Problem: The client is experiencing a critical error when accessing the 'Theme and plugins localization' option in the WPML menu and issues with modifying, adding, or deleting widgets in the Footer columns and the TopBar widget. Solution: First, we recommend changing the database collation to utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci to ensure compatibility with all characters. You can convert the tables using the following SQL query:
ALTER TABLE your_table_name CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci;
Next, address the widget-related errors by increasing the PHP memory limit as indicated by the error logs showing memory exhaustion. Additionally, in the WPML → String Translation section, filter by Widgets and delete the excessive unneeded entries, as most are duplicates and only a few are translated.
This solution might be outdated or not applicable to your specific case.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 problem persists, please open a new support ticket.
