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Updated
February 12, 2025

Learn how to translate custom WooCommerce emails with WPML to ensure clear communication with your customers in their preferred language.

Default WooCommerce emails come with translations. WooCommerce also sends order-related emails in the admin language set in the customer’s profile. You only need to translate:

  • Default emails that you’ve customized
  • Custom-coded emails

Required Plugins

Start by installing and activating the following plugins:

  • WooCommerce
  • WPML
  • WPML String Translation
  • WooCommerce Multilingual & Multicurrency

Translating Default Emails You’ve Customized

To translate email notifications that you customized from the WooCommerce → Settings page:

  1. Go to WPML → Translation Management and scroll down to the Other texts (Strings) section.
  2. Search for the email text that you customized and select it.
Searching for the custom email string and selecting it for translation
  1. Choose a translation method and click to Translate your customized email content.

Updating Translations for Email Notifications Not Shown in WooCommerce Settings

Some WooCommerce emails also contain default text that isn’t visible or editable from WooCommerce → Settings. WooCommerce also provides translations for these texts. If you want to make changes to these translations, you need to go to WPML → Theme and plugins localization and scan WooCommerce for strings.

After the scanning finishes:

  1. Go to WPML → String Translation. Select the woocommerce domain and search for the string you want to change the translation for.
  2. Click the pencil icon to add your own translation.
Updating the translations for default WooCommerce strings

Translating Custom-Coded WooCommerce Emails

You can override WooCommerce’s default emails by changing the PHP templates or by creating your own custom PHP templates. Before you can translate custom templates, wrap your strings in a gettext function so WPML recognizes them as translatable.

For example:

<p><?php printf( _e( 'CUSTOM TEXT', 'woocommerce' ); ?></p>

To translate the text in the custom template:

  1. Go to WPML → Theme and plugin localization and scan your theme for strings.
  2. After scanning completes, go to WPML → Translation Management and scroll down to Other texts (Strings). Search for the text from your custom email.
Selecting text from the custom-coded WooCommerce email to translate in Translation Management
  1. Select a translation method and click Translate to send your text for translation.

Get Started with WPML

To translate custom WooCommerce emails, you need a Multilingual CMS or Multilingual Agency account. Both plans include WooCommerce Multilingual & Multicurrency, allowing you to translate your entire WooCommerce store. 

Compare WPML plans to find the best one for you.