Most localisation tools assume your product lives in a browser. But if you're localising desktop software, mobile apps, embedded device interfaces, or legacy systems, that assumption breaks your workflow before it even starts.
Without visual context, translators and reviewers work from flat string lists. They can't see where content appears, how it behaves in the layout, or whether a translation will cause truncation. So they ask questions. Lots of them.
"Where does this string appear?" "Is this a button label or a menu item?" "Can someone send a screenshot of this screen?"
These context queries create a hidden operational cost that compounds across every language, every release, and every reviewer in the cycle. They pull developers away from product work. They delay QA sign-off. And they make it nearly impossible to scale localization independently.
Rigi Snapshot eliminates that bottleneck entirely. It's now available for macOS and Windows as part of Rigi by XTM.
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Web-based localisation tools have matured significantly over the past few years. If your product runs in a browser, you likely have access to in-context preview, live string editing, and automated QA workflows that keep translators connected to the real UI.
Non-web applications don't have that luxury.
Desktop software, mobile apps, embedded device interfaces, automotive dashboards, and industrial instrument panels all present the same challenge: there's no scalable way to give translators visual context for the content they're working on.
The workaround most teams rely on is manual screenshots. Someone captures screens, labels them, attaches them to the right strings in the TMS, and hopes they stay current through the next release cycle. In practice, they rarely do. Screenshots go stale quickly. Maintaining them becomes a project in itself. And the engineering team gets pulled in repeatedly to provide context that should already be available.
The result is a localisation workflow that depends on engineering capacity to function. That dependency slows releases, increases costs, and creates a bottleneck that gets worse as you add more languages or accelerate your release cadence.
Rigi Snapshot takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of asking teams to manually connect screenshots to strings, it automates the entire process by capturing live application interfaces and converting them into structured, translatable HTML previews.
Here's the workflow.
You open the application you want to localise, whether it's running natively on your machine, in a mobile simulator, or in an emulator. Rigi Snapshot captures the active window and uses OCR to detect all visible text. It then matches that text against the tokenised strings in your Rigi project.
The output is an interactive HTML preview where every matched string is directly editable in context. Translators and reviewers can see exactly how content appears in the real UI, without needing access to the application itself or support from engineering.
These previews aren't static images. They're structured, reusable assets that upload directly to your Rigi project and integrate into your existing localisation workflows through XTM Cloud or Transifex. When strings change, you recapture and regenerate. The previews stay current with minimal effort.
For teams managing large applications, Rigi Snapshot also supports batch processing. You can drag and drop multiple screenshots for conversion or automate the workflow entirely through a headless CLI, which makes it possible to generate previews as part of your automated testing pipeline.
Rigi Snapshot addresses a pain point that cuts across multiple roles, but the impact lands differently depending on where you sit in the organisation.
Localisation managers gain the ability to run translation and review workflows independently. Context queries drop dramatically because translators can see the UI directly. Review cycles shorten because QA teams can verify layout, truncation, and consistency without waiting for engineering to provide screenshots or staging access.
Engineering and product teams benefit by getting their time back. In many organisations, developers spend a significant portion of their capacity supporting localisation workflows, answering context questions, generating screenshots, and verifying post-translation UI behavior. Rigi Snapshot removes that dependency so engineering can focus on product development.
QA and linguistic reviewers get the visual accuracy they need to make confident decisions. Instead of reviewing strings in isolation and hoping the layout works, they can validate translations in the actual interface and flag issues before they reach production.
The strongest fit today is in industries where non-web applications dominate: manufacturing (embedded device UI), life sciences (instrument panels and companion apps), automotive (dashboard and in-car interfaces), and enterprise software companies with complex desktop or mobile products.
Rigi Snapshot isn't a QA tool bolted onto the end of the process. It changes how localisation workflows operate at a structural level.
The shift is from a developer-dependent model, where localisation can't move without engineering input, to an independent model where localisation teams have the visual context they need to work on their own schedule.
That shift has compounding effects. Fewer context queries means fewer interruptions for developers. Fewer interruptions means faster release cycles. Faster cycles mean your localised product reaches market sooner, in more languages, with fewer post-release UI defects.
It also extends the reach of your existing Rigi investment. If you're already using Rigi for web-based software localisation, Rigi Snapshot expands that same in-context workflow to every application type in your portfolio. One platform, one workflow, regardless of whether the product runs in a browser, on a desktop, or on an embedded device.
Rigi Snapshot is available now for macOS and Windows and ships as part of Rigi by XTM. If you're an existing Rigi customer, you can start using it today. If you're evaluating Rigi for the first time, Snapshot is included in your license.
Setup is straightforward. Install the application, connect it to your Rigi project, and start capturing. No code integration required. No developer involvement needed.
For teams that want to automate preview generation at scale, the CLI workflow integrates with existing development and QA pipelines, so you can generate previews as part of your build or testing process.
Book a demo to see Rigi Snapshot in action, or check out the interactive product tour below: