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Updated
January 17, 2025

Duplicating and copying lets you display untranslated content in your secondary languages. Follow this guide to learn more about each option in WPML.

DuplicateCopyFallback
FunctionalityDuplicates original content to secondary languages and keeps them syncedCopies original content to secondary languages without keeping them syncedDisplays translations if they exist or the original content when there are no translations
PurposeYou don’t plan to translate your content but want to display it across languages You plan to translate your content and need a temporary placeholderYou want to display content in secondary languages, regardless of whether translations exist
DependencySynced with original contentIndependent of original contentSynced with original content

Duplicate Content

Duplicating content copies all content, including taxonomies, from your default language to your secondary, while keeping both in sync. Whenever you edit your original content, the duplicated version will automatically update, and any edits you made to it will be overwritten.

To duplicate content:

  1. Go to WPML → Translation Management.
  2. Select the items you want to duplicate.
Selecting Content for Translation
Selecting content to translate in Translation Management
  1. Choose the languages you want to duplicate into and click Duplicate.

How to Convert a Duplicate Into a Translation

To convert a duplicate into a translation:

  1. In the top WordPress admin bar, switch to the language of your duplicate content.
Selecting language of duplicate content in the top WordPress admin bar
Selecting language of duplicate content in the top WordPress admin bar
  1. Edit the duplicate item you want to convert into a translation.
  2. A popup will appear once the editor loads. Click Edit anyway.
  3. Under the Language section in the editor, click Translate independently.
selecting translate independently in wordpress editor
Clicking translate independently in WordPress editor

Your page will now stop syncing with the original content.

To convert a translation back to a duplicate, follow the same steps outlined above, but click the Overwrite with [default language] content button.

overwriting content with default language content
Overwriting content with default language content

Copy Content

Copying content does the same thing as duplicating content with one exception: copied content isn’t synced with the original one. This means you can edit it independently without overwriting changes when you update the original content.

Copying content copies the title, excerpt, and on-page content from the default language. It does not copy custom fields.

To copy content:

  1. Edit the page in the default language.
  2. In the top WordPress admin bar, switch to the language you want to copy to. A blank page will appear.
  3. Under the Language section in the editor, click the Copy content from [default language] button.
Copying default language content to a secondary language page
Copying default language content to a secondary language page

If you’re using the Gutenberg Block Editor and don’t see the language switcher at the top of the screen, click the 3-dot menu at the top right corner and un-check Fullscreen Mode.

Fallback Untranslated Content to Default Language

Falling back untranslated content displays the original content when there are no translations available. In other words: 

  • If content doesn’t have any translations, it will appear in the default language.
  • If content has translations, it will appear translated. 

To fallback untranslated post types to your default language:

  1. Go to WPML → Settings
  2. Scroll down to Post Types Translation and select Translatable – use translation if available or fallback to default language for your post types.
Setting post types to fallback to original language
Setting post types to fallback to default language

To fallback untranslated taxonomies to your default language:

  1. Go to WPML → Settings.
  2. Scroll down to Custom taxonomies and select Translatable – use translation if available or fallback to default language for your taxonomies.
Setting taxonomies to fallback to default language
Setting taxonomies to fallback to default language