Matrixify added translations support in May 2026. The export covers 8 container entities (products, collections, pages, blogs, blog posts, menus, metaobjects, and shop fields) in a wide layout where each locale gets its own column. It has no Market column, so market adaptations (content adapted for one market, in the same language) are outside its format.
Altera covers 20 translatable resource types, ships 13+ export filters (including a per-locale multi-select), imports and exports market adaptations through a Market column, and uses a long-row layout that round-trips into Shopify’s native translation importer. Altera also reads and writes regular Matrixify files, so this is not a new app to learn.
This page walks through what each tool’s translations export covers, the filter and market differences, and the format trade-offs between wide and long layouts.
What Matrixify’s translations export covers#
Matrixify models 8 top-level container entities, with nested children encoded through dotted-handle conventions and field-name suffixes:
- Product: title, body, SEO, type, handle, options, option values, and product metafields
- Variant metafields: surfaced as
Variant Metafield: ns.keyrows under the parent product - Collection: title, description, handle, SEO, and collection metafields
- Page, Blog, Blog Post
- Menu (link-level granularity unclear from their schema)
- Metaobject (including metafields on entries)
- Shop: policies and shop-level fields
Translations are exported in a wide format: one row per resource, with Translation Value: fr, Translation Value: de, and so on as separate columns per locale. The layout puts source text and every target language side by side in one row so that they are always grouped together.
What Altera’s translations export covers#
Altera’s translations export covers 20 translatable resource types, all of Matrixify’s entities plus the following:
- Online Store theme translations (
shopify.checkout.*, theme section labels) - Email templates (order confirmations, shipping updates, abandoned-cart emails)
- Collection filter labels (the storefront filters on collection pages)
- Media image alt text
- Delivery method definitions
- Payment gateway names
- Selling plans and selling plan groups
Translations are exported in a long format: one row per (resource, field, locale, market) tuple, with Locale and Market columns rather than per-locale columns. This shape is a drop-in for Shopify’s native translation importer and stays stable regardless of how many locales and markets the store has enabled.
Filter expressiveness: one Entity filter vs thirteen#
Matrixify ships a single filter on translations exports: Entity, which selects among the 8 container entities. Altera ships 13+:
| Filter | What it does |
|---|---|
locale | Pick one or more target languages (multi-select, with “is any of” / “is not any of”) |
type | Pick translatable resource types (20 options) |
field | Match field keys with EQUALS / STARTS_WITH / NOT_EQUALS (e.g. STARTS_WITH shopify.checkout) |
market | Export the adaptations for one market, or for all markets at once |
metafield_namespacekey | Export translations for a specific metafield |
metafield_namespace | Export translations for metafields under a namespace |
theme_id | Export translations for a specific theme |
metaobject_type | Filter to a specific metaobject definition |
product_id / product_status / product_tag / product_created_at | Scope product translations |
collection_id / collection_handle / collection_type | Scope collection translations |
Why the per-locale filter matters#
Shopify’s translation API takes locale as a required per-call parameter. You can’t ask for all locales in a single query. Any translation exporter has to make one pass per locale.
Matrixify’s wide format puts each locale in its own column, so every export structurally fetches every enabled locale. A 5-locale store always pays roughly 5 times the API time on every export, even if only French changed.
Altera’s locale filter scopes the work:
- Export only French: one filter row, one pass over the API
- Export French and Spanish: one filter row, two passes
- Export everything except English overrides: exclusion mode
Concrete workflows the filters unlock#
Three merchant requests that resolve to one Altera filter row each:
“Export French and German translations for products tagged
summer.” Altera:locale=fr,de+product_tag=summer. Matrixify: export every locale on every product, filter the spreadsheet in Excel.“Export only checkout theme translations to send to our translator.” Altera:
type=ONLINE_STORE_THEME+field STARTS_WITH shopify.checkout. Matrixify: theme translations aren’t part of the export format.“Export the UK English adaptations so we can fix spelling in bulk.” Altera:
market=United Kingdom. Matrixify: there is no market filter and no Market column, so the adaptations are not in the export.
The pattern is the same each time: Altera’s filters produce the file you asked for. With Matrixify’s single Entity filter, the export is the raw material and the filtering happens downstream in Excel.
Market adaptations (translations scoped to a market)#
Shopify’s Translate & Adapt app has two jobs. Translating puts your content into another language. Adapting changes the wording for one market without changing the language: a “Sweaters” menu title for a United States market and “Jumpers” for a United Kingdom market, “color” in one and “colour” in the other, a Thanksgiving banner that only Canadian customers see, or French copy for Belgium that differs from the copy for France. Agencies and merchants call these market adaptations. In Shopify’s API they are translations with a market attached, so any spreadsheet tool needs a Market column to read or write them.
Matrixify’s translations format is locale-only. It has no Market column and no market filter, so adaptations never appear in a Matrixify export and cannot be created with a Matrixify import.
Altera treats the market as a first-class column with full round-trip support:
- The
Marketcolumn accepts a market name, a numeric ID, or a full Shopify GID on import. Leave it empty and the row is a regular translation that applies to every market. - The market export filter returns the rows for one market, or for all markets at once. Without a market filter an export holds only the global translations, so adaptations never mix into a file that did not ask for them.
- The store’s primary language is included automatically when a market filter is active, which is what makes same-language adaptations (UK English on a US English store) exportable. Every translatable field for the market gets a row, including fields with no adaptation yet, so gaps are visible in the sheet.
- Adaptations can be deleted on their own, without touching the global translation underneath.
Altera’s long format uses the same two columns, Locale and Market, that Shopify’s own Translate & Adapt CSV uses, so files move between the two without restructuring. For a step-by-step walkthrough of the UK and US English case, see how to bulk import and export Shopify market adaptations.
Wide vs long format: a real trade-off#
The shape of the file is the most visible difference between the two tools, and it isn’t strictly better either way.
Matrixify’s wide format suits a workflow where a human translator opens the file in Excel. Source text on the left, one column per target language, fill in the blanks. Putting every locale next to the source in a single row is what most translator-facing tools (Excel review workflows, CAT tool review modes, glossaries) expect, and it’s a real ergonomic win over Shopify’s Translate & Adapt app, which forces you to switch languages from a dropdown to see one at a time.
Altera’s long format suits everything that isn’t a human in a spreadsheet. Each (resource, field, locale, market) is its own row, so scripts, scheduled jobs, programmatic pipelines, and translation-memory tools have a stable schema regardless of how many locales are involved. Adding a sixth language doesn’t change the column count. Filtering down to a single locale or market is one filter row. Round-tripping through a CAT/TMS that ingests “one segment per row” works directly. The long format is also a drop-in for Shopify’s native translation importer, and it is the only one of the two that can carry market adaptations at all.
If your workflow is “send the file to a human translator, they fill in the gaps, send it back,” Matrixify’s layout is easier to live with. If your workflow involves scripts, scheduled jobs, market adaptations, or more than two locales, the long format more than pays back the bilingual-review ergonomics.
Summary#
| Capability | Matrixify | Altera |
|---|---|---|
| Resource type coverage | 8 container entities | 20 types incl. theme, media alt, delivery, email, filter, payment gateway, selling plans |
| Filters | 1 (Entity) | 13+ |
| Per-locale export filter | No | Yes (locale multi-select) |
| Market adaptations (market-scoped translations) | No | Yes (Market column and filter) |
Theme translations (shopify.checkout.*) | No | Yes |
| Email template translations | No | Yes |
| Collection filter translations | No | Yes |
| Media image alt text translations | No | Yes |
| Default export layout | Wide (per-locale columns) | Long (per-locale rows) |
| Shopify-native importer compatible | No | Yes |
Frequently asked questions#
Does Matrixify export Shopify translations?
Yes. Matrixify’s translations export covers 8 container entities (Product, Collection, Page, Blog, Blog Post, Menu, Metaobject, and Shop) with a single Entity filter and a wide per-locale column layout.Does Matrixify support Shopify market adaptations?
No. Matrixify’s translations sheet has no Market column and no market filter, so it cannot export or import content adapted for one market, such as UK spelling for a United Kingdom market or a different French for Belgium than for France. Use Altera, a Shopify import/export app that reads Matrixify files. Altera exports adaptations with a Market column and imports any row with a market name, ID, or GID in that column as a translation scoped to that market.What is the difference between a translation and an adaptation in Shopify?
A translation puts a field into another language for every market that uses that language. An adaptation changes the wording of a field for one market only, in the same language, which is what the Adapt half of Shopify’s Translate & Adapt app does. In Shopify’s API an adaptation is a translation with a market attached, so a spreadsheet tool needs a Market column to handle it. Altera has that column. Matrixify does not.Can I bulk edit Translate & Adapt adaptations in a spreadsheet?
Yes. Altera exports the adaptations for one market, or for every market, to a spreadsheet with Locale and Market columns. You edit them in Excel or Google Sheets, then Altera imports the file back into Shopify. The market adaptations guide at getaltera.com/shopify-market-adaptations/ walks through the UK and US English case step by step.Which translatable resource types does Altera cover that Matrixify doesn't?
Online Store theme translations (shopify.checkout.* and theme section labels), email templates, collection filter labels, media image alt text, delivery method definitions, payment gateway names, and selling plan and selling plan group translations.Why does a per-locale filter matter?
Shopify’s translation API requires one call per locale. There is no all-locales query. A store with 5 enabled languages and no per-locale filter pays 5 times the API time on every export, even if only one language changed. Altera’s locale filter scopes the work to only the languages you actually want.Can I use Altera's translations alongside Matrixify for everything else?
Yes. Altera uses a Matrixify-compatible spreadsheet format. You can use Matrixify for data types it supports and Altera for translations, market adaptations, inventory transfers, linked product options, and other data types Matrixify doesn’t cover. Most merchants find they do not need both, because Altera reads and writes the regular Matrixify files as well.See our full Altera vs. Matrixify comparison for a breakdown of all the differences between the two tools, or check the FAQ for more common questions.
