How to Export Intercom Help Center Articles for Translation

Need to get your Intercom help center articles out for translation? This guide covers every method, from manual copy-paste to API automation, plus tools that skip the export step entirely.

Why export Intercom articles?

Common scenarios where you'd want to export:

• External translators: Sending content to a translation agency or freelancer
• Translation management systems: Importing into Lokalise, Crowdin, or Phrase
• Bulk processing: Running articles through translation APIs like DeepL or Google
• Backup: Keeping a local copy of your help center content
• Migration: Moving content to another platform

Intercom doesn't have a native "export all articles" button, so you need a workaround. Here are your options.

Method 1: Manual export (copy-paste)

The simplest approach for small help centers:

1. Open each article in Intercom's editor
2. Select all content (Cmd/Ctrl + A)
3. Copy to a Google Doc, Word file, or translation tool
4. Repeat for each article

What you get: Rich text with basic formatting preserved.

What you lose: Images (need separate download), internal links (break outside Intercom), article metadata (slugs, collections, publish status).

When it works: Fewer than 10 articles, one-time translation project, no need to sync changes back.

When it doesn't: Anything larger. Manual export becomes a multi-hour task at 50+ articles, and tracking which translations are current becomes impossible.

Method 2: Intercom Articles API

Intercom provides an API to programmatically fetch article content. This is the developer approach.

Step 1: Get your API access token

1. Go to Intercom → Settings → Developers
2. Create a new app or use an existing one
3. Enable "Read articles" permission
4. Copy your access token

Step 2: List all articles

curl "https://api.intercom.io/articles" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/json"

This returns a JSON array with article IDs, titles, and content.

Step 3: Fetch individual article content

curl "https://api.intercom.io/articles/ARTICLE_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/json"

The response includes:

• title: Article title
• body: HTML content
• author_id: Who wrote it
• state: Published or draft
• translated_content: Object with existing translations keyed by locale

Step 4: Export to file

Here's a simple script to export all articles to JSON:

import requests
import json

headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN",
    "Accept": "application/json"
}

# Fetch all articles
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.intercom.io/articles",
    headers=headers
)
articles = response.json()["data"]

# Save to file
with open("intercom_articles.json", "w") as f:
    json.dump(articles, f, indent=2)

print(f"Exported {len(articles)} articles")

Limitations of the API approach:

• Requires developer skills or contractor
• You get HTML, not clean text (need to strip tags for translation)
• Syncing translations back requires another script
• Images are URLs, not embedded (may need separate handling)
• Rate limits apply (max 10 requests per minute on free plans)

For a detailed API walkthrough, see Intercom's Articles API documentation.

Method 3: Translation management tools

Several tools integrate with Intercom to handle export and import automatically:

Lokalise

Full localization platform with Intercom connector.

1. Connect Intercom account in Lokalise
2. Import articles (creates translation project)
3. Translate using Lokalise's editor or assign to translators
4. Push translations back to Intercom

Best for: Teams already using Lokalise for app/website localization. Enterprise pricing starts around $120/month.

Crowdin

Similar TMS platform with Intercom integration.

1. Set up Intercom integration in Crowdin
2. Sync articles to create translation keys
3. Use Crowdin's translation workflow
4. Export back to Intercom

Best for: Open source projects (free tier available) or teams with existing Crowdin workflows.

Lingpad

Another TMS option specifically designed for customer support content.

Best for: Teams managing translations across multiple support platforms.

The alternative: Skip export entirely

Every export method shares the same problems:

1. Sync headaches: When you update an article, how do you know which translation is stale?
2. Format loss: Export strips formatting, images, and links that need manual restoration
3. Version chaos: Which JSON file is current? Which translation matches which source version?

Tools built specifically for Intercom translation avoid these issues by working directly inside Intercom.

TranslateDesk: Direct Intercom translation

TranslateDesk takes a different approach. Instead of export → translate → import:

1. Connect your Intercom workspace
2. Select articles and target languages
3. Click translate

No export step. No import step. Translations appear directly in Intercom's language panel.

What this solves:

• Formatting preserved: Images, links, and styles translate without breaking
• Sync built in: Source updates trigger stale content alerts
• Version control: You see exactly which translations match which source version
• No technical setup: Works for support teams without developers

TranslateDesk uses DeepL's neural translation engine, the same quality you'd get from a manual DeepL workflow, without the copy-paste.

Which method should you use?

Scenario	Best method
One-time translation, <10 articles	Manual copy-paste
Developer available, custom workflow needed	Intercom API
Already using Lokalise/Crowdin for other projects	Your existing TMS
Intercom-focused, ongoing translations	TranslateDesk

Common export questions

Can I export Intercom articles to CSV?

Not directly. The API returns JSON. You'd need to convert JSON to CSV with a script or tool like jq.

How do I export images from Intercom articles?

Images are hosted on Intercom's CDN. The API gives you image URLs, which you can download separately. Most translation workflows don't need the images themselves, just the text.

Can I export translated versions too?

Yes. The API's translated_content field contains existing translations. Each translation is keyed by locale code (e.g., fr, de, es).

How do I handle HTML in exported content?

Intercom article bodies are HTML. For plain text translation:

• Strip HTML tags (tools like BeautifulSoup for Python work well)
• Translate the plain text
• Re-wrap in the original HTML structure (harder than it sounds)

This is where export-free tools save significant effort.

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Related guides:

• How to Translate Intercom Help Center Articles
• Does Intercom Support Translation?
• Intercom Translation Options Explained