Translate pages made with WPBakery

This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
You are trying to translate your site using WPML and WPBakery but encountered a PHP Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError related to the

substr()

function in the WPML plugin.
Solution:
We recommend updating your WPBakery Page Builder plugin to version 8.6.1. You can find the release notes and update instructions here: https://kb.wpbakery.com/docs/preface/release-notes/
If updating does not resolve the issue, try temporarily disabling all plugins except WPML and WPBakery Page Builder to isolate the problem. Ensure you take a full backup of your site before making any changes.

If these steps do not resolve your issue, or if the solution provided here becomes outdated, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the problem persists, please open a new support ticket with us for further assistance.

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Tagged: Compatibility, Exception

This topic contains 5 replies, has 1 voice.

Last updated by Andrey 5 months, 1 week ago.

Assisted by: Andrey.

Author	Posts
August 20, 2025 at 7:26 pm #17335427
emiliH	Background of the issue: I am trying to translate my site using WPML and WPBakery. I expected to see the translation page to translate my strings. Symptoms: Instead, I got a PHP Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: substr(): Argument #1 ($string) must be of type string, array given in /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Integrations/Divi/dynamic-content.php:81. Questions: How can I resolve the PHP Fatal error related to substr() in the WPML plugin?
August 20, 2025 at 8:35 pm #17335560
Andrey WPML Supporter since 06/2013 Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский ) Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+02:00)	Hi, this is Andrey. I'll be assisting you further. Could you please update your WPBakery Page Builder plugin to version 8.6.1? Release Notes / Changelog: hidden link If the issue persists after updating, try temporarily disabling all plugins except WPML and WPBakery Page Builder to test the problem further. Please let me know how it goes. Don't forget to take a full backup before proceeding.
August 21, 2025 at 6:24 pm #17338627
emiliH	Hi, Thanks. I updated to 8.0.1, but still the same issue. The error is the same: Error Details ============= An error of type E_ERROR was caused in line 81 of the file /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Integrations/Divi/dynamic-content.php. Error message: Uncaught TypeError: substr(): Argument #1 ($string) must be of type string, array given in /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Integrations/Divi/dynamic-content.php:81 Stack trace: #0 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Integrations/Divi/dynamic-content.php(81): substr() #1 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Integrations/Divi/dynamic-content.php(24): WPML\Compatibility\Divi\DynamicContent->is_dynamic_content() #2 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(326): WPML\Compatibility\Divi\DynamicContent->decode_dynamic_content() #3 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/plugin.php(205): WP_Hook->apply_filters() #4 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Shared/st/strategy/shortcode/class-wpml-pb-shortcode-encoding.php(85): apply_filters() #5 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Shared/st/strategy/shortcode/class-wpml-pb-register-shortcodes.php(89): WPML_PB_Shortcode_Encoding->decode() #6 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Shared/st/strategy/shortcode/class-wpml-pb-shortcode-strategy.php(122): WPML_PB_Register_Shortcodes->register_shortcode_strings() #7 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Shared/st/strategy/shortcode/class-wpml-pb-shortcode-strategy.php(108): WPML_PB_Shortcode_Strategy->register_strings_in_content() #8 [internal function]: WPML_PB_Shortcode_Strategy->register_strings() #9 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/fp/core/Invoker/Invoker.php(41): call_user_func_array() #10 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/fp/core/Fns.php(162): WPML\FP\Invoker\_Invoker->__invoke() #11 [internal function]: WPML\FP\Fns::WPML\FP\{closure}() #12 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/fp/core/functions.php(154): call_user_func_array() #13 [internal function]: WPML\FP\{closure}() #14 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/fp/core/Fns.php(151): array_map() #15 [internal function]: WPML\FP\Fns::WPML\FP\{closure}() #16 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/fp/core/functions.php(154): call_user_func_array() #17 [internal function]: WPML\FP\Fns::WPML\FP\{closure}() #18 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/collect/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/Macroable.php(56): call_user_func_array() #19 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/fp/core/Fns.php(156): WPML\FP\Fns::__callStatic() #20 [internal function]: WPML\FP\Fns::WPML\FP\{closure}() #21 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/fp/core/functions.php(154): call_user_func_array() #22 [internal function]: WPML\FP\Fns::WPML\FP\{closure}() #23 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/collect/src/Illuminate/Support/Traits/Macroable.php(56): call_user_func_array() #24 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Shared/st/class-wpml-pb-integration.php(355): WPML\FP\Fns::__callStatic() #25 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/addons/wpml-page-builders/classes/Shared/st/class-wpml-pb-integration.php(249): WPML_PB_Integration->with_strategies() #26 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(324): WPML_PB_Integration->register_all_strings_for_translation() #27 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(348): WP_Hook->apply_filters() #28 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/plugin.php(517): WP_Hook->do_action() #29 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/inc/translation-management/translation-management.class.php(1388): do_action() #30 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/classes/class-wpml-translation-job-factory.php(112): TranslationManagement->send_jobs() #31 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/classes/jobs/Manual.php(164): WPML_Translation_Job_Factory->create_local_job() #32 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/classes/jobs/Manual.php(43): WPML\TM\Jobs\Manual->createLocalJob() #33 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/vendor/wpml/fp/core/Either.php(207): WPML\TM\Jobs\Manual->createOrReuse() #34 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/classes/editor/Editor.php(103): WPML\FP\Right->map() #35 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/classes/menu/translation-queue/class-wpml-translations-queue.php(52): WPML\TM\Editor\Editor->open() #36 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(324): WPML_Translations_Queue->load() #37 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(348): WP_Hook->apply_filters() #38 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-includes/plugin.php(517): WP_Hook->do_action() #39 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-screen.php(424): do_action() #40 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-admin/includes/screen.php(243): WP_Screen->set_current_screen() #41 /var/www/vhosts/cambratgn360.com/httpdocs/wp-admin/admin.php(213): set_current_screen() #42 {main} thrown
August 21, 2025 at 8:06 pm #17338898
Andrey WPML Supporter since 06/2013 Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский ) Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+02:00)	Thank you for your feedback. It looks like you're not using the latest version (the current 8.0.1 is from 11/19/2024). Please update the plugin to the latest 8.6.1 version. Are you experiencing the error when you temporarily disable all plugins except WPML and WPBakery Page Builder to troubleshoot? What are the results?
August 22, 2025 at 12:41 am #17339216
emiliH	If I deactive Divi Builder it works fine. The problem is that I need to use both builders on my web.
August 22, 2025 at 8:55 am #17339727
Andrey WPML Supporter since 06/2013 Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский ) Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+02:00)	Thank you for your feedback. I need to request temporary access (wp-admin and FTP) to your site—preferably to a test site where the problem has been replicated, if possible—in order to be of better help. When you log in to leave your next reply, you will find the needed fields below the comment area. The information you will enter is private, meaning only you and I can see and access it. If I need to debug the problem further, I would like to ask if it's possible to replicate your site locally. I'll need to install a "Duplicator" temporarily or "All In One Migration" plugin on your site. This will allow me to create a copy of your site and your content. If you prefer to do it independently, you can provide the snapshot and send me the zipped package you downloaded. Let me know how you feel about this.