In my previous we had dozens of source files and tons of translated strings (both in project and translation memory).
We had a need to reorganize our source files due to our product change - to group strings together more logically and make it easier for translators, maybe add some context in the context field or screenshots.
We’ve just deleted everything, uploaded new sources and pre-translate with translation memory. All authority of translations were lost, same as reports (weekly/monthly progress). Those days we didn’t care about it, by time has changed.
Now I’m curios about the best practices on the matter. We’ll have same product update this summer, need to plan localization strategy right now, I guess.
I guess you would be using an integration, right? Perhaps GitHub or Gitlab?
Anyway, that integration logic is the same.
So, let’s imagine you’ve already started source files re-build, here’s your workflow:
The first thing I recommend - please pause GitHub sync before sources would be re-organized.
After that, you can re-organize the existing files in different ways (creating a new branch and transferring all content into it for example, or simply renaming yours).
After that, you can resume the integration again.
If you plan to merge or delete files, the general recommendation would be:
Stop the integration;
Adjust files structure in GitHub;
Rename the existing “main” branch(branches) to “main_something” or so;
Switch duplicate strings visibility option to hide (regular detection) in the project settings;
After you organize files in GitHub, resume GitHub sync in Crowdin —> it will create a new “main” branch with a new structure;
Now you can delete the “main_something” branch/branches. All translations/approvals you have there will migrate without authority lost to the new branch.