Tell us what you are trying to do?
I am trying to translate some WooCommerce products that have several custom fields created with ACF, including several repeater fields.
First of all, the order of the fields is wrong, it does not follow the fields order of the main language. Then, for the main language I have grouped the ACF fields into several different groups, and I have ordered them in a "logical" way... so, when I create a new product and fill in the content into the various fields, the process is logical and intuitive. When I translate the product, however, I find the ACF fields all together, without any distinction between one group of fields and the others.
In short, it is REALLY difficult to translate a product with so many ACF fields in this way... is there anything that can be done to improve the translation interface? I'll try to make a couple of suggestions/tips:
1. ACF fields should have the same order (obviously)
2. ACF fields should be graphically divided into groups
3. repeater fields in particular should be clearly highlighted graphically
About the second suggestion (ACF fields should be graphically divided into groups) I was thinking that it would be enough to have a way (a snippet, maybe an action or a hook) to add some custom code BEFORE a specific field is rendered in translation editor. So it would be possibile to add a title or a separator, and so on.
Obviously, "real" field groups would be better... but if there's a way to add some code or a separator beetween fields in translation editor would be nice enough.
Hello There,
Thanks for reaching out to WPMl Support. I will try my best to assist you in this matter.
I completely can understand what you're looking for and we greatly appreciate and value the ideas and suggestions provided by our users.
Here is my explanation regarding the suggestions you mentioned in your response.
1) Ordering the custom field in the Translation Editor: By default, the data inserted in the custom fields are configured to appear in sequential order in the Translation Editor. When you start a translation, WPML will scan the original page and gives you all the elements for translation. It also gets the order of the custom fields too.
But, after translating the page and custom field, if you change the order of the custom fields from ACF, then WPML will not be able to update the order on the Translation editor according to the order made in the ACF. We haven't implemented such logic in the translation editor for now.
2 & 3) ACF fields according to the field group and highlighting repeater fields on the Translation Editor: As you are aware, the WPML plugin currently does not include these functionalities. Therefore, these suggestions can be considered as feature requests for the WPML plugin.
I have taken note and forwarded this to the respective team for further consideration and evaluation. Sorry to inform you that I don't have any ETA for now but, you’ll surely be notified if there is any update for you.
Let me know if there is anything else you need help with. I will be happy to help.
1) Yes, I already know that. I hope you'll find a way to keep the field order in translation editor updated. Or maybe you can set the field order in translation editor customizabile? I mean, it would be great to have the field order on the translation editor updated with the original language, but if that can't be done you could add a way to manually rearrange fields in translation editor. It would be quite helpful.
2) Yes, I know that right now it does not have those features. That's why I was asking for a code snippet to add some content before/after some specific fields in translation editor. That would be really helpful!
Do you think I can safely translate WooCommerce Products using "Wordpress Editor" instead of "WPML Editor"? In that way I would have all my ACF fields in the right position and order, is that right?
Or maybe I should first "Duplicate" and then "Translate" my product? in that way I would have an exact copy of the product with all the translations "pre-filled", and then I can edit the translation and made only the change I need.
Do you think any of those solutions could work? What are the pro/cons? Can you please provide some documentation about it?
As the field order is showing on the translation editor sequentially right now, maybe the team can take the suggestions regarding the order of the custom field as a feature enhancement request. The product development team will do R&D and determine the next steps based on their findings. Sorry to say, I currently don't have any ETA for it but I will surely let you know if there is any update for you. I hope you can understand.
I also would like to inform you that assisting with custom code falls outside the scope of our support. Therefore, I'm afraid, I may not be able to assist you with that. But, if you want, you can hire a professional who can assist you with specific custom requirements.
Now, if you're using the WooCommerce Multilingual plugin, then the only way to translate the products is the WPML Translation editor. If you choose to manually translate the product, the order of the custom field will be there as per the configuration. But, keeping the WCML activated, you'll not be able to manually change some product-related data as WCML doesn't allow you to manually translate those fields.
If you like to use the WordPress editor and manually translate the products, then you need to disable the WCML plugin. After that, you can duplicate the product and translate the product independently so that the content doesn't sync with the default content.
If you choose the manual approach, then the product category, attributes, etc needs to be translated from the "WPML > Taxonomy Translation" section, which was easier in the WCML plugin.
I hope I'm able to address your concerns. But, feel free to let me know if there is anything else you need help with. I will be happy to assist you.
As the field order is showing on the translation editor sequentially right now, maybe the team can take the suggestions regarding the order of the custom field as a feature enhancement request. The product development team will do R&D and determine the next steps based on their findings. Sorry to say, I currently don't have any ETA for it but I will surely let you know if there is any update for you. I hope you can understand. Ok, I understand. Thanks.
I also would like to inform you that assisting with custom code falls outside the scope of our support. Therefore, I'm afraid, I may not be able to assist you with that. But, if you want, you can hire a professional who can assist you with specific custom requirements. Well, I'm not asking for "custom code", I'm asking for "help" and maybe some documentation about available hooks or code snippets. A lot of plugin developers provide documentation and "free" code snippets. Also (sorry if I am a bit rude but it's the truth) I would not need these snippets if WPML managed the fields in the correct way 🙁
Now, if you're using the WooCommerce Multilingual plugin, then the only way to translate the products is the WPML Translation editor. If you choose to manually translate the product, the order of the custom field will be there as per the configuration. But, keeping the WCML activated, you'll not be able to manually change some product-related data as WCML doesn't allow you to manually translate those fields. Well, I don't need to manually translate ALL fields... I'd like to translate text fields, but it's fine if I'm not allowed to translate product fields like price, variation and so on.
If you like to use the WordPress editor and manually translate the products, then you need to disable the WCML plugin. After that, you can duplicate the product and translate the product independently so that the content doesn't sync with the default content. If you choose the manual approach, then the product category, attributes, etc needs to be translated from the "WPML > Taxonomy Translation" section, which was easier in the WCML plugin. Mmm, I'm not sure I've understand correctly... why can't I use WCML to transtale product categories, tags, attributes, etc. and ALSO translate product using WordPress Editor? Like I said, it's ok if I can't translate every field... I guess it's right if product fields like price, category etc are NOT editable in traslation. Do you think it could work?
But, I'm sorry to inform you that we currently don't have any hook or guide to customize the Translation editor as per the needs. As the Advanced Translation Editor is hosted on another server, the involvement of developers is highly required in this case. I hope you can understand the matter.
- Using WCML and manually changing the Translated contents- If you're okay with not being able to manually translate the default fields(like price, tax status, attributes, etc), then feel free to continue to use the WCML plugin and also change the data of translated product using the WordPress Editor. However, we recommend using one translation editor across the site. As you have a specific requirement, you can use both.
Let me know if I'm able to address your concerns or if you need further assistance in this matter. I will be happy to help you.
But, I'm sorry to inform you that we currently don't have any hook or guide to customize the Translation editor as per the needs. As the Advanced Translation Editor is hosted on another server, the involvement of developers is highly required in this case. I hope you can understand the matter. I understand, but I always use the "classic editor", not the "Advanced". Maybe you should develop and provide some hooks for "Classic editor"?
If you're okay with not being able to manually translate the default fields (like price, tax status, attributes, etc), then feel free to continue to use the WCML plugin and also change the data of translated product using the WordPress Editor. Yes, that's exactly what I would like to do. I don't want to manually translate product fields (price, tax status, attributes, ect.); product price should be the same for every language, so it should be automatically copied and NOT EDITABLE in product translation. I simply need to manually translate text fields like product name, description and the content of ACF fields. So, it could work in that way?
We recommend using one translation editor across the site. As you have a specific requirement, you can use both. That means I can use "Wordpress editor" just for WooCommerce product and then use "Classic transaltion editor" for the rest (pages and other posts), right?
Thanks for confirming which editor you're using. For your information, we haven't added any hook or function yet to customize the appearance of the classic editor. But, as the requests are already forwarded to the team, I hope the team will figure out a way. I will surely let you know when I have any updates on this matter.
I simply need to manually translate text fields like product name, description, and the content of ACF fields. So, it could work that way?
If you will only be updating the Name, description, and ACF field data, you'll surely be able to do that by taking a manual translation approach. No problem!
That means I can use "Wordpress editor" just for WooCommerce products and then use "Classic translation editor" for the rest (pages and other posts), right?
Yes, you can! You can choose different translation editors for different posts.
Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Sure! Please try and I hope you'll get the result you're expecting. Feel free to reach us if you ever need any assistance. We will be more than happy to assist you.
Best Regards,
Prosenjit
This ticket is now closed. If you're a WPML client and need related help, please open a new support ticket.
