Use this article to enable AI Inbox Translation, set personal language preferences, understand how on-demand translation works in the Inbox, and troubleshoot common issues. AI Inbox Translation lets teammates read and reply to customer conversations in their preferred language — customer messages are translated into each teammate's Your language preference (the personal working language each teammate sets in Settings > Personal > Multilingual), and replies are translated back into the customer's language.
Support customers in more languages without changing your team’s workflow.
Remove manual translation steps and speed up response times.
Help teammates work confidently in their chosen language.
Keep conversations readable in a single Inbox view, even when multiple languages are involved.
Note:
We rely on AI and our LLM providers for translations. While AI can occasionally make mistakes, we’re continually working to improve the quality and accuracy of our models and translations.
Unlimited use of the AI Inbox Translation feature requires the Copilot add-on. If you don’t have Copilot unlimited usage assigned to any seats, each teammate will still get 10 free translated conversations per month. After that, translations will be paused and a Copilot unlimited usage seat will be required to keep using translations,
Different AI translation systems (Intercom’s vs. Google Translate vs. others) use different large language models (LLMs) with different training data
This naturally produces different but equally valid translations
Minor stylistic variations between translation systems are normal behavior, not errors
These variations cannot be fine-tuned away because they’re inherent to how LLMs work
How do I turn on AI Inbox Translation?
Toggle on Enable AI Inbox Translation.
Configure your Workspace languages:
Default language: The primary language for the workspace and the fallback translation language.
Additional languages: Choose up to 10 additional languages teammates can select as their personal language setting.
Choose your Supported languages — the languages the Inbox can automatically detect and translate from.
Finally, you can choose a tone that matches your brand’s voice. This tone will be used to translate your teammate’s message for the customer. This is especially useful if you communicate in languages with specific pronoun formalities. Choose from:
Friendly
Neutral (default)
Professional
Click Save at the top of the settings page.
Once saved, AI Inbox Translation is active for your workspace. Teammates will see translated messages the next time they open a qualifying conversation in the Inbox.
Note: Workspace settings apply to all teammates, but each teammate can personalize their own translation experience.
How do I set my personal translation preferences?
Toggle AI Inbox Translation on or off for your own account.
Under Your language, choose the language you want conversations translated into. This defaults to the workspace default language. You can only choose from the workspace's configured Default or Additional languages.
Note: Teammates without Copilot Seats won't have access to AI translations.
How does AI Inbox Translation work in the Inbox?
When a conversation includes a customer message in a different language:
Incoming messages are automatically translated into your chosen language, or your workspace Default language if you haven't set a preference. — the first time a teammate with a matching language setting opens the conversation.
Your replies are automatically translated back into the customer’s language.
Translated messages in the Inbox will indicate the original language below the message.
You can click this to switch between the original and translated versions in the conversation thread, or hover over the message, click the three-dot menu, and select Show original text.
When is a conversation translated?
A Language menu in the conversation header lists any translations that have already been generated for that conversation. If a translation for a language you need isn't listed there yet, it hasn't been generated — see the Triggering a translation for a colleague's language section.
The Language menu at the top of the conversation shows all translations generated so far. If a language appears grayed out, no teammate with that language preference has opened the conversation yet, so that translation doesn't exist yet.
The translation toggle below each message shows two options: the original message language and Your language setting. It no longer shows all configured workspace languages in the dropdown.
What does the translation toggle show?
Additional language translations are generated on demand — a translation is created the first time a teammate with a matching language setting opens the conversation. Conversations in unsupported languages won't be translated.
The table below shows when AI Inbox Translation will and won't generate a translation, based on the teammate's language setting, the workspace default, and the customer's language.
Your Language | Workspace Default | Customer's Language | Result |
English | English | Spanish | Translated to English
|
(not set) | English | Spanish | Translated to English
|
English | English | English | No translation (Same language) |
(not set) | English | Latin (Not Supported) | No translation (Translation not available) |
What's the difference between supported and workspace languages?
Here’s how the language types differ:
Supported languages: Languages that Fin and Messenger can automatically detect and translate conversations from into your Default or Your language setting.
Workspace languages (Default + Additional): Default language(s) teammates will see and can use when communicating with customers.
Your language: The language each teammate chooses to work in. Defaults to the workspace default language. Must be one of the workspace Default or Additional languages.
How do I trigger a translation for a colleague?
Because additional language translations are generated on demand, a colleague may not see a translation if no teammate with a matching personal language setting has opened the conversation yet.
If you need to trigger a translation in a language that isn't yours, temporarily change your Your language setting to that language in Settings > Personal > Multilingual. Opening the conversation will generate the translation. You can then switch your Your language setting back.
How do I turn off translation for one conversation?
If you’d prefer not to translate a specific conversation:
Open the conversation.
Click the three-dot menu at the top.
Click Translate conversation to untick this selection.
To resume translation, use the same menu and click Translate conversation to once again see it in Your language setting (or the workspace default language, if you haven't set a preference).
Tip: This setting affects only what you see — other teammates can still view translations.
How do I rate translation quality?
Teammates can rate the quality of any translated message directly in the conversation stream. This helps flag poor translations or confirm good ones.
To rate a translation:
Hover over the translation toggle below a translated message to reveal the feedback popover.
The popover displays the language name, audience context (Seen by customer or Seen by teammates), and thumbs up / thumbs down buttons.
Click thumbs up to confirm the translation is good, or thumbs down to flag an issue.
If you select thumbs down, a reason dropdown appears. Choose from: Inaccurate meaning, Unnatural phrasing, Wrong tone of voice, Inappropriate or offensive, Incorrect terminology, or Other.
How do I manually set the language for a conversation?
You can manually set the language for a conversation by clicking on the Language conversation attribute in the right sidebar of the Inbox.
This overrides the detected language when needed. This setting is also useful if AI Inbox Translation doesn’t start automatically. For example, if the system detects Mexican Spanish but you prefer standard Spanish, you can adjust it here.
The Language override attribute can be used to enforce a customer's Messenger and automation language. Once the attribute is set, the customer will always view the Messenger and receive automation content (Fin AI Agent and Workflows) in that language. This will take priority over languages detected in the Inbox.
Does AI Inbox Translation change what customers see?
AI Inbox Translation affects what you see in the Inbox—not what customers receive.
Example scenario:
A workflow's default language is French.
The workflow detects the customer's language as Italian and sends the message in Italian.
You're a teammate with AI Inbox Translation enabled and Your language setting is French.
When you view this conversation in the Inbox, the workflow message appears in French—even though the customer received it in Italian.
This happens because AI Inbox Translation automatically translates all conversation messages into your chosen language for your convenience. The conversation events will show the actual language (e.g., "used the customer's Language override" or "set Language to Italian"), confirming what the customer actually received.
Tip: To verify what language a customer actually received, check the conversation events in the thread. These show language detection and override events that confirm the language choice.
Limitations
AI Inbox Translation does not apply in the following scenarios:
The Intercom Conversations App — AI Inbox Translation is not available here.
Ticket properties and content — the conversation thread linked to a ticket is still translated, but the ticket object itself is not. To translate a ticket message, use AI Compose > Translate on the reply manually.
Simple automation (bot) messages — these appear in the language they were sent, not your language setting. All other messages, including from Fin and Workflows, are translated.
Why isn't AI Inbox Translation working?
If a translation appears to be missing, it may simply not have been generated yet. Additional language translations are created on demand — only when a teammate whose language matches the required language opens the conversation. Check the Language menu in the conversation header to see which translations have been generated so far.
AI Inbox Translation may not start when:
The customer’s language is not a supported language in your workspace.
You may have used 10 free conversation translations per teammate per month, and Copilot unlimited usage is required to continue translation after reaching the limit.
You replied in a language other than Your language setting or workspace Default language.
Message translations may be skipped when:
Emoji-only content: Messages that consist primarily of emojis won't be translated, as emojis are universal.
Repetitive messages: Messages with large amounts of repeated text, like spam, won't be translated because they don't provide meaningful text.
Special character noise: Messages that are full of special characters and symbols without meaningful text will be skipped.
Workspace-level toggle
Turning off AI Inbox Translation at the workspace level immediately stops all new translations across all conversations for all teammates, but previously translated replies remain visible to customers.
AI Inbox Translation only works for your supported languages
AI Inbox Translation is available only for languages listed in your workspace supported languages. Including:
Arabic, Bengali, Bosnian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, German (Formal), Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Simplified Chinese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
If a language is missing from your supported languages, go to Settings > Workspace > Multilingual > Supported Languages and add the missing language to enable translations.
Bot (Simple automation) translations for teammates are not supported
If a simple automation bot message is sent in a supported language, teammates will see it in that language rather than their default language. All other messages, including from Fin and Workflows, will be translated.
How do I report on AI Inbox Translation usage?
The Auto-translated filter in AI Inbox Translation shows conversations where a translated reply was sent by a teammate. Conversations are set to "Auto-translated is true" when a teammate with AI Inbox Translation enabled sends a message in a conversation where a non-default language is detected.
FAQs
Why does my conversation say “Translation skipped”?
Why does my conversation say “Translation skipped”?
Messages with emojis, repeated characters, or low-quality text are not translated because the result would not be meaningful.
Why can't I choose any language under Your language?
Why can't I choose any language under Your language?
The Your language setting only shows workspace Default or Additional languages. These are the languages all teammates can see and use when communicating with customers.
Can two teammates see the same conversation in different languages?
Can two teammates see the same conversation in different languages?
Yes. Each teammate can see the same conversation translated into their own Your language setting.
Does turning off translation for one conversation affect others?
Does turning off translation for one conversation affect others?
No. Per-conversation translation controls apply only to that conversation and only for your personal account.
How is AI Inbox Translation different to real-time translation?
How is AI Inbox Translation different to real-time translation?
AI Inbox Translation (for teammates)
Translates customer messages for teammates inside the Inbox.
Translates teammate replies back to the customer.
Depends on Your language/Default language settings.
Does not help Fin generate answers.
Real-time translation (Fin AI Agent)
Allows Fin to answer customers in languages where you do not have content in that language.
Translates your fallback-language content into any supported language.
Does not translate teammate messages.
Important: These are separate features and must be configured independently.
Does Fin AI Agent use the Your language setting?
Does Fin AI Agent use the Your language setting?
No, Fin answers in the languages you configured for Fin separately.
Why isn't my Ticket content being automatically translated?
Why isn't my Ticket content being automatically translated?
AI Inbox Translation is specifically designed for conversations in the Inbox, not for the Ticket object itself. Currently, there is no automatic translation feature for Tickets. If you need to translate a message on a Ticket, you must use AI Compose > Translate on a reply manually. The conversation thread linked to the ticket will still be auto-translated, but the Ticket's properties and content will not be.
Can I restrict the languages available in AI Compose?
Can I restrict the languages available in AI Compose?
The AI Compose language list is fixed and can't be customized. All supported languages are shown in the dropdown by default, and there's no option to restrict it to a specific set of languages.
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