Importing

Everything enters Aquilla through the Import dialog, opened from the editor header’s Import button. This page is the full catalog; Creating a project covers the quick path of getting a first file in.

The dialog opens on “Choose the format that matches your files.” with a Most popular row and a Specialized section behind a filter box. Cards marked Beta work today and are still settling; Soon cards are announced but not yet live.

Most popular up top, Specialized below. The filter box narrows the specialized list.

Uploading your own files

Upload files takes nearly anything a translation project starts from. The panel lists what each group covers:

• Scripture — USFM, USX, SFM
• Translation — XLIFF/XLF, TMX, CSV/TSV
• Documents — DOCX, TXT, MD, HTML, EPUB, JSON/ARB, PPTX, IDML (InDesign)
• Localization — PO/POT, Java properties
• Subtitles — VTT, SRT, SBV
• Paratext project — .zip or folder
• Other formats — AI-assisted when configured, always reviewed before import

Drag files in, or pick them; a whole Paratext project can arrive as a folder or zip.

Drop files on the panel, or use Choose Files / Choose Folder. A Paratext upload asks one extra question first: whether the project should come in as Source text or as a Translation in progress. An EPUB shows a chapters picker on preview, so you import just the parts you need.

Preview before anything is written

Every import ends at a preview: how many cells, each reference and its text, and structural content marked separately. Nothing lands until Confirm import.

The preview: check the cells and references, then Confirm import.

When the file already exists

Uploading a file whose name matches one already in the project opens Re-import detected: “The following 1 file already exists in this project. Choose what to do with it.” Per file you choose:

• Update existing — “Updating matches stable units and keeps translations, language lanes, comments, audio, and units missing from the new file.” This is the safe default for a revised source.
• Skip — leave the project untouched.
• Import as duplicate — bring it in as a second file.

With several colliding files, the Apply to all row (Update all, Skip all, Import all as duplicates) decides them in one move.

A collision is a choice, not an accident: update in place, skip, or keep both.

Public Bible libraries

Two cards import source text with nothing to upload:

• eBible Corpus pulls openly licensed translations from the BibleNLP corpus. Search by language, title, or id, and pick a mode: New source file, or Into target column to fill your target from an existing translation.
• Bible API (helloao.org) offers “1,000+ translations — the whole Bible, one testament, or just the books you pick.”

Search the corpus, pick a translation, and it imports directly; no files change hands.

Spreadsheets and column mapping

The Spreadsheet importer (CSV, TSV, XLSX) shows your file’s real columns and asks what each one means: “Tell us which column contains each piece of data. Only ‘Source text’ is required.” Beyond source and target you can map a cell label or reference, a cast name, start and end timestamps, and a content type, with a First row is a header checkbox for files with headings.

Your columns, Aquilla's fields: only Source text is required; everything else is optional.

The related Paired translation importer fills the target column from source and target pairs in a spreadsheet, and Translation Memory does the same from a TMX memory file.

The specialized importers

• Macula Hebrew + Greek — original-language OT/NT with per-word lemma, morphology, and Strong’s.
• Cell labels / cast — a two-step template flow that labels existing cells with cast names for voicing.
• Translation Notes — unfoldingWord notes, shown beside the matching verse as you translate.
• Biblica Study Bible Notes — notes from an InDesign study Bible, Treasure Hunt Bible or Reach 4 Life package; imports the notes only and leaves the scripture untouched.
• Open Bible Stories — narrative stories with reference images, from unfoldingWord/door43.
• Door43 (DCS) — import a released Door43 resource as a pinned source you can re-sync later; the workflow is covered in Source projects & linked targets.
• SDBH Hebrew Lexicon — the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, for localizing definitions by semantic domain with lossless export back to MARBLE XML.

Google Drive appears when the deployment has Drive access configured: you pick files or a whole folder, only the items you pick are shared with Aquilla, and Google Docs import as DOCX.

Importing translations into an existing file

Besides whole files, the workspace’s ⋯ menu offers Import target translations into this file: match a translated file against your source and review each match before it fills the target column. Matches land in a Review matches screen, and only the rows you confirm import.

Who can import

Importing writes project content, so it follows the same role rules as editing. Bringing upstream changes into a Door43-pinned source is stricter: “Maintainer or above required to import upstream changes.”