ACFML bug: Content in other languages gets deleted when saving Option Page fields

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Supporter timezone: Europe/Madrid (GMT+02:00)

Tagged: Exception

This topic contains 12 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by Carlos Rojas 1 week, 6 days ago.

Assisted by: Carlos Rojas.

Author	Posts
April 24, 2026 at 10:27 am #17992378
Reinhold	Hello, I’m reaching out again because we’ve unfortunately discovered another issue in ACFML that appears to be related to a previously reported ticket: https://wpml.org/forums/topic/critical-error-after-updating-acfml-to-2-2-0-when-saving-existing-options-page/page/2/ The current issue is as follows: When ACF field groups used in an options page are set to “translatable” in WPML, saving content in the default language removes the content in all other languages. The fields inside the field groups are configured correctly for translation according to your documentation: https://wpml.org/documentation/related-projects/translate-sites-built-with-acf/recommended-custom-fields-translation-preferences-for-acf-and-wpml/ This affects, for example, link, text, and editor fields (and maybe also other fields). A concrete example: If the default language of the website is German, with additional languages like Italian and English, and we update a value (e.g., a link field) in German, then upon saving, the existing content in Italian and English is deleted. Our assumption is that since the field groups are handled separately per language in the background (including unique field keys), the mapping between fields no longer matches correctly, which leads to values being removed from the database. This issue does not only affect a single page but around 70 pages on our site where field groups are set as translatable. For newer pages, we are already following best practices and no longer set field groups as translatable. However, updating all existing pages accordingly would require a significant amount of manual work, especially for the options pages, as content would need to be re-entered completely. Additionally, I have already prepared a staging site with a minimal setup where the issue is reproducible. I would be happy to provide you with access so you can test it directly and, if needed, pass it on to your second-tier support team. We also noticed that everything works as expected with version 2.1.5. As a temporary workaround, we have downgraded to this version on the affected sites. Could you please help us investigate this issue? Thank you in advance!
April 24, 2026 at 11:20 am #17992610
Carlos Rojas WPML Supporter since 03/2017 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) Timezone: Europe/Madrid (GMT+02:00)	Hello, My name is Carlos, and I will continue working on this ticket 1.- The behavior you are describing is consistent with the expected ACF behavior given the configuration. I understand that the goal of your ticket is to find a workaround to keep the translated values in the ACF after changing the ACF group configuration to non-translatable. Please confirm if the above assumption is correct. 2.- Thank you very much for creating the staging site. I have set your next message private so you can securely share the access credentials to this site. 3.- Also, it would be very helpful if you could create a screencast describing the steps to reproduce the issue in a particular URL that we can use as a reference. This way, the margin of error will be pretty much none, because we will be following exactly the same steps as you described. Looking forward to your message. Regards!
April 24, 2026 at 11:51 am #17992634
Reinhold	Here is the screencast: hidden link
April 24, 2026 at 12:33 pm #17992853
Carlos Rojas Supporter	Thank you very much for the information provided. I have reproduced the issue in the staging site and escalated this ticket to our 2nd-tier of support, where our specialists will take a deeper look at the issue and isolate its cause. Please don't modify the staging site or the credentials until this issue is solved. I will get back to you as soon as I get more information. Thank you very much for your patience and understanding!
April 24, 2026 at 12:42 pm #17993008
Reinhold	Thanks a lot for your help and for escalating this to the 2nd-tier support team — much appreciated! No problem at all, we won’t make any changes to the staging site or the credentials in the meantime. Looking forward to your update. Best regards,
April 24, 2026 at 12:43 pm #17993009
Carlos Rojas Supporter	Thank you so much! I will keep you posted 🙂
April 27, 2026 at 8:52 am #17996140
Carlos Rojas Supporter	Hi there, Please follow these steps: - Go to hidden link - Update the ACFML plugin to the latest version - Double-check if the issue has disappeared Looking forward to your message.
April 28, 2026 at 6:08 am #17998417
Reinhold	Thanks for your reply. With the new update, it really looks like the problem is fixed. We'll now run some tests on the production sites to see if it works there as well. We'll keep you updated. Best regards
April 28, 2026 at 8:14 am #17998924
Carlos Rojas Supporter	Great! I will be waiting for your feedback.
April 28, 2026 at 1:05 pm #17999851
Carlos Rojas Supporter	Hi again, Please be sure to set the 'acf-field-group' in WPML -> settings -> Post type translation as non translatable: hidden link
April 30, 2026 at 10:50 am #18005441
Reinhold	Hi, as mentioned earlier, we’re unfortunately not able to set the ACF field groups to “non-translatable.” Doing so would require us to recreate and maintain the entire content of the options page separately for each language, which would mean a significant amount of additional work and ongoing maintenance. Best regards
April 30, 2026 at 10:59 am #18005494
Carlos Rojas Supporter	Hi, Thank you for your message. I have updated our 2nd-tier specialists with your latest message, and I will get back to you as soon as I get an answer from them.
July 28, 2026 at 11:41 am #18181328
Carlos Rojas Supporter	Hi, We were unable to reproduce the issue either on a local installation or on the staging site. Our 2nd-tier specialist also recorded a short video showing the results: hidden link Could you please confirm whether you have updated all the outdated plugins and themes on the production site, particularly the WPML plugins and any other major plugins? I look forward to your reply. Best regards, Carlos