German translation keeps reverting to French original after "Translate independently" (Elementor p...

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This topic contains 3 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by Shekhar Bhandari 1 month ago.

Assisted by: Shekhar Bhandari.

Author	Posts
August 4, 2026 at 11:30 am #18191757
Mohamed Amine Samet	Hi WPML team, A German translation keeps being overwritten with the French original content every time I save the original page, even after "Translate independently". - Site: bassetti-group.com (default language: French; Elementor Pro) - Original (FR), post ID 84490: hidden link - Translation (DE), post ID 186482: hidden link The DE page was created as a WPML duplicate. I clicked "Translate independently" (the DE Language box now shows "This is a translation of…" with the "Overwrite with French content" button) and fully translated it in the Advanced Translation Editor — the DE front-end then showed German correctly. But the original's translations list still shows the German entry as "(duplicate)", and any save of the FR original overwrites the DE page back to French. Cache (WP Rocket) is cleared before checking, so this is not a cache artifact. Questions: 1. Why does the "(duplicate)" status persist and keep overwriting the DE page after "Translate independently" + a full ATE translation? 2. Is it safe to delete the `_icl_lang_duplicate_of` postmeta on post 186482 to break the link permanently? Anything else to clean up so it doesn't re-link? 3. Could an automatic duplication setting be re-creating the flag on each save? How do I disable it for this page? 4. Recommended permanent setup for Elementor pages that must have fully independent German content, never overwritten by the French original?
August 5, 2026 at 8:09 am #18193466
Shekhar Bhandari WPML Supporter since 03/2015 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Kathmandu (GMT+05:45)	Hello there, Thank you for contacting WPML support. I'd be happy to assist you with this issue. As a first step, please create a backup of your site. After that, delete the _icl_lang_duplicate_of entry for a single post and check whether the issue is resolved. This will help us determine whether the duplicate relationship is not being removed correctly from the database. I look forward to your reply. Thanks!
August 5, 2026 at 9:27 am #18193698
Mohamed Amine Samet	Hi, Thank you for your reply and for the direction. Before I proceed, I have investigated further on a staging clone and I'd like to share what I found, then ask for detailed step-by-step guidance. Findings on the clone: - The `_icl_lang_duplicate_of` postmeta does NOT exist on the German post (querying wp_postmeta for post_id 186482 / meta_key '_icl_lang_duplicate_of' returns 0 rows). - The duplicate link is actually in the icl_translations table: for the German post, `source_language_code` = 'fr'. - Setting `source_language_code` = NULL for that row (UPDATE ... WHERE element_id = 186482 AND element_type LIKE 'post_%') did break the duplicate link, and it stayed NULL even after re-saving the French original. - However, when I deleted the German page entirely and recreated the translation from scratch, it came back as a duplicate again. This makes me think an automatic duplication setting is active for German, rather than it being a one-off issue on this single page. My questions, and where I would appreciate detailed steps: 1. Given that the duplicate link lives in icl_translations.source_language_code (not in the _icl_lang_duplicate_of postmeta), is setting that column to NULL the correct and complete fix, or is there additional data to update so WPML fully treats the post as an independent translation? 2. Since recreating the translation brings the duplicate back, is there an automatic content duplication setting for German somewhere in WPML (Translation Management, Languages, or settings)? Could you tell me exactly where to check and how to disable it, so new translations are not automatically created as duplicates? 3. What is the correct, permanent procedure to convert this page (and others in the same situation) into a fully independent translation that is never overwritten by the French original — including the exact clicks/settings and any database cleanup, in order? 4. Is there a safe way to apply this to multiple pages at once if several are affected across the site? Context: - Site: bassetti-group.com (default language French; Elementor Pro; WPML with Advanced Translation Editor) - French original: post ID 84490 - German translation: post ID 186482 I can send a debug report if that helps. Thank you very much for the detailed guidance. Best regards,
August 5, 2026 at 9:32 am #18193721
Shekhar Bhandari Supporter	Hello there, It's not recommended to modify the WPML database tables directly. I would first need to review the site's configuration to determine why this is happening before suggesting any changes. To debug this issue further, I would need to check your site settings once, for this I would need temporary access (wp-admin and ftp) to your site. So could you please provide me with those details, you will find the needed fields for this below the comment area when you log in to leave your next reply. hidden link This info is private and available to you and WPML supporters only. Read more about this: https://wpml.org/purchase/support-policy/privacy-and-security-when-providing-debug-information-for-support/ Note: Backup your sites before providing the credentials or if possible provide credentials for the test site Look forward to your reply. Thanks

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