Translate multiple active versions: one project or multiple projects

[CorentinVermeulen]

Hello,

Our software is maintained across multiple active versions (N, N+1, N+2). Changes are applied independently in each version, which frequently creates or modifies source strings.

Ideally, translations should remain consistent across all versions whenever the source string and context are identical.

Following Weblate’s recommendations, we initially set up one project per repository/branch. To avoid duplicating translation work across versions, we configured automatic translation add-ons with the following settings:

• Filter on untranslated strings
• Mark them as translated
• Use Weblate translation memory
• Threshold: 100% similarity

→ This is like having a propagation across projects but it's not instantaneous nor working for already translated strings .
when a source string is modified in one version, the corresponding translations in other versions are not updated because they do not met the filter condition. Changing the filter from “untranslated strings only” to “all strings” does not seem reliable
In cases where identical source strings exist across projects but have different translations, it is unclear which translation would be applied

What I am trying to achieve is having a behavior similar to propagation, but across projects.

An alternative approach I am considering is:

• Creating a single project
• Organizing versions as components (e.g., component-v-N, component-v-N+1, component-v-N+2)

This setup could allow:

• Native propagation between components
• Easier detection of inconsistencies across all versions

But:

• My app has around 170 components → N*170 component in the same project. Maybe it can affect perfomance...
  -Doesn't follow Weblate documentation guidelines (there might be a reason).

Summary

My goals are:

1. Avoid translating the same changes multiple times across different projects
2. Ensure strong consistency of translations across all versions
3. Leverage propagation mechanisms as much as possible

Question

Which approach would you recommend?

Keep:

• One project per version
• Current automatic translation add-ons
• Possibly extend with “set as suggestion” for already translated strings

Or switch to:

• A single project
• Multiple components (one per version)
• Rely on built-in propagation across components

Thank you for your help and recommendation.

Corentin