4466498","type":"article","workspace_id":"[YOUR WORKSPACE_ID]","title":"Atalhos do teclado","description":"Como economizar tempo usando os atalhos do teclado","body":"

Você já domina o funcionamento do Klaus?

Então, poderá poupar ainda mais tempo usando nossos atalhos do teclado.

Acesse a lista de atalhos clicando no ponto de interrogação na barra de ferramentas preta à esquerda.

Atalhos para Mac:

Atalhos para Windows:

Se você quiser sugerir outras opções de atalhos, fale conosco!

","author_id":3565392,"state":"published","created_at":1600697577,"updated_at":1600700522,"url":"http://support.klausapp.com/en/articles/4466498-keyboard-shortcutsquot;,"parent_id":2128132,"parent_type":"collection","statistics":{"type":"article_statistics","views":8,"conversations":0,"reactions":0,"happy_reaction_percentage":0,"neutral_reaction_percentage":0,"sad_reaction_percentage":0}},...]- Create a pt-BR version of the help centre in your Intercom Articles settings page and then loop over all original English articles to inject their respective pt-BR translations in draft mode (so you can review them before publishing to users)articles_url = 'https://api.intercom.io/articles#39;headers = {'Authorization' : '[ACCESS TOKEN]', 'Accept': 'application/json','content-type': 'application/json'}with open('intercom_pt_articles.json') as json_file:pt_translations = json.load(json_file)for article in pt_translations:single_article_url = articles_url + "/" + article['id']translation_content = {'translated_content': {'pt-BR': {'type': 'article_content', 'title': article['title'], 'description': article['description'], 'body': article['body'], 'state': 'draft'}}}try:inject_translation = requests.put(url=single_article_url, headers=headers, json=translation_content)print(inject_translation.status_code)except requests.exceptions.HTTPerror as error:raise SystemExit(error)Notes This process ensures that translations are correctly associated with their originals and landing in the appropriate collections and sections (if any) inside the Intercom database. It does not translate collection and section names which need to be manually translated.You check the final result here: https://support.klausapp.com/pt-BR//p>

Jona · Answer

We at Translate Desk are building an app for Intercom to make this much easier to accomplish and manage long term. Reach out if you have any feedback or requests!

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