Translate an Excel File into Ukrainian

What Ukrainian changes in a spreadsheet

Ukrainian is written in Cyrillic, left to right, with letters that Russian does not have: і, ї, є, ґ, plus the apostrophe, which is part of the spelling (м’ясо, сім’я). The two languages are not interchangeable: a sheet meant for readers in Ukraine must be in Ukrainian, not Russian.

• Length: Ukrainian labels are often longer than their English source. “Qty” becomes Кількість; a header that just fitted its column may now overflow.
• Capitals: an all-caps Cyrillic header (ЗАГАЛЬНА СУМА) takes noticeably more width.
• Four plural forms: 1 рядок, 2 рядки, 5 рядків, and a separate form for fractions. Any string that puts a number next to a noun has to allow for this.
• Punctuation: Ukrainian normally uses « » quotation marks.

Formulas, numbers and dates stay as they are

Manuce does not touch formulas: a calculated cell keeps its formula and keeps calculating. Numbers, dates and amounts are left exactly as they are, with their number formats.

The practical consequence for Ukrainian: text written inside a formula is not translated. With ="Remaining: "&B2&" days", the output stays in English. Even translated by hand, it would need день, дні or днів depending on the value in B2, so a single concatenated word will not do.

Nothing is converted: no switch to hryvnia (грн, ₴), no rewriting of dates. If your numbers and dates are real values, their display follows the reader’s regional settings; in Ukraine people generally expect 1 234,50 and 31.12.2024. If they were typed as text, they will display exactly as in the original.

What Manuce returns, and what it leaves alone

You get your original .xlsx back, with Ukrainian text replacing the source cell by cell and column widths, colours, borders, number formats, filters and merged cells preserved. You also receive a Word version, a PDF and the plain text, which make review by a Ukrainian speaker easier.

Not translated:

• sheet tab names (a tab called “Sales” does not become Продажі);
• cell comments;
• charts, including their titles and legends;
• shapes and text boxes placed on the sheet.

Narrow columns are not widened, so a longer Ukrainian label may be cut off on screen, just as it would be in the original. Manuce does not provide sworn or certified translation. Ukrainian carries a ×1.25 coefficient on the per-word rate.

Preparing the workbook before upload

• Move text out of formulas: put “Remaining”, “days” or “Total:” in their own cells and reference them. They will then be translated.
• Check your font: Calibri, Arial and Times New Roman display Ukrainian Cyrillic; a decorative font may lack ґ or ї and fall back to a substitute.
• Plan for width: turn on text wrapping for headers and label columns, or leave some slack.
• List what will remain: tab names, comments, chart titles, text boxes. You can handle them manually using the plain text delivered.
• Try the free extract: one paragraph of your file translated at the chosen level before you pay.

Checking the Ukrainian file

• Sorting: Ukrainian alphabetical order puts ґ after г, є after е, and і, ї after и. Depending on regional settings, a sort may not match what a Ukrainian reader expects.
• Filters and lookups: a saved filter on “Paid”, or a formula comparing a cell with hard-coded text (=IF(C2="Paid",…)), will match nothing once the cell reads Оплачено. Update the criterion.
• Truncated text: scan headers and merged cells.
• Proper names: decide whether customer or city names stay in Latin script or are transcribed into Cyrillic, and keep it consistent.

In practice

1. Move text out of formulas and check your font shows ґ, ї, є.
2. Upload the .xlsx: the quote appears at once, based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free extract, pick a level and pay.
4. Download the Ukrainian .xlsx, plus Word, PDF and plain text.
5. Translate tabs, comments and charts, then check sorting, filters and widths.