This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.
Problem: The client was experiencing an issue where the automatic translation for a Spanish post using WPML was stuck, showing spinning arrows that turned into a gear icon. This problem was isolated to one specific post, and despite various troubleshooting efforts, including making minor edits and attempting to retranslate, the translation job remained incomplete.
Solution: 1. Pause Automatic Translation Temporarily: - Navigate to WPML → Translation Dashboard. - Turn off the 'Translate Everything Automatically' option. 2. Cancel In-Progress Automatic Jobs: - Go to WPML → Support. - Click the Troubleshooting link and select 'Cancel in-progress automatic jobs' to clear stuck jobs. 3. Refresh the Original Post: - Edit the original post slightly and update it to refresh the content for WPML. 4. Resend for Translation: - Return to the WPML → Translation Dashboard and resend the post for Spanish translation. 5. Monitor the Job: - Check the Translation Jobs queue to ensure the job completes.
If the translation job still does not progress or if you encounter other issues, we recommend checking the WordPress debug log for errors related to WPML or ATE. Ensure that your plugins and themes are up-to-date as outdated versions can cause issues with job processing. If these steps do not resolve the issue, it may be necessary to inspect WPML-related translation job tables or confirm cron event operations. For further assistance, please visit our support forum at WPML Support Forum. We also 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.
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Background of the issue:
I am trying to translate a post into Spanish using WPML's Automatic Translation feature. The issue can be seen at the following URL: hidden link. I expected to see the Spanish translation, but instead, I got the English fallback, which is expected when a translation is missing.
Symptoms:
The Automatic Translation gets stuck, showing spinning arrows that turn into a gear icon. This problem only occurs with the Spanish translation of one specific post. The WPML Translation Dashboard shows the job, but it never completes. I have tried to make a small change to the original. I have tried to delete the translated Spanish page and retranslate. I have tried Troubleshooting as recommended by ChatGPT.
Questions:
Please check the translation job tables (`icl_translate_job`, `wpml_jobs`) for stuck/incomplete ES jobs.
Please confirm whether cron events `wpml-tm-ate-cron-hook` and `wpml-tm-cleanup-queue` are running correctly on this site.
Please advise how to clear the job queue so this post can be re-translated into Spanish cleanly.
UPDATE : To try to get around this issue, I posted a rewritten version of this article in EN and then tried to Automatically Translate it. It got stuck on the ES version again. Clearly something is wrong in the database or the backend. I’m not proficiently technical enough to solve it. Please help quickly!
Hi Simon,
My name is Carlos and I will continue working on this ticket
Please share the access credentials to the site in your next message, which I have set private. This will allow me to reproduce the issue and double-check the configuration.
Confirm you have created a full site backup that you can restore if necessary.
Ciao, Carlos. Sorry to pressure you, but I need to get some work done this morning. Have you succeeded in logging in by sftp. Can I help you in any way? I'm available and will check this page periodically. Thanks for your patience.
Hi,
Thank you very much for sharing the credentials requested
However, I can't find the post/page you shared (hidden link); it seems the URL changed and the URL you shared throws a 404 error. Please share the URL where the problem can be seen.
Important recommendation: Go to Settings -> Permalinks (hidden link) -> Select 'Post name' and save the changes. This will improve the readability of the URL.
Sorry to miss you. I was out all afternoon. I see that you logged in. Were you successful in fixing anything?
Of course I can’t see if you logged in by SFTP. I’m just wondering if you made any progress. I’ll be back in the office in the morning. I’m facing a deadline that I have to reach. So we really need to get this moving and corrected.
When you first replied on October 9, 2025 at 9:28 am, I thought I checked the page on the backend and the frontend and everything looked fine. However, while working last Friday evening, I saw that this link was still not translated into ES:
hidden link
This seemed suspicious, so I made a WP Engine backup of the site and tried to Automatically Translate the ES version again. Once again, the spinning arrows would not disappear. It was stuck.
I restored the site from the backup and continued on with my work - I had a major deadline for Sunday - and everything worked fine. All other translations succeeded.
It is strange that it is only happening on this post, in ES. I am afraid to try to translate it again, as this may block me from translating other posts afterward.
Could you please look into this? I will make a backup of the site immediately. Obviously, I need to work on it again asap, though the deadline has passed. All your login credentials are still active.
Please follow these steps and let me know the results:
- Because this issue only happens in one post, delete the post in ES and translate it again from WPML -> Translation Dashboard
- Can you tell me if the issue has disappeared?
The first will show the post and the “plus” indicating that the ES version is not translated. The second will show the number of articles in the different languages. There are 82 articles in all of the other languages, but only 81 articles in ES.
Furthermore, when I view only the ES posts, this post does not appear. So there is no post to delete. There is no trash to empty, either.
I tried to translate the post anyway, as you recommended. It is stuck again. Of course, I have a backup of the site, so I am going to leave the post “stuck” so that you may more clearly see what is going wrong.
All of this is very clear from the Admin panel of the web site. If you need help logging in again, please let me know.
It seems the entry in the database for that particular post is corrupted. Please re-create the post in English, translate it into the secondary languages, and double-check if the issue disappeared.
