[Escalated to WPML Developers team] Deleted/Changed ACF Flexible Content still showing in ATE

Hi,

Thanks for contacting WPML forums support. I'll be glad to help you today.

1) First of all, sorry for the late reply due to a higher workload. Please make sure that you use the latest version of WPML plugins. You can find them here. (https://wpml.org/account/downloads/)

After updating WPML, please check if the issue persists.

2) It's unrelated to the issue, but according to your Debug.info, the WP memory limit needs to be increased. PHP memory is fine, but WordPress uses 40Mb as default. The minimum requirements for WPML are 128 MB. (Kindly check this page https://wpml.org/home/minimum-requirements/)

You can increase it by adding the following code in your wp-config.php file right before the /* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */ line:

/* Memory Limit */
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
define( 'WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');

Best regards,
Osama

Hi Louis,

Thanks for your update. I would need to look closely at your site, so I would need to request temporary access (WP-Admin and FTP)
– preferably to a test site where the problem has been replicated if possible –
in order to be of better help and check if some configurations might need to be changed.

Your next answer will be private, which means only you and I can access it.

❌ Please backup your database and website ❌

✙ I would need your permission to de-activate and re-activate the Plugins and the Theme and change configurations on the site. This is also a reason the backup is critical.

✙ I also need your permission to take a local copy of your site to debug the issue without affecting your live site.

Best regards,
Osama

Hi,

Thanks for your patience. Our 2nd tier checked the issue and found that ACF doesn't delete the fields from the wp_postmeta table, so WPML reads them, and you see them in ATE.

Please contact the ACF support team and check with them if these meta fields can be deleted from the database after deleting them from the post.

Best regards,
Osama

Hi Louis,

Thanks for your update. WPML reads the meta fields saved in the wp_postsmeta table in the database, and those fields are not deleted when deleting fields from the page editing screen, so ACF saves these fields, and WPML only reads them.

In order to check that, please deactivate WPML, create a test page with three text area fields, and publish it. After that, please delete one or two fields, then check the database. You will see the deleted fields there.

I've run this test on a sandbox site. (Kindly check this video hidden link)

Best regards,
Osama

Hi Louis,

ACF is still compatible with WPML. It would be better if you open a ticket with ACF support and consult them regarding the database records because they could have a workaround to delete them if the fields are deleted from the dashboard.

Kindly let us know their findings, and our compatibility team will contact ACF team if needed after your ticket.

Thanks for your cooperation

Best regards,
Osama

Hi Louis,

I am Sumit from 2nd tier support.

Sorry to hear that you are upset about the product but I will explain to you what Osama meant here.

Basically, you can see the problem in ATE only not without WPML. So visibly the problem is with WPML only. However, the root cause of the problem is that records are not deleted from the database even if the field is deleted from the post.

As per the standards if something is deleted from the backend should be deleted from the database too. If this is not the case the database will keep growing forever and it is not good for end users only.

For now, as per your request, we are pushing this ticket to our devs but probably we will find a solution to not display the fields in ATE that are not in a post but still unused meta will stay in the database. That's why Osama asked you to report this to ACF.

We will keep you posted about the status of this issue.

Thank you!