Hello, I took over management for a website from another agency. WPML is currently under their license and it should be moved to my own account. I know how to change the license, but have the following questions for what happens after changing the license:
1) will the current credit balance stay with this website?
2) the website is translated with PTC. Will existing translation AND the translation memory be kept?
Languages: English (English )French (Français )Arabic (العربية )
Timezone: Pacific/Easter (GMT-05:00)
Hello,
Please confirm if I understood the issue correctly,
The current website has been registered under a license under the old agency WPML account.
Now you would like to move that license to your own new WPML account.
Then in this case, there should be two pathways that our account management team can confirm :
1- See with our account management team if it is possible to moves licenses without changing sitekey and disconnecting the PTC translation memory
2- Or registering a brand new license to the same website and connect it to the old license memory
For that, I think it is better to directly contact our accounts team at hello@wpml.org.
Yes, I see the url was registered before for automatic translation. It has been moved.
If you're unsure about the Translation memory can you please go back to the forum and ask Ilyes? He will let you know.
I see the site was previously registered as hidden link hidden link hidden link
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Me to her:
The live site is hidden link
I don't know about the others, that's probably staging from the previous agency.
I can go back to Ilyes, but he has referred me to you...
So, is there a way to hook this site into my account at wpml.org@horecawebservice.nl
And carry over the 760 credits and translation memory that belongs to hidden link
--
She again:
Yes, I understood all that.
Like I said before it's totally safe to re-register the site again through the other account. Nothing will change.
I have redirected you to Ilyes again especifically about the Translation memory issue you noted. If it's missing from the current url, Ilyes may have to check why this is so. But this isn't related to the change of the subscription key.
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So, if I add my own license to this site, can you check if it's translation memory is carried over? I don't think I can check that myself. Can I?
I did some digging on the history of your site, and found out that :
The site was initially registered on a testing site in 2020: hidden link.
Then it was moved handled on a the live site staging site on 2024, this is when the memory translation started.
And for the staging site hidden link , this is just a copy, and not a move, so basically no memory were saved or credits were used here.
Long story short, here is the full history of automatic translations used : hidden link
I'm sharing this info to suggest in case we cannot link the memory completely because it seems the report contain old memory structure that could be lost in migration,
Hence why we usually say that it is not possible to do such memory transfer on the same site.
This is why, how about redoing the automatic translation, free of charge in case any of the pages loses memory, losing memory will not affect the actual existing translations. Your pages will keep being accessible all the time as the translation is technically saved under your database.
So in this case we :
- Register the site using your new Key
- I check the memory
- Fill the missing parts using automatic translation free of charge
I had a look at the history of the automatic translations and there seem to be a lot of pages missing from there. It contains 41 unique links but there are 133 urls with /en/ in the sitemap.
Has the difference gone missing? Or does it mean that the site owner has translated that manually?
Is there a way to push the current translations that are in the sites local database into the Translation Memory?
What happens when a translated page is being updated and then translated again? Let's 75% remains as is and 25% is changed. Will it only re-translate the changed 25%, keep the translations of the unchanged 75% and push all 100% into the TM?
Sorry for all the questions. I am trying to understand how it works before I talk to the site owner to decide on how to proceed.
All your questions are welcomed, do not hesitate to ask more if that means we get to the most accurate and efficient result,
Most pages missing from the credit report, 82 to be exact, were last translated or updated through the regular WordPress editor. Another 15 were last handled through ATE despite having no corresponding URL in the supplied credit report.
So those 15 other missing links have no translation credit usage report, so they have been translated using ATE but manually, the translation memory for those 15 will be maintained.
The only way to push content to memory is through ATE "save" button, every time you send pages to automatic translation or you manually translate them using ATE, and then hit save, a copy of the content will be added to the memory. So for the 82 pages, you won't be able to add them to memory unless you redo the translation from scratch using ATE.
That is why I recommend you keep editing those pages using WP editor.
And you are right, when you edit a page previously translated with ATE, only the edited segments are affected, so if 25% of content changed, then 25% of the page needs a re-translation.
And as an insurance, we can assign enough credits to redo any lost memory in case of complications.
I registered the site under my own license key now.
If there are so many pages translated outside the ATE, it seems like they didn't really know what they were doing. That stops me from worrying more about the translation memory 😉
Can I see from within WP how a page was translated (ATE/WP Editor)?
Did I understand correctly that the translation memory is linked to the automatic translation payment account? So you basically can't cancel that without loosing the full translation memory?
Also, I use a single pay as you go account and have all my client websites connected, so I get a single invoice. Does that mean that:
a) there is a single translation memory for all connected websites combined?
b) if I disconnect a site for them to add their own credit card, do they loose their translation memory? Or will that be picked up again based on the domain?
1- You can see what editor is used previously when you edit the original page here : hidden link
This draft page was translated using WP editor and that can be seen from the selected editor in the languages tab here : hidden link
Another example, this post from your custom post type "vacature" was also translated manually using WP editor : hidden link
2- No, you do not lose your entire Translation Memory merely because you cancel Pay-As-You-Go or remove the payment method.
The confusion comes from WPML combining several separate things under its translation logic. Translation memory is not related to payments because even if you do not use credits to translate with ATE (advanced translation editor), the translations will be saved in the memory (our servers).
The complication in moving "accounts" is that each WPML account has a unique ID, and each time you register a site KEY, both the account ID and the Site key are used to identify your site. Losing this ID breaks the link, but it can be restored in multiple scenarios manually from our side.
Hence why I previously mentioned that we cannot ensure a full memory link because it seems the report contain old memory structure that could be lost in migration.
However, checking your site right now, I do see that the memory is linked correctly.
3- No, you receive an invoice for each unique website separately, you can see those invoices here : hidden link
Go under the tab "invoices", and you will only see that site's invoice.
Which can also be checked under the same page here : hidden link
Users usually link staging, test and live sites to share credit usage and memory. And not unrelated websites.
And the payment method has nothing to do with the memory as mentioned before.
@2: the confusion about loosing translation memory comes from Maiya.
She said:
"Maiya (August 13, 2026 12:33 pm): The translation memory is not attached to the domain itself; it is attached to the automatic-translation account. The domain can remain connected to that account and reuse its translation memory, glossary, and any shared credits—even if the WPML license registration is changed to your own account."
You said:
"Each WPML account has a unique ID, and each time you register a site KEY, both the account ID and the Site key are used to identify your site".
You say the TM is linked to my WPML account ID + the Site key. She says it's connected to the the automatic-translation account, which I assumed is the payment account.
It would make it a lot easier if the TM was just linked to the domain where the translations were created for.
@3: that's what I mean. I have linked all the sites of my clients together, so I do get a single invoice instead of a separate one for each client.
The url you gave about LINKED sites gives a few benefits. I linked all sites because of the Lower cost per credit + One invoice, but given the Shared translation memory + Consistent terminology, it makes more sense to only link related sites together.
Given the Shared translation memory of LINKED sites, what happens with the translation memory if I unlink a site? Let's say I have site A, B and C linked together so they share their TM. Now I unlink site C. Obviously site A and B keep sharing their TM, but what happens with the TM of site C? Does it keep it's own TM?
The automatic-translation account and the unique ID are interchangeable, I'm just sharing a more accurate technical explanation. What I'm trying to explain is that you have a translation memory, regardless of using automatic translation or not.
And for your suggestion, linking memory to domains introduces many complications especially in relation to domain and server changes, sharing credits, WPML accounts billing...
I think it's not very good that the translation memory and glossary are reset when you disconnect a site.
Changing a domain can cause complication, so does changing a unique id.
Can I submit a few feature request regarding all this?
1) When a site is disconnected, it should keep it's translation memory and glossary. Either everything or just the entries that are or have been used on the site that is disconnected.
» Why: I have an agency with focus on restaurants. I connect sites from unrelated clients to my own payment account so I get a lower cost per credit and a single invoice. When a client leaves me, they need to get their own wpml license and link their own credit card, but they should still benefit from the translation memory that was already build/used for their site.
2) Have an option to connect unrelated sites to a single payment account without letting them share the same translation memory and glossary. That way agencies like me get a single invoice and lower cost per credit while the memory stays clean and relevant to each specific site and won't get reset/lost when you disconnect them.
3) When you have multiple sites connected, the translation dashboard of every connected site has the 'Payments & Maintenance' tab that shows the payment plan (and can cancel it), spent details, usage reports, all other connected sites and all invoices. All these details should only be visible in the main site with the translation account. Sub sites should only see that it's connected to another sites translation account with an (optional) option to disconnect it, and a warning that explains what happens when you do.
4) There should be a procedure to keep a sites translation memory when a site key, account id, domain or anything else changes that is used to link the site and the memory.
Changing domain name doesn't cause a disconnect in translation memory or payment method, registering a different sitekey also doesn't disconnect the translation memory, so you can rest assured.
When any significant change happens to the domain name or server IP, WPML will ask you if the site was migrated and automatically adjust the link.
The only complication is when it comes to a WPML.ORG account, each account has a unique ID or as we call it internally "organization ID", having this link removed can cause issues. but it is just something we recommend against, as it can have unexpected behaviours all depends on many variables but it is possible.
1- I will ask our internal devs about the feature request to see if it is possible to make the memory persistent in case of disconnecting it.
2- See if it is possible to have a merged "payment" and credit count throughout the agency sites and not by a site to site basis
3- The behaviour you are describing is not the main purpose of the linking feature, the feature is to let users link the same site copies to one credits and memory, so depending on if the 1st feature you asked for is possible , this behaviour could be considered
4- In all the possible changes : site key, account id, domain...
The account ID is the only technical bottleneck in maintaining memories, all the rest can be changed safely.
#3 the way the connect feature is intended was never clear to me, now it is. With that in mind I understand it would be best to have them all individual and disconnected, but I don't want them to loose their TM, nor do I want to loose the credit benefit and single invoice.
#4 doesn't the WPML.ORG account / organization ID get updated when a site key from WPML.ORG account A is replaced with a site key from WPML.ORG account B?
- Like what happened with this aux.nl website?
- Or when a client of mine stops their maintenance contract with me in which case they need to get their own wpml license.
