Import Articles from Intercom

How Translate Desk imports and syncs your Intercom Help Center articles automatically.

Once you've connected your Intercom workspace, Translate Desk automatically imports your articles and keeps them in sync. This guide explains how the import process works.

Initial Import

After connecting Intercom, Translate Desk performs an initial import of all published articles from your Help Center. This process:

  • Fetches article titles, descriptions, and body content
  • Preserves HTML structure and formatting
  • Maintains collection relationships
  • Imports any existing translations from Intercom

The initial import runs automatically in the background. You'll see your articles appear in the dashboard as they're processed. Large help centers may take a few minutes to complete the import.

What Gets Imported

Translate Desk imports the following from each article:

  • Title: The article title in the source language
  • Description: The article description or summary
  • Body: The full article content, including HTML formatting
  • Collections: Which collection the article belongs to
  • Status: Whether the article is published or a draft
  • Existing Translations: Any translations that already exist in Intercom

All HTML elements, links, images, and formatting are preserved during import. This ensures your translated articles maintain the same structure and appearance as the originals.

Automatic Syncing

After the initial import, Translate Desk automatically syncs with Intercom to detect changes:

  • New Articles: When you publish a new article in Intercom, it appears in Translate Desk within minutes
  • Updated Articles: If you edit an article in Intercom, Translate Desk detects the change and marks translations as needing update
  • Deleted Articles: Articles removed from Intercom are marked accordingly in Translate Desk

The sync process runs automatically on a schedule, so you don't need to manually refresh your articles. Learn more about How does automatic syncing work?.

Manual Import

You can also trigger a manual import at any time from the dashboard. This is useful if:

  • You've just published several new articles and want to import them immediately
  • You want to refresh the article list to see the latest changes
  • You're troubleshooting a sync issue

To trigger a manual import, navigate to the Articles page and click the import button. The system will check for new or updated articles and import them.

Translation Status After Import

When articles are first imported, their translation status depends on whether translations already exist in Intercom:

  • Articles with existing translations: These are marked as "In Sync" for languages that have translations
  • Articles without translations: These show as "Needs Translation" for your target languages

You can start translating immediately after import. Learn how to How do I translate an article?.

Collections and Structure

Translate Desk preserves your Intercom collection structure during import. Articles maintain their collection relationships, and when you translate articles, they stay organized in the same collections across all languages.

This means if you have a "Getting Started" collection in English, all translated articles will appear in a "Getting Started" collection in each target language.

Next Steps

Now that your articles are imported, you're ready to start translating. Learn how to choose your target languages and translate your first article.

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