Getting started
-
You can use a credit card or debit card to pay for WPML. You can also pay using PayPal, or electronic money transfer (only via PayPal e-Check). How do I pay for WPML with a credit or debit card? To use a credit or debit card from WPML’s checkout page (the step that you see…
-
After purchasing a WPML account, you should receive an email containing your account details. This email’s subject is “Your WPML login and invoice information”. It is sent to the email address you provided when buying WPML. If this email does not appear in your main inbox, check other folders, like “Spam” or “Promotions”. What are…
-
You can ensure you receive important renewal reminders and security notices by whitelisting our email addresses in your email client.
-
We don’t offer a trial version of WPML. However, if you buy WPML and decide that isn’t the right multilingual plugin for you, we provide a 100% refund of your WPML license for up to 30 days after your purchase. How can I test WPML with my site without buying it? You have to buy…
-
You can install WPML and enable automatic updates using our OTGS Installer plugin. You can then register WPML in your WordPress admin to receive updates directly.
-
We release updates for all WPML plugins in batches. This allows us to monitor for any issues or side effects. Once we’re confident in the stability of the update, we gradually increase the rollout to more sites. The update becomes visible to everyone on the Plugins page only when we’ve released it to 100% of…
-
If you have a Multilingual CMS or Multilingual Agency account, you can install and activate String Translation directly from your site’s backend. Just navigate to Plugins → Add New. You’ll find the plugin under the Commercial tab. Or, you can download the String Translation add-on from the Downloads page and install it on your site…
-
To translate your website with WPML, you always need to install the core plugin, WPML Multilingual CMS. You can then install the following WPML components for additional functionality: WPML String Translation WPML Media Translation WPML Sticky Links WPML CMS Navigation Besides these add-ons, you have the option to install compatibility plugins that enhance how WPML…
-
You can manually update WPML by deactivating the old version and reinstalling it via the OTGS Installer plugin, keeping your translations intact.
-
You can safely update WPML by following a manual, step-by-step process to ensure your website remains secure and compatible with WordPress and other plugins.
-
You can install beta versions of WPML from the backend of your website. To do this, go to the Plugins page and click on the Commercial tab. From there, you can switch between Production and Beta channels. What do I need to consider before installing beta versions of WPML? Beta versions of WPML let you…
-
You can register the complimentary Toolset Types plugin by downloading it from your account’s download page.
-
If you are frequently moving the database between production, development, and staging, you can set the site key in the wp-config.php file. This method allows you to avoid re-entering the site key when moving the database between different environments. By generating a unique site key for each domain and adding them to their respective wp-config.php…
-
WPML offers automatic translation with the Multilingual CMS and Multilingual Agency account types. It is an optional translation method. Our automatic translations are powered by leading translation engines DeepL, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.
Account management
-
You can receive a 100% refund for your WPML subscription within 30 days of your purchase date. This includes subscription renewals. In which currency do you process the refunds? Refunds are issued in Euro (€). If your original payment for WPML was in another currency, the refunded amount may vary slightly. This difference arises from…
-
You can switch from automatic to manual renewals from your WPML account. After logging in, click the Modify link next to your renewal date and then click Cancel automatic renewal. Choose the Instead of automatic renewals, I want to renew manually option. Don’t forget to set a reminder for yourself to manually renew WPML every…
-
If you don’t renew WPML, your multilingual site will continue to work and remain visible to your visitors. However, you won’t be able to update to newer versions of WPML or its add-on plugins and access new features. What happens to my site’s content and functionality if I don’t renew WPML? If you choose not…
-
You can switch your renewals from USD to Euro directly in your WPML account.
-
When you register a site as a development site on WPML.org, a banner displays on both the site’s front-end and backend, showing that the site is in development. When you move your site to production in WPML, it becomes live and accessible to your site’s visitors, and the banner disappears. Apart from this difference, you…
Error messages
-
This error message occurs when WPML can’t match a translated XLIFF file with the original one. The mismatch happens if you change your site’s content before uploading the translated XLIFF file, making it impossible for WPML to match the translations with the original. There are a couple of ways you can fix this issue. Solutions…
-
You may see this message after trying to upload WPML 4.5 or later via the Plugins page in WordPress. Learn how to solve this issue.
-
A 500 error means that there is an error in the PHP code that your site runs. When errors are not caught, the server stops everything and returns a page that says “500 error”. Different servers are configured to display these 500 errors slightly differently, but they all mean the same – there is an…
-
If you see an error message saying that WPML is unable to connect to WPML.org, it is because of an issue from the server or your internet connection. To resolve this, you can force another check, inspect the Installer Support Log, or seek assistance from the support team. How can I force another check when…
-
You can solve broken table error messages by bringing the issue to our support team.
-
You can resolve the “WPML cannot access api.wpml.org” error by ensuring internet connectivity and confirming your webserver can access api.wpml.org via HTTP.
Compatibility
-
WPML always tests every release with the latest WordPress versions. However, because WPML is not listed in the WordPress repository, it will always show as Compatibility with WordPress: Unknown. This is standard for all plugins not listed in the repository. WPML updates showing that the compatibility with WordPress is unknown Is…
-
Some plugins use a special configuration file in order to be fully compatible with WPML. This configuration is often stored in a WPML repository and is fetched when you activate a new plugin. Sometimes, caching issues prevent this configuration from being updated automatically. What should I do if the WPML configuration for my plugin isn’t…
-
If you ever run into any issues, the WPML support team can nearly always help you resolve them faster when we know which theme and plugins you use. It also allows us to contact you and keep you informed about any critical issues or important updates related to the plugins or themes you are using….
-
Untranslated post object and page link fields do not show on the back-end of the duplicated post despite the fact that the post is associated with the correct value for the post object and page link custom fields in the database. This is not a bug and it does not affect the functionality. All the textual elements will be shown on the front-end…
Troubleshooting
-
When you activate WPML, it adds language attributes to all existing content. If the activation process is interrupted, some content may be missing because it has no language. Read this FAQ for instructions on how to repeat the initialization process and get all your content to show again.
-
There can be many reasons why translations may disappear or go missing. The simplest and most common cause is not following a consistent translation workflow. WPML offers a robust translation memory feature, but it does not work across different translation methods. If you switch between different options on the same page or post, you may…
-
In most cases, your translated strings don’t appear on the front-end because your WP Memory Limit is set too low. By default, WordPress sets the WP Memory Limit to 40M, but the minimum requirement to use WPML is 128M. If you don’t increase it, translations won’t save correctly, and you may not see them on…
-
When using the Classic Translation Editor, larger pages that are fully translated might display as only partially translated, such as showing 80% completion for a 100% translated page. This is usally caused by PHP configuration limits. You can resolve this by by increasing the max_input_vars setting in your PHP configuration. How can I increase the…
-
If you’re encountering issues registering WPML on your site, it might be due to using an older version of WPML or changing your site’s URL. At other times, you may see specific error messages. Each of these issues has its solution, ranging from manual installation to re-registering your site or ensuring the correct URL is…
-
You can troubleshoot WPML language issues by enabling PHP debug, resetting WPML, redoing language setup, or seeking support if problems persist.
-
Does your site feel slow? Here are a few steps that you can take to speed it up. Make sure your WordPress installation, theme and all plugins are up to date. Your site should use PHP 7 or newer and make sure to use a fast hosting service and a good caching plugin.
-
You can debug performance issues using a plugin like Debug Bar, which provides a detailed breakdown of database queries to help pinpoint slow pages and bottlenecks, visible only to admins.
-
Your texts are showing as ??????? due to a database encoding mismatch. Fix it by running the SQL ALTER statements or using the Database Collation Fix plugin.
-
WPML can’t write MO files mostly due to file permission issues, preventing access to the WordPress languages folder. Ensure the folder is writable.
-
You can resolve “stuck” translation status or errors by editing pages in your chosen translation mode or altering translators via Translation Management.
-
The language controls on the WooCommerce Products page are hidden by default. The recommended place for translating products is from the WooCommerce → WooCommerce Multilingual & Multicurrency products dashboard.
-
Your shop page title may be missing in the breadcrumbs due to WooCommerce settings and permalink configuration. Ensure both your permalink product base and page slug match your shop slug.
-
You can translate WooCommerce Stripe test messages using WPML’s String Translation, but even with Test mode enabled, these translations won’t display on the front-end due to an internal issue.
-
Admin strings are untranslated in the backend because WPML only displays these translations on the site’s front-end or in AJAX requests.
-
When using WPML, you can add and customize language switchers in various areas of your site, including setting flag sizes. However, sometimes the flag sizes on the front-end might differ from your settings. This discrepancy is typically due to CSS styles or scripts from themes or plugins that override the image tag styling and alter…
Getting support
-
Before opening a WPML support ticket, ensure your system is updated and meets required specifications. Also check for potential conflicts with other themes or plugins.
-
If after following all the instructions from our checklist before opening a ticket in WPML support, you are still having issues or struggling to translate your site, it may be time to come to our support forum. You can look through our documentation and other support tickets matching your issue, or open your own and…
-
Sometimes, when you report an issue, our supporters might ask you to reproduce it on a test site. They’ll also provide you with such a site. Here are some simple steps to follow.
-
You can provide supporters with a copy of your site by using a third-party plugin for creating site copies. For this, we recommend the free Duplicator plugin.
-
You can provide debug information for faster support by going to WPML → Support in your WordPress dashboard and clicking the debug information link.
How-to
-
You can get the current language by using two WPML hooks, wpml_current_language, and wpml_post_language_details.
-
By default, the Advanced Translation Editor hides URLs from translated material. To translate URLs, you first need to find them using the search. This same method applies to other hidden elements such as shortcodes and custom HTML attributes
-
You can get other languages for a current post using WPML’s hooks to access all, specific, or the current language.
-
To delete a translation of a page, start by switching to the secondary language and trashing the page. Then, go to the Trash page and use the Delete Permanently option.
-
You can create multilingual custom types, fields, or taxonomies by making them translatable and then translating them as any other content.
-
You can get a WPML tax invoice and update your billing information in your WPML account.
-
You can translate all taxonomy terms at once by assigning them all to a temporary post or page and sending it to translation.
-
You can translate taxonomy slugs by enabling the Translate custom post and taxonomy base slugs option in WPML Settings.
-
You can link a page that is a translation of another page using the Connect with translations feature.
-
You can generate a PO file for a plugin or theme by using the Theme and plugins localization feature in WPML.
-
You can exclude a language from automatic translation by adjusting its language mapping settings.
-
If you are no longer using a language and are not planning on activating it again, WPML offers a built-in feature that lets you remove a language. This deletes that language’s translations from your site’s database. You can find it by going to the Site Languages section in WPML → Languages. What are the exact…
-
Once you save the options for your site’s default language or a custom language, changing the language code requires you to follow a multi-step process. This involves adding a new language language, duplicating the content to the new language, and erasing the old content and language. It is not possible to change the language code…
-
You can manually install a WordPress plugin by uploading its ZIP file, which you can obtain from the WordPress plugin repository or the author’s webpage.
-
When you see an unexpectedly large number of queries you can improve performance of translated pages by turning off the String Translation Tracking and Auto ID Adjust features.
-
To disconnect a translation, go to the page editor, switch to the secondary language, and set translation to ‘None’ before saving.
-
To remove the “This Site is Registered on wpml.org as a Development Site” notice from a site, you need to change your site key from development to production. This can be done from your WPML.org account. What are the exact steps I need to follow to move a development site to production? Log into your…
Misc
-
You should not bundle WPML with any theme, free or commercial. WPML comes with GPL license, but is also trademarked. In practice, removing all the trademarked material from WPML would be a huge project and is really not recommended. Do you offer solutions for theme authors aiming to provide a multilingual package to their clients?…
-
WPML fully supports right-to-left (RTL) languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, Kurdish, and Persian. When paired with a WPML-compatible WordPress theme that has RTL support, WPML ensures that your content is correctly translated from right to left and vice versa. Does WPML support RTL layouts? While WPML lets you easily translate your content into RTL languages,…
-
No, it is not possible to have different Front or Post pages per language due to WordPress database limitations.
-
The translation credits you purchase from WPML are non-refundable. If I cancel or delete automatically translated content, can I get the used credits back? No, we cannot restore credits that you have already used. Once you’ve used your credits, we immediately compensate the chosen translation engine for the automatic translation service. Can I transfer the…
-
In WordPress, the text domain is a unique identifier that allows WordPress to distinguish between all loaded translations. It also makes it easier for WordPress to know which strings belong to each of your themes or plugins. The text domain should always match the slug of the theme or plugin. How do text domains support…
-
HTML tags are letters or keywords enclosed in <> brackets that define how a browser will format and display content. How can I use HTML tags to format my content? For example, let’s say you have some words in a paragraph you want to emphasize by putting them in italics. For this, you would use…