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[Closed] Fallback content disappeared from menus on menu sync

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Supporter timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)

This topic contains 4 replies, has 1 voice.

Last updated by Noman 3 weeks, 1 day ago.

Assisted by: Noman.

Author Posts
June 29, 2025 at 10:16 am #17180094

sigurdurB

Background of the issue:
I had everything working perfectly using fallback content according to https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/displaying-untranslated-content-on-pages-in-secondary-languages/#fallback-content. Then I did a menu sync.

Symptoms:
All the fallback content has disappeared from the menu. The Menu sync function has grayed out the main content menu and doesn't provide the option to sync any of the fallback menus because it hasn't been translated.

Questions:
How do I fix the issue where fallback content disappeared from the menu after a menu sync?
June 29, 2025 at 10:37 am #17180133

Christopher Amirian
WPML Supporter since 07/2020

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Asia/Yerevan (GMT+04:00)

Hi,

Welcome to WPML support.

I will answer this ticket before the ticket is assigned to one of my colleagues.

I wonder if the items in question are custom links? Or pages?

If they are custom links you will need to make sure they are translated in string translation. For more information:

https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/translating-menus/#translating-menus-with-custom-links

If the issue persists, you have the option to go to Appearance > Menus and create a menu for the Icelandic version and copy the content of the menu there.

Thanks.
June 29, 2025 at 10:38 am #17180134

sigurdurB

These are all pages. Yes I realize I can manually recreate everything again, but I was hoping I would just be able to undo what the many sync destroyed. Why can't I simply sync the untranslated pages. Having to do things manually kind of defeats the point of your tool.

June 29, 2025 at 4:59 pm #17180733

Noman
WPML Supporter since 06/2016

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)

Hi,

Thank you for contacting WPML Support. I understand your concern. Unfortunately, the Menu Sync feature only includes items that have translations. It doesn’t sync links to fallback (default language) pages, as it respects the translated pages rather than fallback behavior.

At this time, there isn’t an option to auto-sync untranslated pages into menus. You would need to manually add those fallback links in the secondary language menu.

If you don’t want to use Sync, you can undo it by deleting the translated menu from Appearance > Menus while switching to the secondary language using the admin language switcher(screenshots attached). This will revert it to using the default menu.

Please let me know if this resolves the issue or if you need further assistance with this issue.

Thank you

Menu - Translated menus.jpg
Delte menu translation.jpg
July 8, 2025 at 2:25 pm #17214581

sigurdurB

I think it is pretty crappy that you took that functionality away, but since it is clear you have nothing helpful to offer I guess we can mark this as resolved.

July 13, 2025 at 6:16 pm #17231340

Noman
WPML Supporter since 06/2016

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)

I’m really sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you. Just to clarify, you can get your previous menu back without redoing everything. Here’s how:

1. Go to Appearance >> Menus.

2. Switch to the secondary language from the top admin bar.

3. Delete the translated menu for that language.

Once deleted, it will fallback to using the default language menu, and you will see your menu as it was before the sync. I can do it for you on your site if you want.

I completely understand your frustration, and I’ll share your feedback with our team to consider improvements for this workflow, if possible.

Please let me know if you need any assistance while doing these steps. I’m here to help.

Thanks again for your understanding

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