Can I outsource ongoing translation maintenance to an agency instead of using Translate & Adapt's self-serve tools directly?
Short answer
Yes: an agency can run ongoing Shopify translation maintenance, though Shopify has no translation permission to grant. The agency works through an account limited to chosen apps (Shopify Help Center, October 2026) or through exported translation files. Shopify marks a translation Outdated when its source content changes (Shopify Help Center, October 2026), so the agency has a work list.
- Translation permission in Shopify
- None in the store permissions listA staff or collaborator account can be limited to the apps you check, such as Translate & Adapt, but Shopify can't assign permissions per market.Sources: Shopify Help Center (Store permissions, Requirements and considerations for using markets)
- Stale translations
- Marked Outdated, exportable as a fileShopify marks a translation Outdated when the default-language content changes; Settings > Languages can export only the outdated translations.Sources: Shopify Help Center (Managing your store's languages, Adding translations using CSV files)
- Automatic translation and manual edits
- Manual translations are never updatedAutomatic translation updates out-of-date machine translations only; weekly Auto-sync runs in 12 European countries and wherever the app shows "Translate now".Source: Shopify Help Center (Translating content automatically using the Translate & Adapt app)
- Agency logins
- Collaborators take no staff seatCollaborator accounts are for Shopify Partners, such as agencies, and don't count towards the store's user limit; grant only the permissions the work needs.Source: Shopify Help Center (Collaborator accounts)
Deploi’s call
Outsource the translation, keep the detection. The recurring value is in knowing what changed: Shopify marks outdated translations, and someone on your team should own pulling that list every cycle, whoever does the linguistic work.
CustomizeOutsource the translating and keep the change list when
- You publish three or more languages and nobody in-house reads them all. Deploi's AI translation review record scores 3 to 5 locales CUSTOMIZE, with reviewers who are "in-house native speakers or contracted linguists" (Deploi decision record, October 2026).
- Someone on your team can export Shopify's outdated translations from Settings > Languages every cycle (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- The agency prices triaging Shopify's outdated list as a fixed line, apart from per-word translation.
- Your security review has approved the access route before the agency starts.
WaitKeep upkeep in Translate & Adapt's self-serve tools when
- You publish one or two extra languages on a stable catalog. Deploi's translation record scores that WAIT on the free native app (Deploi decision record, October 2026).
- Your translations are machine translations that weekly Auto-sync refreshes, which Shopify offers in 12 European countries and wherever the app shows "Translate now" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- Someone in-house already reads every language you publish.
Basis: Should You Build or Buy AI Translation Review on Shopify?, our Build vs. Buy decision record, scored CUSTOMIZE.
Can an agency maintain your Shopify translations instead of Translate & Adapt's self-serve tools?
Yes: an agency can maintain your Shopify translations in the same translation storage your team uses, so the decision is about access and ownership, not about tools. Translate & Adapt is Shopify's free translation app, and whether it covers a mid-market store on its own is answered separately. An agency can translate inside Translate & Adapt, through comma-separated values (CSV) files, or through an app that writes with Shopify's Translations API (application programming interface). Shopify says translations from such apps are "available in both the Translate & Adapt app and the third-party translation app" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). So your team and the agency edit one set of translations. Two decisions remain: how the agency gets into your store, and who tracks what changed.
How do you give an outside translation team access to your Shopify store?
An outside translation team gets into Shopify through one of three routes, because Shopify's store permissions include no translation permission (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). Shopify staff permissions also "can't be assigned per market" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
| Route | What the agency gets | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Collaborator or staff account limited to Translate & Adapt | Only the apps you check | No translation permission exists to check, so test the role before work starts |
| Comma-separated values (CSV) export and import | A file from Settings > Languages | Someone with admin access runs every export and import |
| Custom app that writes translations | Application programming interface (API) access with the write_translations scope, plus each translation's outdated flag | Your store owner installs it from the agency's install link |
With specific apps checked, "the user can only access those apps and sales channels" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). Agencies that are Shopify Partners can work through collaborator accounts, which "don't count towards your store's user limit" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). Collaborators "can't access the Dev Dashboard" in your store's organization (Shopify Help Center, October 2026), so a Partner agency builds the app in its own Partner account and sends your owner an install link (Shopify developer docs, October 2026).
What does ongoing translation maintenance on Shopify consist of?
Ongoing translation maintenance on Shopify is four recurring jobs, and only one of them is translating.
- Finding stale translations. Shopify marks a translation Outdated when "The content in the default language has been updated, but the translations don't reflect any updates" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). Settings > Languages can export only the outdated translations as a comma-separated values (CSV) file (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- Translating the changes. Automatic translation updates out-of-date machine translations, but "It doesn't change any translations that you added or edited manually" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). So an agency's hand-edited copy stays stale until the agency redoes it.
- Covering new content. New collections, metafields and theme sections each need translations. App content kept in metaobjects, Shopify's custom content entries, becomes translatable only once its definition turns on the translatable capability (Shopify developer docs, October 2026).
- Checking app content. Translate & Adapt can't translate "Third-party app content that isn't hosted as a Shopify translatable resource type or storefront locale file" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
Jobs 1, 3 and 4 are operations and job 2 is translation, which means an agency that quotes only per word is pricing one job in four.
How should you structure an agency quote for translation upkeep?
Structure an agency quote for translation upkeep as four lines, one per maintenance job, because a single monthly figure hides which job you are paying for.
Ask the agency to price these lines separately:
- Finding stale translations: a fixed monthly fee to triage the outdated list your team exports from Shopify each cycle.
- Translating the changes: a per-word rate for each language pair.
- Covering new content: a per-item rate for new collections, metafields and theme sections.
- Checking app content: a fixed fee after each app install or update.
Any supplier who won't separate the lines is pricing your uncertainty into its margin. Set the total against what dropping a paid translation app actually saves.
When should you keep translation upkeep in-house?
Keep translation upkeep in-house when the work is small or the controls aren't ready, because outsourcing then adds a contract without removing work.
Deploi’s point of view
Our own position, from building on Shopify. Kept apart from the sourced facts above.
- Where we disagree
- The category sells translation maintenance as a service you buy. On Shopify it is mostly an access-control and change-detection problem wearing a service's clothing, and the permission model is the reason. Solve the access question in the contract, not in the first invoice.
- How we scope it (Deploi judgment)
- Price translation upkeep as a small fixed operations line plus per-word translation, because both sides can see what each line buys. A monthly fee for open-ended scope is the arrangement we expect a client to cancel.
- What this page adds
- The parent names Shopify's missing translation permission in one line. This page sets out the three access routes an agency can use, Shopify's Outdated status as the agency's work list, and a four-line quote structure.
Decision records behind this answer
When this answer changes
- Shopify adds a translations permission to its store permissions list.
- Shopify shows outdated translations as a review queue inside the Translate & Adapt editor.
- Shopify extends weekly Auto-sync to stores in the US and Canada.
- Shopify changes the Outdated export in Settings > Languages or the outdated flag in its Admin API.
- Shopify changes who can build or install a custom app for a store.
Related questions
This follows from Is Shopify Translate & Adapt good enough for a mid-market multi-language store, or do I still need a paid translation app?
- Is switching from a third-party translation app to Shopify's own native Translate & Adapt a genuine cost-optimization move, or does it just shift the cost elsewhere?
Switching to Shopify Translate & Adapt saves the whole subscription only within its automatic-language limit; past it, the cost moves into translation labor.
- What's ConveyThis, and how does it compare to Shopify's native Translate & Adapt for a mid-market brand?
ConveyThis is a third-party layer that translates a Shopify storefront as shoppers load it (ConveyThis's page, October 2026).
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Official and vendor pages are checked on the date shown; Deploi records are our own published decisions.
- Shopify Help Center, Store permissions
- Shopify Help Center, Managing your store's languages
- Shopify Help Center, Adding translations using CSV files
- Shopify Help Center, Translating content automatically using the Translate & Adapt app
- Shopify Help Center, Requirements and considerations for using markets
- Shopify Help Center, Collaborator accounts
- Shopify Help Center, Requirements and considerations for using the Translate & Adapt app
- Shopify developer docs, translationsRegister
- Shopify Help Center, About apps
- Shopify developer docs, Use metaobject capabilities
- Shopify developer docs, Translation
- Shopify developer docs, Select a distribution method
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Should You Build or Buy AI Translation Review on Shopify?
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Should You Build or Buy Translation on Shopify?