[Resolved] Internal links not being saved in ATE.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation and apologies for the delayed response. I was trying to understand the real issue by going through the whole conversation, videos and the sandbox site.

I've recorded my screen while checking hidden link and the translated version hidden link.

Please watch hidden link.

Here are the key points in the video:

1. It seems to work fine, as I can search for those links in ATE.
2. I can also edit those links. Like I changed a few.
3. These changes were reflected on the translation version.
4. I tried the edit translation from backend (be editing page in default lang and clicking pencil from Languages section), as well as, from frontend (by clicking "Edit Translation" from top admin bar on German translation).
5. If you note that when I tried updating translation from frontend and after returning, all the links were referring to English PDFs, why? See next point.
6. After updating translations and returning to the page (either in the backend editor or in the frontend), please note that translation status is being refreshed (those animated circular arrows). Until that's done, no change is reflected in the translation, as also noted in point #5.
6.1. When translation is updated from frontend, ATE sends back to the frontend page. Here site or page builder cache kicks in and can serve such content which apparently looks wrong. The best is to confirm translation status from WP Admin and then force reload the frontend translated page or close and open the translation again.
6.2. When translation is updated from backend (pencil icon for example), ATE sends back to that backend page after completing translation. And since you've a visual presentation of translation status, logically we test after it is completed. On the other hand, WP backend usually doesn't has caching because admin work needs real updates.

In short, as per my observation, I can see these links available and editable in ATE.

Please feel free to correct me where I'm wrong and I'll try my best to revisit the scenario.

Thank you for the updates, 'll check soon and get back to you accordingly.

Hi,

Our second-tier supporter has checked the copy of your site. He has found that the medical PDF files were initially uploaded to the Media Library in Chinese. Then, they were copied to the other languages because of the setting "When uploading media to the Media library, make it available in all languages" in WPML -> Settings -> Media translation. (This is the default setting and is OK.) However, unloading the PDF in Chinese might be part of the problem.

To try to fix this issue, our second-tier supporter suggests the following:

1. Delete the current PDF medical (2024) files from the Media Library. Do that in all the languages by switching the language at the top admin bar while in Media -> Library. Please see the attached screenshot switch-and-delete.jpg.

2. Then switch to English and upload only the English-Medical-2024.pdf file.

3. Go to Plugins -> Installed Plugins and activate the WPML Media Translation add-on.

4. Use this add-on to translate the English-Medical-2024.pdf file into the other languages. (This is the purpose of this plugin, as well as how images and PDF files should be translated.)

5. Check if it solves the problem. You might need to update the original page and its translations.

Please let us know how it goes.

Thanks,
Itamar.

Hi, Simon.

Thanks for trying my suggestions. Again, thank you for your detailed video.

I passed it on to our second-tier supporter and awaiting his reply.

I'll update you here.

I appreciate your patience.
Itamar.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

I watched all 3 videos, which were really explanatory, I must thank again 🙂

Let me explain in the context of each video:

Video 1:
I can see the problem that link isn't available in ATE lately and wasn't editable. And this is the original problem you mentioned when reporting this ticket (as I understood).

Video 2:
I can see it works fine in the test site.

Video 3:
I think the problem shown in this video, is about the incorrect workflow. Because I see the link is available in ATE and can be edited (unlike Video 1).

Problem with the workflow is about mixing the editors for translation. This is not recommended and results in loosing (or failed sync of) translations, just like you noted.

When you add/edit a translation in ATE, it is transmitted back to your site, where it is stored in your database. ATE also saves a copy as Translation Memory, so when you edit again, or use the same sentence/text in another place, the translation is reused (i.e. in ATE you see it preloaded which you can review, edit/update, save and complete).

However, when you add/edit translation in your site (i.e. using WordPress editor or that Divi builder by switching to German and editing right in your site), it is saved in your database - and does not sync with ATE!!

Because:
a) you directly edited the translation on your own side.
b) you did not edit the default language, did not transmit default language changes to ATE and did not use ATE to update the translation (and translation memory) - thus it is not synced.

In this case, like you edited German translation directly, then clicked "Edit translation" to edit it further in the ATE, ATE 'd never know about your change.

That's the reason you'll not see any change in the ATE. On top of that, when you completed this translation in ATE (in this scenario), ATE synced back the translation to your site - and your (direct) changes were lost. This is expected and it's been always like this (and is actually not a problem on WPML or ATE side).

The correct workflow is to:
- always use the same editor to edit/update translation, which you used first time for adding the translation.
- with an exception of, that, you added translation first time directly in your site (not using ATE but the page builder or WP Editor) and then go to edit/update in ATE. In this case, same rule applies, since the translation was never synced with ATE, you 'll need to translate again in the ATE (as of it was the first time). And then you can later, continue to use (only) ATE for translation updates.
- always make changes in the default language, then use ATE to update the translation.
- rarely edit the translation directly in your site, for example, you wanted to make a quick fix (like in Video 3). But, be prepared and mindful about loosing or overwriting of the changes, when you update the same thing in ATE later on (just like I explained above).

So circling back to Video 1 - The Original Problem:
I can see link not being available in ATE and not being editable, but in Video 3, which is on the same site (not the test site), the link is available and editable in ATE.

Unfortunately I don't have access to the test site (kohtaodiving.org), so I can't compare any differences (i.e. server resources, site settings/configs and etc), for understanding what's really causing the issue now and then.

You can either provide me access to the test site, so I can compare with the live one (I can see the access to live site, cystaldive.com, provided in an earlier private message). I've enabled your next reply as private for the access to the test site.

Or you can compare yourself.

I'll also request to refresh the test site, so it is identical to the live site (in terms of site setup, content and etc). So we can try to reproduce the issue without compromising the live site.

Additionally, please also confirm that if it is OK to deactivate plugins and switch themes in the "Live site" for the above mentioned testing? In case if it isn't reproducible in the test site.