Saving widgets shows a critical error message

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

Problem:
If you're experiencing critical errors when saving widgets with the WPML plugin activated, it might be due to inactive widgets in the Appearance -> Widgets section of your WordPress dashboard. These inactive widgets might be trying to use formerly registered ACF blocks that are no longer available.

Solution:
We recommend deactivating the ACFML and String Translation plugins temporarily. After deactivating, try to expand the inactive widgets section and delete these widgets one by one. Once the inactive widgets are removed, you should be able to save the active widgets without encountering any critical errors. Please ensure to take a full backup of your site before making these changes.

If this solution does not resolve your issue or seems irrelevant due to being outdated or not applicable to your case, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent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 problems persist, please do not hesitate to open a new support ticket at WPML support forum for further assistance.

This is the technical support forum for WPML - the multilingual WordPress plugin.

Everyone can read, but only WPML clients can post here. WPML team is replying on the forum 6 days per week, 22 hours per day.

Tagged: Exception

This topic contains 0 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by Waqas Bin Hasan 1 week, 2 days ago.

Assisted by: Waqas Bin Hasan.

Author	Posts
December 17, 2024 at 8:53 am
Pieter	Background of the issue: Saving the widgets, it only gives critical error when i've WPML plugin activated. hidden link Symptoms: Questions: Saving the widgets is working, but returns the critical error message. This only happens when i've WPML plugin activated.
December 17, 2024 at 10:03 am
December 18, 2024 at 12:03 pm #16525720
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Hi, Thank you for contacting the support. I'm assigned this ticket and I've observed the issue in your staging site. I'm trying to check the issue in another environment to see if it can be reproduced elsewhere or only happening in your site. I'll update you on this by tomorrow. Regards.
December 19, 2024 at 10:36 am #16529411
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Thank you for your patience and cooperation. I couldn't reproduce the issue in a fresh installation, even I added your JSON based ACF fields to my test site. So I've escalated the matter to our 2nd tier team, with a backup of your site. I'll update you as soon as I have more information. Please keep the staging site active and accessible.
December 20, 2024 at 4:31 am #16532072
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Thank you for your patience and cooperation. Since my last message, our team tried to login to your staging site but looks like password has been changed. Can you please provide updated access to the staging site again, so our team can investigate the issue in more detail. I've set your next reply as private to share this information safely.
December 20, 2024 at 10:09 am
December 20, 2024 at 12:19 pm #16533897
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Thank you for the access, I've updated our 2nd tier team and 'll get back to you accordingly.
December 23, 2024 at 6:12 am #16539291
Waqas Bin Hasan Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)	Thank you for your patience and cooperation. Our team analyzed that there are lot of inactive widgets in Appearance -> Widgets which appeared to use formerly registered ACF blocks that were no longer available, and that is what was causing problems trying to save the widgets page. So they deactivated ACFML and String Translation and were able to expand the inactive widgets section. Then deleted these one by one. And now the active widgets can be saved without any problem. We've tested this in your staging site. I request you to try this in your site after taking a full backup and let me know your findings.