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Export Translation ​

Export Translation uses the legacy image detection, OCR, translation, and JSON-write flow by default. Enabling Settings → Mode Specific → Text Export → “Export Text from Local JSON Only” instead exports translated text from the existing local project JSON into a translations/ sidecar without reopening the image, calling a translation API, or writing project JSON back, so exporting cannot overwrite user-edited translations.

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 ​

  • Default input: the main image and a readable export template; detection, OCR, and translation run.
  • With the toggle on: each image's existing manga_translator_work/json/<stem>_translations.json plus a readable template; the image path only locates JSON and is not decoded.
  • With the toggle on: read regions[].translation, remove [BR], export through the template, and skip image loading, colorization, upscaling, detection, OCR, translation, mask processing, inpainting, rendering, main-image saving, and JSON write-back.
  • Output with the toggle on: manga_translator_work/translations/<stem>_translated.<template-extension>; project JSON stays unchanged.
  • 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 ​

When cli.export_from_local_json is enabled, translate_batch() enters the local-JSON export branch before image materialization. Missing JSON fails that image without OCR fallback. The toggle defaults off; when off, the legacy pipeline runs.

flowchart LR
    Input["Input image path"] --> Find["Find matching project JSON"]
    Find -->|found| Read["Read regions.translation"] --> Gen["Render translated sidecar through template"]
    Gen --> Txt["translations/&lt;stem&gt;_translated.&lt;extension&gt;"]
    Find -->|missing or invalid| Fail["Fail this image; never fall back to OCR"]
    Read -. "not executed" .-> Skip["Image decode / detection / OCR / API translation / JSON write-back"]

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.

Project JSON boundary ​

  • With the toggle on, local export reads project JSON without writing skip_font_scaling, masks, model metadata, or any other field.
  • User-edited translation, rich text, paint/stamp overlays, and unknown extension fields remain unchanged.
  • With the toggle off, the legacy pipeline can regenerate and write runtime fields.

Concurrency and mutual exclusion ​

  • batch_concurrent remains incompatible; local JSON export itself processes entries without loading models.
  • GUI workflow flags remain mutually exclusive. cli.export_from_local_json is a separate toggle shared by both text-export workflows.
  • With the toggle off, conditional colorization/upscaling, detection, OCR, and translation run with their model/API costs.

Inputs, outputs, and limitations ​

  • Template dependency: an unparsable template prevents the translated sidecar; the project JSON remains unchanged.
  • Project JSON dependency: only when the toggle is on; missing or unreadable JSON fails that image without OCR fallback, avoiding accidental reconstruction and overwrite.
  • cli.overwrite=false: the GUI skips images whose translated sidecar already exists.
  • cli.save_text: Export Translation does not depend on it; with the toggle on, JSON is read without being written.
  • With the toggle off, the legacy flow uses colorization, upscaling, detection, OCR, translation models, and APIs.
  • 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.