WP Multisite with ACF Flexible Field – Automatic Translation Bug when deleting fields

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Supporter timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)

Tagged: Bug

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Last updated by Bigul 3 months, 3 weeks ago.

Assisted by: Bigul.

Author	Posts
February 17, 2025 at 3:02 pm
Innovationsraum	Background of the issue: I am trying to delete an ACF flexible field block on the content page within the base language. The block gets deleted in the base language correctly. Since I use automatic translations, I now click on the translation editor and the overlay opens – the deleted field is not visible anymore, which is correct. Now I save the translation. Symptoms: If I now go on the translated page, the deleted block is still there and did not get deleted! Questions: Why is the deleted block still visible on the translated page? How can I ensure that the deleted block is removed from the translated page as well?
February 17, 2025 at 3:27 pm
February 17, 2025 at 3:33 pm #16715342
Bigul WPML Supporter since 01/2013 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)	Hello, Welcome to the WPML support forum. I will do my best to help you to resolve the issue. Please upgrade to the latest version of WPML (4.7 series) after a full site backup {mandatory} - https://wpml.org/changelog/2025/02/wpml-4-7-announcement/ Also, install the ACF Multilingual plugin for proper compatibility with the ACF features - https://wpml.org/documentation/related-projects/translate-sites-built-with-acf/ After that clear all types of caches and make sure the bug exists or not. If the problem remains, please let us know the exact steps to replicate it. -- Thanks! Bigul
February 18, 2025 at 7:04 am #16716952
Innovationsraum	Hi Bigul, I updated the plugins – ACF Multilingual is already installed. The issue persists unfortunately. Cheers, Mona
February 18, 2025 at 12:33 pm #16718814
Bigul WPML Supporter since 01/2013 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)	Hi Mona, Thank you for the updates. We will test it further and get back to you as soon as possible. Please wait. -- Thanks! Bigul
February 20, 2025 at 2:24 pm #16730231
Bigul WPML Supporter since 01/2013 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)	Hi Mona, The bug exists after the initial troubleshooting steps. So the ticket is escalated to our second-tier team for further debugging. We will get back to you as early as possible. Please wait. -- Thanks! Bigul
February 28, 2025 at 6:25 am #16758937
Bigul WPML Supporter since 01/2013 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)	Hi Mona, As of now, this is an expected behavior. ACF does not delete fields and their data from the database when they are removed from a post. It only deletes them when the post itself is deleted. For more details, please refer to the following link and attached images: hidden link The only workaround for now is to manually remove the deleted fields from the wp_postmeta table after taking a full site backup (mandatory). This ticket has been escalated to our developers for further investigation. A fix for this issue will be included in a future version of the ACF Multilingual plugin. Thank you for your patience and understanding. -- Thanks! Bigul
March 10, 2025 at 1:08 pm #16796624
Innovationsraum	Hi Bigul, Thank you for the update. Is there a time estimation for when this fix will be available? Right now, we won't be able to use this feature on ANY of our websites, because they all use ACF flexible fields. Cheers, Mona
March 10, 2025 at 3:53 pm #16797442
Bigul WPML Supporter since 01/2013 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)	Hi Mona, Thank you for the updates. This bug will be fixed in the upcoming version of ACFML, mostly in the 2.2 version. It is still in the development stage, we will get back to you soon when we have an update from our developers about this. Therefore please try the workaround suggested here after a full site backup for the time being - https://wpml.org/forums/topic/wp-multisite-with-acf-flexible-field-automatic-translation-bug-when-deleting-fields/#post-16758937 -- Thanks! Bigul
March 12, 2025 at 9:21 am #16805888
Innovationsraum	Hi Bigul, Thanks for the info, that's definitely good news. As for the workaround with editing the database: It may work, but it's just not an option for us. We cannot possibly expect from our team to always edit the wp_postmeta table when changes are made. But thanks for the suggestion. We hope to see the new release soon! Have a nice week! Cheers, Mona
March 12, 2025 at 10:14 am #16806183
Bigul WPML Supporter since 01/2013 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)	Hi Mona, Thank you for your feedback. We will get back to you as soon as we have any updates from our team. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Please wait. -- Thanks! Bigul