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Export Translation ​

Use the Export Translation workflow when you only need the translated text of the image in bulk and do not yet need inpainting, layout, and rendered images. It still runs conditional colorization, conditional upscaling, detection, OCR, and translation, but skips inpainting, rendering, and main-image saving. The translated text of each image is written through the template into a translations/ sidecar in the work directory, and the project JSON is saved as well.

Export Translation forms the template/JSON family together with Export Original Text, Translate JSON Only, and Import Translation and Render. The overall boundaries of the nine workflows are in Output Directory and Workflow, with a summary table in Workflow Matrix.

When to use it ​

  • Inputs: the main input images (the same file-discovery rules as normal translation) plus a readable export template config/translation_template.json.
  • Stages executed: conditional colorize → conditional upscale → detection → OCR → text-line merge → translation; the mask is refined when text regions exist but only a raw mask is available.
  • Stages skipped: inpainting, rendering, and main-output-image saving. Translation results land only in the project JSON and the translated sidecar; no final image is produced.
  • Output files: manga_translator_work/json/<stem>_translations.json and manga_translator_work/translations/<stem>_translated.<template-extension>.
  • Workflow field: combo index 1 writes cli.generate_and_export=true at runtime; GUI switching keeps the eight workflow booleans mutually exclusive.

Run this workflow ​

Select the Export Translation workflow ​

  1. Open the translation page and choose “Export Translation” in the “Translation Workflow Mode:” combo box.
  2. The page title becomes “Export Translation” and the subtitle shows the hint: after exporting, check the translated sidecars in manga_translator_work/translations/.
  3. The start button becomes “Export Translation”; clicking it starts the backend task in this mode.

Selecting a mode only writes configuration and updates the UI texts; it does not start a task. Before starting, add the main input images (“Add Files...”, “Add Folder...”, or drag-and-drop) and make sure the export template exists and parses. The UI hint always reads imagename_translated.txt, but the actual extension comes from the template's output_format (default json); the hint text does not change with the template extension.

“Output Directory:” only determines where the main output image goes. Export Translation writes no main image, so in this mode it does not affect the JSON or translated-sidecar locations; both always follow the per-image work-directory rules.

Processing order ​

Stages and outputs ​

Export Translation reuses the first half of the normal-translation pipeline and finishes in the shared template-export handler. The Mermaid diagram below shows the stage order, mask branches, and output files. It shares _handle_template_export with Export Original Text but is called with ensure_json_with_empty_regions=false, so images without text regions produce no files (Export Original Text writes an empty template instead).

flowchart LR
    Input["Main input images"] --> Pre["Conditional: colorize -> upscale"]
    Pre --> Detect["Detection"] --> OCR["OCR"] --> Merge["Text-line merge"] --> Translate["Translation"]
    Translate --> Handler["Template-export handler"]
    Handler --> Yolo{"Import YOLO labels?"}
    Yolo -->|yes| YoloMask["Skip mask refinement; JSON saves no mask"]
    Yolo -->|no| RefineCheck{"Regions exist with only a raw mask?"}
    RefineCheck -->|yes| Refine["Refine mask (refine only, no inpainting)"]
    RefineCheck -->|no| NoRefine["Skip mask refinement"]
    YoloMask --> HasText{"Any non-empty text regions?"}
    Refine --> HasText
    NoRefine --> HasText
    HasText -->|yes| SaveJson["Save project JSON"]
    HasText -->|no| NoOut["Produce no files"]
    SaveJson --> JsonFile["manga_translator_work/json/&lt;stem&gt;_translations.json"]
    SaveJson --> Gen["generate_translated_text writes translations via template"]
    Gen --> TxtFile["manga_translator_work/translations/&lt;stem&gt;_translated.&lt;template-extension&gt;"]
    Translate -. "not executed" .-> Skip["Inpainting / rendering / main-image saving"]

Template-export details ​

  • Template path resolution order: a user-specified path > the MANGA_TEMPLATE_PATH environment variable > the default config/translation_template.json.
  • The first output_format: line in the template determines the sidecar extension; valid values are safe 1–32-character extensions, falling back to json when missing or invalid.
  • generate_translated_text() collects items from the regions list of the project JSON: only non-empty original-text regions are included, [BR] markers are removed from both original and translated text, <original> is filled with the original and <translated> with the translation. An empty translation is exported as an empty string (it does not fall back to the original text, unlike Export Original Text).
  • The template must contain at least one line with the <original> placeholder; otherwise parsing raises an error and the export log records “Failed to export clean text”.
  • The built-in default template uses output_format json and an <original> / <translated> line structure.

JSON fields written by Export Translation ​

  • skip_font_scaling=true: Export Translation preserves the fixed font size for later replay; Export Original Text and Translate JSON Only write false instead.
  • Mask: when save_mask is enabled, a base64 mask and mask_is_refined are saved; export modes with imported YOLO labels skip mask saving.
  • When colorization or upscaling is active, the JSON records colorizer, upscale_ratio, and upscaler.
  • This mode does not render, so skip_text_replacements is not written; existing paint/stamp overlay layers in the old JSON are preserved.

Concurrency and mutual exclusion ​

  • batch_concurrent is incompatible: both the desktop controller and translate_batch() treat it as an incompatible mode and force non-concurrent handling. Keeping the concurrent configuration in the UI does not turn this mode into a concurrent pipeline.
  • Manually stacking multiple workflow fields is not a supported combination. In the runtime translate_batch() dispatch order, the Export Original Text branch runs before the Export Translation branch; GUI switching keeps the eight fields mutually exclusive.
  • As with normal translation, conditional colorization and upscaling still run in preprocessing based on colorizer.colorizer and upscale.upscale_ratio; those values are not forced by this workflow.

Inputs, outputs, and limitations ​

  • Template dependency: a missing template logs a warning and the project JSON is still saved; an unparsable template means no translated sidecar is produced.
  • No text regions: this mode calls the shared export flow with ensure_json_with_empty_regions=false, so images without text regions produce neither JSON nor a translated sidecar. This differs from Export Original Text, which writes an empty template.
  • cli.overwrite=false: the GUI skips images whose translated sidecar already exists before starting (it checks get_translated_txt_path, i.e., the target file generated with the template extension).
  • cli.save_text: entering the export branch does not depend on save_text; JSON and the translated sidecar are written unconditionally inside the branch. This differs from Export Original Text, which requires template=true and save_text=true.
  • Colorization, upscaling, detection, OCR, and translation still consume model, VRAM, network, and API costs according to their parameters; this guide does not repeat those parameter descriptions.
  • The main output directory, save_to_source_dir, and cli.format affect only the main output image; this mode writes no main image, so those settings have no direct effect on this workflow's outputs.

See the reference index: Workflow Matrix.