Woocommerce's native Details product tab with attributes not showing in second language

This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
The client was experiencing an issue where the 'détails' tab in French was not showing up in the English version of their products.
Solution:
We identified that the fields

_specifications

_specifications_attributes_title

, and

_specifications_display_attributes

were set to 'Don't Translate'. We changed these fields to the correct translation preferences. We recommend that the client edits any product in the default language and updates it. After updating, they should check the translated product on the front end.

Please note that this solution might be outdated or not applicable to your case. We highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the issue persists, please open a new support ticket at WPML support forum.

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Tagged: WCML

This topic contains 4 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by myleneG 1 month, 2 weeks ago.

Assisted by: Osama Mersal.

Author	Posts
February 24, 2026 at 4:47 am #17844766
myleneG	I was wondering how to fix this issue, as you can see, all my products have a détails tab in French and it doesn't show up in my second language English? Thank you for your help
February 24, 2026 at 5:27 am #17844775
Osama Mersal	Hi, Thanks for contacting WPML forums support. I'll be glad to help you today. I would need to look closely at your site, so I would need to request temporary access (WP-Admin and FTP) Preferably to a test site where the problem has been replicated. Your answer will be private, meaning only you and I can access it. ❌ Please back up your database and website ❌ ✙ I need your permission to deactivate and reactivate the plugins and themes, and change site configurations. This is also why the backup is critical. ✙ I also need your permission to take a local copy of your site to debug the issue without affecting your live site. Best regards, Osama
March 1, 2026 at 12:52 am #17862374
Osama Mersal	Hi, Sorry for the late reply due to the weekend. Thanks for the access details. I checked the issue and activated the String Translation and WCML plugins. After that, I updated a product in the default language and its translation. Please check if the following product works as expected. (hidden link) Best regards, Osama
March 1, 2026 at 2:07 am #17862381
myleneG	So I have tried saving in many ways and realized the only way to have the specification back, is to open the product in the second language in the native wordpress editor and save it, a method I never use, using most often the wpml translator. Is this expected behaviour?
March 1, 2026 at 2:14 am #17862382
Osama Mersal	Hi, No, it's not an expected behaviour. The issue occurs because the following fields were set to "Don't Translate". * _specifications * _specifications_attributes_title * _specifications_display_attributes I set the above fields to the correct translation preferences. Please edit any product in the default language and update it. After that, please check the translated product on the front end. Best regards, Osama
March 1, 2026 at 2:23 am #17862400
myleneG	HA! I had searched all over the settings so many times, so the trick was to click to see on show system fields! (simply searching I had done, so was confused how you found them!) Thank you!