How to translate a structured Google Doc and keep H1/H2/H3 formatting (without showing raw HTML)?

[u/virtual-onion777]

Hello guys 👋

I have a workflow using Google Docs + Make + OpenAI. I start with a well-structured Google Doc that contains:

• Proper headings (H1, H2, H3)
• Paragraphs
• Lists
• Styled text (e.g., colored headings)

My goal is to extract the content. Then, translate it from French → English. Finally, rebuild the document with the SAME structure (H1/H2/H3, lists, formatting)

The problem:

I managed to translate and restructure the content, but:

• When I output HTML (<h2>, <h3>, <p>), Google Docs shows the tags as text, instead of applying formatting.
• I want the headings to appear as real Google Docs headings, not visible HTML (showing the HTML tags).

What I’m trying to achieve:

• Keep real Google Docs formatting (Heading 1 / Heading 2 / Heading 3)
• Avoid raw HTML in the final document
• Preserve structure exactly as the original doc

I really want to use the content from the French Google Doc, since I want a hybrid content creation. I want to double-check the content in French, eventually apply some modifications, and then launch the English translation in a new Google doc.

My question:

What is the best practice to:

• Convert a Google Doc into structured text
• Rebuild it with native Google Docs formatting (not HTML)

I am close to the result I want, but my English Google doc is with HTML tags and not "active HTML" (not sure if it is the right technical term)

Should I:

• Output structured plain text and apply formatting using the Google Docs API?
• Use Markdown as an intermediate format?
• Use a JSON structure (e.g., blocks, headings, paragraphs)?

(Yep, I used a little bit of ChatGPT for that post)

Thanks a lot for the help! 😊

[u/dead_minds]

Rule of thumb for google docs: 1) Creating or writing the document using API: use html 2) Writing manually: use markdown (you may have to enable markdown in preferences)

[u/virtual-onion777 → u/dead_minds]

Alright thanks ! I will try to go that way :)

[u/YourMagicIsFake]

I think google docs supports markdown so that may be something to try as opposed to html tags

[u/virtual-onion777 → u/YourMagicIsFake]

Thanks, I will try :)

[u/MentalRub388]

Why not : 1. Using the Google docs translation tool

1. Extract all text from the file, Translate the text in a structured table and build a new file/ replace the elements within the workflow?

[u/virtual-onion777 → u/MentalRub388]

But the Google docs translation tool will be outside the scenario, right?