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How to Find and Make Strings Available For Translation in WPML

Kathy Banach
Updated
February 12, 2025

Learn how to register strings WPML can’t automatically register, including theme or plugin settings, options, and user profiles.

The following table summarizes available solutions when you can’t find specific strings.  

What Needs Translating?

What To Do

What Needs Translating?

Theme or plugin says it’s 100% translated but some or all translations are missing from the site’s front end

What To Do

Update theme or plugin translations

What Needs Translating?

Admin area strings, theme/plugin settings, widgets, and custom messages or emails

What To Do

Register admin and settings strings for translation

What Needs Translating?

User profile information like names, bios, or custom fields

What To Do

Make user roles translatable

What Needs Translating?

You want to override translations provided by the theme or plugin

What To Do

Scan the theme or plugin for strings

What Needs Translating?

Miscellaneous string translations aren’t synced on a site running on multiple servers

What To Do

Synchronize MO files across your servers

Updating Theme or Plugin Translations

To see if your theme or plugin includes translations for your languages, visit their respective pages in the WordPress theme or plugin repository. Look for this information in the Languages or Translations section.

Languages section in WordPress repository
Languages section in WordPress repository
Translations section in WordPress repository
Translations section in WordPress repository

If you can’t see the translations on your site, it’s likely because you installed and activated the theme or plugin first and then set up WPML languages afterward. To display the translations:

  1. In your site’s admin, go to Dashboard → Updates.
  2. Scroll down to the Translations section and click Update translations.
Updating translations in WordPress Updates
Updating translations in WordPress Updates

You should now see the updated translations on the front-end.

Registering Strings From the WordPress Admin Area & Theme and Plugin Settings

You may want to translate texts that you customize in the admin area but appear on the front-end for visitors. This includes:

  • Texts from your theme options panel, like footer text, copyright notices, and custom messages
  • Labels, messages, or other custom texts set in plugin options and settings
  • Some WordPress core settings, like your time format
  • Some widget titles and content

To register these texts for translation:

  1. Go to WPML → String Translation.
  2. Scroll to Utilities, expand the Not seeing strings you are looking for? section, and click on the Admin Texts Translation link.
Admin text translations in string translation
Admin text translations in string translation
  1. On the Admin Texts page, select strings you want to translate and Add to String Translation.

These strings will now be available for translation in String Translation.

Scanning a Theme or Plugin to Update Existing Translations

WPML’s auto-registration optimizes site performance by only making untranslated texts from themes and plugins available for translation. Scanning a theme or plugin loads all strings, even those with existing translations. 

To scan a theme or plugin:  

  1. Go to WPML → Theme and plugin localization.
  2. Select your theme or plugin and scan it.
Scanning themes and plugins
Scanning themes and plugins

Strings in these components will now be available for translation in String Translation.

Keep in mind that WPML can only find existing translations that were loaded at least once. While this usually happens automatically, sometimes you need to trigger this action yourself.

To do this, simply visit the page containing your missing translations on the front-end. As you view the page, WPML will automatically register the missing translations.