Hey everyone!

Tired of copy-pasting translations between iOS and Android? Me too.

If you’re a mobile dev juggling both platforms, you know the drill: updating .strings, .stringsdict, .xml files, handling plurals across both systems… it’s tedious.

I ran into this pain point a lot. I checked out some tools, but most were too complex, pricey, or both. I just wanted something simple that used what I already had: Google Sheets. Most translation teams or clients are comfortable with spreadsheets anyway, right?

Now, I should give credit where it’s due – I was definitely inspired by an older script called localizable-sheet-script by COBE (props to them!). It was a great starting point! However, it hasn’t seen updates in quite a while, and mobile development moves fast. I needed something that handled modern formats like Apple’s .xcstrings and had more robust plural support baked in.

So, I decided to build on that idea and create my own updated version: google-sheets-l10n-exporter.

What it does:

• You set up a Google Sheet with columns for iOS keys, Android keys, and language columns (like English, German, Spanish).
• Run the custom script via the “Custom Export” menu.
• Done! You get localization files for both platforms, ready to drop into your project.

It exports:

• Android: strings.xml with plurals and string arrays ([] in key).
• iOS (Legacy): Localizable.strings and Localizable.stringsdict.
• iOS (Modern): Localizable.xcstrings — a single JSON file for all strings and plurals, perfect for Xcode 15+ projects.

Why it’s worth using:

• It’s free and uses tools you already have.
• Your sheet becomes the single source of truth.
• No subscription platforms.
• Clean plural support using key##{quantity} style.
• Configurable columns and language codes.

If you’ve wrestled with outdated scripts or manual syncing, give this a try. It’s been a huge time-saver for me.

You can find all the setup instructions and the sheet format details on GitHub in the README.md.

Hope it smooths out your localization workflow! Feel free to open any issues or PRs on GitHub and let me know if you use it or improve it.

Cheers!