diff --git a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
index b1d7aaf..28e0558 100644
--- a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
+++ b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
@@ -1823,6 +1823,7 @@ endmacro( )
 #####   tde_create_translated_desktop(
 #####     [SOURCE] file_name
 #####     [KEYWORDS keyword [keyword]]
+#####     [FORMAT (desktop|xml)]
 #####     [PO_DIR po_directory]
 #####     [DESTINATION directory]
 #####     [OUTPUT_NAME file_name]
@@ -1840,6 +1841,7 @@ macro( tde_create_translated_desktop )
   set( _keywords_desktop_default
        "Name" "GenericName" "Comment" "Keywords"
        "Description" "ExtraNames" "X-TDE-Submenu" )
+  set( _format "desktop" )
 
   foreach( _arg ${ARGN} )
 
@@ -1857,6 +1859,13 @@ macro( tde_create_translated_desktop )
       set( _directive 1 )
     endif( )
 
+    # found directive "FORMAT"
+    if( "+${_arg}" STREQUAL "+FORMAT" )
+      unset( _format )
+      set( _var _format )
+      set( _directive 1 )
+    endif( )
+
     # found directive "PO_DIR"
     if( "+${_arg}" STREQUAL "+PO_DIR" )
       unset( _arg_po_dir )
@@ -2072,17 +2081,28 @@ macro( tde_create_translated_desktop )
           string( REPLACE ";" "|" _keywords_match "(${_keywords_desktop})" )
 
           # merge translations command
-          add_custom_command(
-            OUTPUT ${_basename}${_binsuffix}
-            COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} -p -e  "'s/^${_keywords_match}[ ]*=[ ]*/_\\1=/'" < ${_src} > ${_basename}.in
-            COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} ${INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE} -q -d ${_po_dir} ${_basename}.in ${_basename}${_binsuffix}
-            DEPENDS ${_src}
-            COMMENT "Merging translations into ${_sourcename}"
-          )
+          if( _format STREQUAL "desktop" )
+            add_custom_command(
+              OUTPUT ${_basename}${_binsuffix}
+              COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} -p -e  "'s/^${_keywords_match}[ ]*=[ ]*/_\\1=/'" < ${_src} > ${_basename}.in
+              COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} ${INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE} -q -d ${_po_dir} ${_basename}.in ${_basename}${_binsuffix}
+              DEPENDS ${_src}
+              COMMENT "Merging translations into ${_sourcename}"
+            )
+          elseif( _format STREQUAL "xml" )
+            add_custom_command(
+              OUTPUT ${_basename}${_binsuffix}
+              COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} -p -e  "'s/(<\\/?)${_keywords_match}([ >])/\\1_\\2\\3/g'" < ${_src} > ${_basename}.in
+              COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} ${INTLTOOL_MERGE_EXECUTABLE} -q -x ${_po_dir} ${_basename}.in ${_basename}${_binsuffix}
+              DEPENDS ${_src}
+              COMMENT "Merging translations into ${_sourcename}"
+            )
+          else()
+            tde_message_fatal( "Unknown file format for merging translations." )
+          endif()
 
         endif( )
 
-        # merge translations target
 
       else( )
 
@@ -2096,6 +2116,7 @@ macro( tde_create_translated_desktop )
 
       endif( )
 
+      # merge translations target
       add_custom_target( "${_target}" ALL DEPENDS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${_basename}${_binsuffix} )
 
     endif( )