We're Redokun, and we help teams translate documents in a shared web workspace. If you use MadCap Flare and need to translate your documentation, we think you should give us a try. Here's why.
You export XLIFF files from MadCap Lingo (the standard way to get translatable content out of Flare), upload them to Redokun, and your translators work in their browser. No desktop software to install, no Lingo license for each translator.
You get a shared Translation Memory that grows with every project, a Glossary that keeps terminology consistent across languages, and AI pre-translation to speed up the first draft. Redokun guides you through its part of the process: upload, assign, translate, download. Export and reimport happen in Lingo, where they belong.
We have a 14-day free trial, fair pricing, and a support team that actually responds.
The rest of this article explains how MadCap Flare translation works, why the XLIFF workflow makes sense, and how to set it up.
What MadCap Flare and Lingo Do
MadCap Flare Desktop is where technical writers create documentation — help systems, user manuals, knowledge bases. Single-source publishing to HTML5, PDF, Word.
Flare Desktop does not translate content. No built-in Translation Memory, no translator workspace.
MadCap Lingo is MadCap's translation management add-on. It connects to your Flare project, extracts the translatable text, and exports it as XLIFF 1.2 files (XLIFF is the standard file format for exchanging translations between tools). After translation, Lingo imports the XLIFF back and puts the translated content into Flare.
Flare is where you write. Lingo is the bridge between your content and whoever translates it.
Why Not Just Translate Everything Inside Lingo?
MadCap describes three translation approaches for Flare projects. One of them is translating directly inside Lingo, and Lingo does have real capabilities for this: its own Translation Memory, terminology databases, built-in machine translation through DeepL, Google, and Microsoft, and per-language statistics. If your team and all your translators already use Lingo, that can work.
The friction starts when they don't. Every translator who needs to edit translations needs a Lingo or paid Contributor license. MadCap offers a free Contributor review mode, but that's annotation-only: reviewers can leave comments, not fix translations.
Most professional translators already work in Trados, memoQ, or WordFast. Asking them to learn and license Lingo for your project is a hard sell.
The other common option — exporting XLIFF and sending files to translators who work in their own CAT tools — solves the licensing problem but can create a file-management one. If you're coordinating multiple languages with different freelancers, you may end up tracking versions on a spreadsheet and hoping nothing gets corrupted on the way back.
That's the gap Redokun fills: you keep Lingo for the export and import (which it does well), and your translators work in a browser workspace where everything is in one place.
How the Workflow Works
Step 1: Export XLIFF from Lingo
Create a translation bundle in Lingo and export as XLIFF 1.2. You get .xlf files with every translatable segment: .htm topics, .fltoc table of contents, .flvar variables, .flsnp snippets.
You need one Lingo license for this: yours.
Step 2: Upload to Redokun
Upload the .xlf files. Redokun reads XLIFF 1.2 natively. Add your target languages and assign translators.
Step 3: Translators Open Their Browser
Your translators get an email invitation, click a link, and open the Web Editor. No desktop software, no Lingo or Contributor license.
They see only the documents and languages assigned to them, with Translation Memory and Glossary suggestions inline. If you ran AI pre-translation first, they're reviewing and refining rather than starting from blank.
Five translators, five languages, all at the same time. You see everyone's progress from one screen.
Step 4: Download and Import Back
Download the translated XLIFF files. Redokun returns the files in the same XLIFF 1.2 format Lingo expects. Run Lingo's QA checks (tag validation, segment alignment), export to Flare, publish.
What You Get Over Time
The first project already saves you the licensing headache. The value grows from there.
Every approved translation goes into your Translation Memory. Next time you update your Flare docs, Redokun pre-fills segments it has seen before. Your translators can focus on the updated content instead of retranslating the whole manual.
Your Glossary suggests approved terminology as translators work. Product names, component labels, safety classifications: every translator sees the same terms and gets flagged when they deviate. No more finding out after delivery that the German translator used a different product name than the French one.
And because Redokun supports more than just XLIFF — Word, PowerPoint, Excel, InDesign, HTML, JSON, and others — the Translation Memory and Glossary you build from your Flare projects also apply when your marketing team translates a brochure or your training team translates a slide deck.
Common Questions
Does this work with Flare's conditional tags and variables?
Yes, depending on the filtering and flattening settings you choose in Lingo before export. Lingo resolves or preserves conditions and variables according to those settings, so what reaches Redokun is the text you've selected for translation.
What XLIFF version does Redokun support?
XLIFF 1.2, which is what Lingo exports. Version mismatches are a common source of import failures. If any tool in the chain upgrades your file to XLIFF 2.0, Lingo won't accept it back. Redokun keeps files in 1.2 throughout.
Lingo already has machine translation. Why not use that?
Lingo's MT support works well for generating first drafts. The limitation is on the review side: editing those machine-translated segments requires a Lingo or paid Contributor license for each reviewer. With Redokun, your translators review and refine the suggestions in their browser without additional desktop licenses.
Do translators need to install anything?
No. They get an email invite and open the editor in their browser. Useful when your freelancers translate for dozens of clients and aren't going to install a desktop app for one project.
Try It on One Project
- Export your next project from Lingo as XLIFF 1.2.
- Start a free Redokun trial and upload the files. (See our XLIFF translation for technical writers page for more.)
- Invite one translator. See the round-trip.
No change to your authoring process. No new desktop software to install.
