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Custom Fields Translation Preferences for ACF and WPML

Kathy Banach
Updated
June 4, 2024

ACF Multilingual relies on translation preferences to manage how custom fields appear across different language versions of your site.

While you can choose between two translation options with preset translation preferences, the Expert mode allows you to control how each field appears in secondary languages.

You have four translation preferences to choose from:

Makes your custom field values available for translation.

Recommended for text fields (e.g. Text, Text Area, WYSIWYG, Message).

Copies the field value across all languages, keeping it the same everywhere.

Recommended for custom fields that stay the same in every language, like Number, Range, True/False, Image.

Copies the field value to translations just once, allowing you to independently modify the field values in translations afterward.

If you pick this option because you want different field values across languages, you’ll need to manually translate posts with these fields in the WordPress editor.

The default option for custom fields that you haven’t chosen how to translate yet.

You can select this option for fields you want WPML to ignore. If you want a field to have the same value across languages, switch it to the Copy option.

For your main ACF Repeater and Flexible Content field types, you have two options:

  1. Select Copy to keep the same layout and number of fields in all languages
  2. Select Copy Once if you want a different layout or number of fields in other languages

In both cases, you can set translation preferences for your sub-fields based on how you want them to appear in translations.

Understanding How ACFML Translates Custom Fields in Preset Translation Options

The following tables include the preset translation preferences for ACF field types. You need to use the Expert mode to modify these preset options. 

Basic Fields

TypeSame fields across languagesDifferent fields across languages
TextTranslateTranslate
Text AreaTranslateTranslate
NumberCopyCopy Once
RangeCopyCopy Once
EmailCopyCopy Once
URLCopyCopy Once
PasswordCopyCopy Once

Content Fields

TypeSame fields across languagesDifferent fields across languages
ImageCopyCopy Once
FileCopyCopy Once
Wysiwyg EditorTranslateTranslate
oEmbedCopyCopy Once
GalleryCopyCopy Once

Choice Fields

TypeSame fields across languagesDifferent fields across languages
SelectCopyCopy Once
CheckboxCopyCopy Once
Radio ButtonCopyCopy Once
Button GroupCopyCopy Once
True / FalseCopyCopy Once

jQuery Fields

TypeSame fields across languagesDifferent fields across languages
Google MapCopyCopy Once
Date PickerCopyCopy Once
Date Time PickerCopyCopy Once
Time PickerCopyCopy Once
Color PickerCopyCopy Once

Layout Fields

TypeSame fields across languagesDifferent fields across languages
MessageTranslateTranslate
AccordionCopyCopy Once
TabCopyCopy Once
GroupCopyCopy Once
RepeaterCopyCopy Once
Flexible ContentCopyCopy Once
CloneCopyCopy Once

Relational Fields

TypeSame fields across languagesDifferent fields across languages
LinkCopyCopy Once
Post ObjectCopyCopy Once
Page LinkCopyCopy Once
RelationshipCopyCopy Once
TaxonomyCopyCopy Once
UserCopyCopy Once