Today, we released WPML 4.6. This is a major update with several new features and improvements, and it’s available to download now.
Check out the main features in detail below, or see our changelog for all the included updates.
Rollout Plan and WordPress 6.2
As usual, we are releasing WPML 4.6 in batches, starting with 5% of the sites.
Because WordPress 6.2 is scheduled for release at the end of March we’ll have another WPML release before that.
All sites with a valid account will receive WPML 4.6 ahead of WordPress 6.2. If we see that there’s no WPML update needed for WordPress 6.2, we’ll push the current update. If we need to apply additional changes to WPML, you’ll receive them together in one update from us.
WPML 4.6 includes many things that will help you translate content easier. If you want to get started with this release without any additional wait, go to your account’s Downloads page, or update directly from your WordPress admin:
Go to Plugins → Add New.
Click the Commercial tab.
Click Check for Updates.
Checking for WPML updates
Updates to Translation Mode Options
We’ve made some improvements to Translation Mode options in WPML 4.6 to make them more user-friendly. Our previous naming conventions – Translate Everything and Translate Some – were confusing to clients. Now, we are calling these options Translate Everything Automatically and Translate What You Choose. We hope this update will make translating your site more clear and intuitive.
Renamed translation mode options
Bulk Automatic Translation Workflow Improvements
In WPML 4.6, we’ve made improvements to the bulk auto-translation workflow. You can now translate selected content automatically without having to open the Advanced Translation Editor.
To send content to be translated automatically in bulk, you first need to either assign credits to your site or sign up for pay-as-you-go. Then, it’s as easy as using Translation Management:
Go to WPML → Translation Management.
Select the content you want to translate and the languages you want to translate it into.
Choose Translate automatically and start translating!
Translating automatically in bulk using WPML 4.6
Reviews for Bulk Automatic Translation
Although machine translation has come a long way in the last several years, it’s good to review the translations to make sure everything sounds right. Previously, the review options were only available to clients who translated their whole site automatically. With WPML 4.6, any client who uses automatic translation can easily review and edit their translations.
When WPML finishes translating, you will see a notification in the admin bar or on the Translation Management Dashboard that there are translations ready for your review. Click this notification to see a list of translation jobs ready for review.
Translations waiting for review
Click Review to see what the translation will look like on the site’s front-end. You can accept the translations or edit them to open them in the Advanced Translation Editor.
You can adjust your review settings (along with your preferred translation engines) in WPML → Settings.
Add a language switcher to posts, pages, and other site content without shortcodes
Build sites that use the Site Editor (formerly known as Full Site Editing)
Language switcher block and settings
If you add a language switcher block to a template or template part, you will need to translate it. You can select it from the Translation Management Dashboard and send it to translation just like any other content.
Translating a template part that contains a language switcher block
Performance Improvements
In addition to these new features and enhancements, we’ve also made improvements to WPML to make it even faster and more efficient. While we’re proud of the performance improvements we’ve made, we want to remind you that you shouldn’t expect a huge boost in your site’s performance. This is because WPML is already optimized. However, we’re constantly working to improve WPML and make sure it consumes as few resources as necessary.
This release upgrades the old PNG flags in the language switcher to SVG vector files. Many of our clients have requested this update, and it comes with several benefits:
SVG images have smaller file sizes which means faster load times and improved site speed ranking
Vector images display beautifully no matter what your site visitors’ screen resolution is
Leave Your Feedback – We’ll Respond!
We hope you enjoy the new features and enhancements in WPML 4.6. As always, if you have any questions or feedback, please share it with us in the comments below.
4 Responses to “WPML 4.6 – Bulk Auto-Translation, Language Switcher Block, Translation Mode Improvements”
hello there and “bravo” ! for this big update.
can we do the update without any risk for our websites ?
(somes errors or trouble like for some old big update of WPML in the past)
regards
Hi, Benoit! I am sorry but I don’t understand your comment. Are you experiencing any issues with the WPML 4.6 release? If so, can you please share more information on what the problem is? We haven’t had any reports from our support about any significant issues with this release, so I’m just wondering what you mean exactly. And if you’re referring to safety of updating your site to this release, well, we tested it for months in various environments and fixed all found issues. Also, we’re rolling this release in batches (currently released only to 10% of sites), to make sure there are no surprises.
Hello,
Did this update just made it impossible to translate from any language other than the website default language?
So let’s say I have a website with 3 languages English, French, and Italian and the default is English.
I created content in French and want to translate it to Italian only. can I do this? if yes why am I getting this message:
“You can only automatically translate content from your primary language (English) to other languages. Use the language switcher at the top of this page to switch to English”.
Hi! No, this WPML update didn’t impact any of the logic for what you are subscribing. At this moment, you can use automatic translation for translating from the default to secondary languages.
Just as the message in the interface says, you cannot use automatic translation to translate from secondary languages to the default one or to other secondary languages.
However, please note that we have this feature request already in our development queue and plan to implement it in the coming months.
hello there and “bravo” ! for this big update.
can we do the update without any risk for our websites ?
(somes errors or trouble like for some old big update of WPML in the past)
regards
Hi, Benoit! I am sorry but I don’t understand your comment. Are you experiencing any issues with the WPML 4.6 release? If so, can you please share more information on what the problem is? We haven’t had any reports from our support about any significant issues with this release, so I’m just wondering what you mean exactly. And if you’re referring to safety of updating your site to this release, well, we tested it for months in various environments and fixed all found issues. Also, we’re rolling this release in batches (currently released only to 10% of sites), to make sure there are no surprises.
Hello,
Did this update just made it impossible to translate from any language other than the website default language?
So let’s say I have a website with 3 languages English, French, and Italian and the default is English.
I created content in French and want to translate it to Italian only. can I do this? if yes why am I getting this message:
“You can only automatically translate content from your primary language (English) to other languages. Use the language switcher at the top of this page to switch to English”.
Hi! No, this WPML update didn’t impact any of the logic for what you are subscribing. At this moment, you can use automatic translation for translating from the default to secondary languages.
Just as the message in the interface says, you cannot use automatic translation to translate from secondary languages to the default one or to other secondary languages.
However, please note that we have this feature request already in our development queue and plan to implement it in the coming months.