Some of the content that you selected for translation includes fields that are encoded (Avada Theme)

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This topic contains 19 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by Andreas W. 1 day, 21 hours ago.

Assisted by: Andreas W..

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September 5, 2025 at 5:49 pm #17380201
dominicC-10	Background of the issue: I am trying to translate two Avada Fusion Elements (News Articles 1 & News Articles 2) in WPML > Translation Management > Avada Fusion Elements into Chinese (SC & TC). I then see the alert 'Some of the content that you selected for translation includes fields that are encoded.' See my screencast at: hidden link I did previously add a custom XML config which is as follows: <wpml-config> <custom-fields-texts> <key name="_fusion"> <key name="page_title_custom_text" /> <key name="page_title_custom_subheader" /> <key name="video" /> <key name="link_icon_url" /> <key name="video_url" /> <key name="project_url" /> <key name="project_url_text" /> <key name="copy_url" /> <key name="copy_url_text" /> <key name="youtube_id" /> <key name="heading" /> <key name="caption" /> <key name="button_1" /> <key name="button_2" /> <key name="vimeo_id" /> <key name="notifications"> <key name=""> <key name="label" /> <key name="email_subject" /> <key name="email_from" /> <key name="email_from_id" /> <key name="email_reply_to" /> <key name="email_message" /> <key name="email_from" /> <key name="email_from_id" /> </key> </key> </key> </custom-fields-texts> </wpml-config> Symptoms:* I see the alert 'Some of the content that you selected for translation includes fields that are encoded.' Questions: Why am I seeing the alert about encoded fields when trying to translate Avada Fusion Elements? Is there a way to resolve the issue with encoded fields in WPML?
September 5, 2025 at 7:08 pm #17380298
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	Hello, It looks like this config is not correct, as you are trying to control custom fields. You would need to write a config for a shortcode and use encoding="base64" on the attribute. Example: https://wpml.org/forums/topic/wpml-cannot-send-some-of-the-content-to-translation-5/ The entire config for Avada is provided by us and can be reviewed here: hidden link Can you maybe give me more details about which page builder widget might be creating this error? Let me know if you would like me to take a look as admin, and I will enable a private reply form for providing access. Best regards Andreas
September 6, 2025 at 9:31 am #17380858
dominicC-10	Andreas. Yes, please set up a private reply for admin access. A little more detail in the following screencast: hidden link
September 6, 2025 at 10:18 am #17380880
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	Hi, Thank you for the video! I see you are currently creating the translations for the page and for the library element with the WordPress Editor. Do I understand correctly, that the original idea is to use the WPML Translation Editor? I am asking, as you would only need an XML configuration to make the string available on the translation editor. Also, take note that Avada allows setting different theme options in different languages. The same counts for the display condition of templates. To use the same theme options or display conditions, you need to set the language selector in the admin bar to "All languages" and then save the theme options screen or Avada Templates screen, respectively. If this does not solve the issue on your site, I will be glad to take a look into this for you. I would like to request temporary access (wp-admin and FTP) to the website to investigate the issue further. You can find the required fields below the comments section when you log in to leave the next reply. The information you provide is private, meaning only you and I can see and access it. IMPORTANT Please be sure to back up your website and database before granting us access. If you can't see the "wp-admin / FTP" fields, your post and website credentials will be set to "PUBLIC." DO NOT publish the data unless you see the required wp-admin / FTP fields. I may need to install a plugin called "All In One WP Migration" to create a copy of the website so I can investigate the issue further. However, I would also be very grateful if you could provide a staging site or a copy of the website from your server for this purpose. If you have any questions about creating such a staging site, you can consult your hosting provider. Please note that WPML must also be registered on this staging site at https://wpml.org/account/websites/. If you are unable to provide such a copy of the website for testing, please let me know on this ticket. The private reply form looks like this: hidden link Click "I still need assistance" the next time you reply. Video: hidden link Please note that we are required to request this information individually on each ticket. We are not permitted to access any credentials that were not specifically submitted on this ticket using the private response form. Best regards, Andreas
September 8, 2025 at 9:01 am #17382758
dominicC-10	Re "I see you are currently creating the translations for the page and for the library element with the WordPress Editor." - Well i won't if i shouldn't. It's very confusing, all the different ways you can go about editing/translating, and in support tickets, i've been told different methods separately by WMPL and Avada support. 1) Tell me more about "Avada allows setting different theme options in different languages. The same counts for the display condition of templates. To use the same theme options or display conditions, you need to set the language selector in the admin bar to "All languages" and then save the theme options screen or Avada Templates screen, respectively." I was not aware of this feature, and maybe it is the cause of many of my problems? The site is meant to be an identical layout, images, functionality across all languages, apart from the text being translated and the Chinese x 2 being in a different font (different typography settings already implemented). Do you have some reference docs about this? 2) I've also noticed that since I updated to WPML 4.8 on staging, all my green ticks in Translation Dashboard have turned red - why is that and do they need re-translating and will that use credits? 3) I also still need help in front-end text string translations for the theme and plugins (Read More, Search, Not Found, etc) and getting the mega menu for courses working for Chinese. I haven't actually added the Chinese menu yet - it just appeared on the front-end! But I can see the plus icons in Menu > Appearance, but when I use those, they start with an empty menu! Is that right? 4) I need to add the 2 Chinese languages for Loco Translate, but not sure which of the options I should choose - see 2. in the screengrab attached. 5) Can I continue trying to resolve outstanding issues at staging2, or should I await your investigation feedback?
September 9, 2025 at 4:49 pm #17388175
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	Hi, Note that I only have access to staging3. If you would like me to confirm trying to solve the issue on this site, please confirm. I can also offer to take a look at the live site, if you agree. I understand that WPML might appear very complex in the beginning, and I will try my best to go through your questions one by one. If you still have any doubts after that, please let me know. Translation methods In the current version of WPML, you will find three translation methods, which are determined inside the right sidebar of the WordPress Editor when editing the original content. 1) Translation Dashboard - which means all translations are handled by going to WPML > Translation Dashboard 2) WPML Translation Editor - can be accessed on the WordPress Editor inside the right sidebar when editing the original content or on the list of your posts and pages. - also can be accessed by creating a local translation job at WPML > Translation Dashboard and then accessing the job at WPML > Translations. - We further differentiate between the new Advanced Translation for automatic translations and the old Classic Translation Editor. 3) WordPress Editor - will open the WordPress Editor in a second language and allow you to create the translation. The method "WordPress Editor" is usually only used if you want to use different layouts and designs per language. When using the Translation Dashboard or the WPML Translation Editor, it is expected that all languages use the same layout and design. If you send a job to automatic translation from WPML > Translation Dashboard, then, actually, it is also the WPML Translation Editor that is doing the job behind the scenes. Automatically translated content can later be edited inside the WPML Advanced Translation Editor. Translations between WPML Translation Editors and WordPress Editor are not compatible. This means if you make edits inside the WordPress Editor, then the WPML Translation Editor can not capture them. If you later on translate the content automatically or with the WPML Translation Editor, then the manual translations from the WordPress Editor will be overwritten. This is why it is important to choose the right translation method for each content and then stick with it. --- About Avada: Here is the official documentation: https://wpml.org/documentation/theme-compatibility/using-wpml-with-the-avada-theme/how-to-set-theme-options-for-languages-in-avada/ --- About Translation Dashboard: It would be unexpected that jobs change the status after update, but maybe you changed a setting, for example, the new feature to auto-detect media and make it available for translation. This means, if you open the WPML Translation Editor for a given content, you should see why WPML is expecting a translation update. To know if credits will be charged, we would need to create a job and open it on the WPML Translation Editor. Note that the Advanced Translation Editor does have an integrated translation memory, which will auto-complete old translations. It uses content segmentation. For this purpose. The translation memory will only get overwritten on dedicated segments if the original content has changed. More about Translation Memory: https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/how-wpml-keeps-track-of-your-translations/ --- About Strings from Themes and Plugins: First of all, you do not need LocoTranslation when running WPML. WPML comes with WPML String Translation, which allows you to translate language files and options coming from themes and plugins. You can enable an option to auto-locate strings on the Frontend at WPML > Translation Management > Other texts (Strings). There, you can also search for strings, create jobs for translating them, and if you can not find a given string by test search, you will find guidance on how to locate the missing strings. I can offer to take a look into this on your Live Site, if you wish? Best regards Andreas
September 10, 2025 at 7:49 pm #17392217
dominicC-10	Andreas Apologies for the late reply and thanks for your further help and explanations. Sorry this post is also a long one! Replying to your comments on my initial post in this thread… That custom XML config, mentioned at the start of this thread, was added because I was directed (in another WPML ticket) to read https://wpml.org/errata/avada-form-notifications-not-available-in-translation-editor/ and implement it, which I did, as I was having problems with Avada form notifications. I have since switched to Gravity forms with no issues. Do you recommend and is it safe to remove the php snippet and custom XML and replace the latter with the XML version at hidden link ? I tend to, and prefer, using the Translation Dashboard when possible. You’ve explained that this is using the WPML Translation Editor in the background. Because I couldn’t preview some Avada elements, I now simply publish without previewing and think I will maintain this when I hand it over to the clients. I’m aware that Avada allows setting different theme options in different languages - I do this for the typography. But I wasn’t aware that I should have Admin set on ‘All languages’ when saving theme options screen or Avada Templates screen. I’ve been on ‘English (default lang)’ all the time. Maybe this explains why some of my Avada Page Title Bars, used in Avada Layouts, need my manually updating them when I add languages and translate? Replying to your later numbered comments on my last post in this thread… 1) Translation Methods - this is much clearer now. It will be useful to revisit once the translations are live and we need to make subsequent edits to existing content. Currently I am using staging to simply translate the site from the existing English to the other 5 languages. There is no editing of the English content at this stage. We will no doubt be using Translation Dashboard or the WPML Translation Editor, as all languages use the same layout and design. I now appreciate ‘Translations between WPML Translation Editors and WordPress Editor are not compatible’. I am now a little concerned that my earlier work translating Fr, Es & Pt involved using the WordPress editor. I can see little tooltips in Translation Dashboard with red ticks (since updating to v4.8). Do you concur? I would rather not re-translate all these at the moment and will probably tackle this as and when we need to edit specific content on the website. About Avada: I remember reading https://wpml.org/documentation/theme-compatibility/using-wpml-with-the-avada-theme/how-to-set-theme-options-for-languages-in-avada/ right at the start of the project and I’m definitely trying to ‘Use The Same Theme Options for All Languages’, apart from the typography. To address my issue with inconsistent Page Title Bars between languages, would you recommend I review and update these PTB’s in Avada > Layouts whilst in ‘All languages’ mode from now on? Also, can the Advanced Translation Editor be used whilst viewing a page in Avada’s Live Builder view? About Translation Dashboard: You mention “It would be unexpected that jobs change the status after update, but maybe you changed a setting, for example, the new feature to auto-detect media and make it available for translation” Well I have actually enabled that option (grab below), after updating to v4.8. I wanted to avoid having duplicate images for different languages (I’d seen this bloat another WPML website), but it kept promoting me to enable it, so I did. See hidden link Maybe this is what is causing all those red ticks in the Translation dashboard? WPML Translation Memory: Thanks for the info on this. Useful. Glossary: I have started using the glossary prior to the SC & TC translations. About Strings from Themes and Plugins: I have managed to find and translate a few strings such as widget titles now. I’ve just added SC & TC glossary translations for /Student and /Week that appear in Avada pricing elements (e.g. at translations of hidden link ) - how should I go about making the SC & TC versions of this page correct? I assume the WordPress editor, which we are trying to avoid!? See a short screencast at hidden link I couldn’t locate this string and do have ‘Translation Management > Other texts (Strings)’ enabled The only other outstanding strings I have are: A) the ‘Search…’ placeholder in sidebar widget at any translated blog post under news (e.g. hidden link) B) The ‘Read More’ button text at SC & TC translated version of hidden link - but this relates to the original thread issue of the error I get translating the ‘News Articles 1’ and ‘News Articles 2’ Avada PostCard library elements. The excerpt length is also too long. Staging 2: I’d be happy for you to investigate the staging2 site, which is the one I cloned to provide staging3. It probably makes more sense that way, as you’ll be able to see the actual issue I’m facing. But feel free to still play/experiment on staging3. The login creds for hidden link are the same as previously provided for staging3 in the private reply in this thread. Default Language Question: My live site, when only English, had the default language as English (UK) which is how I want it. When I took it to staging2 at Siteground to do the Fr, Es and PT translations a few months ago, it was only halfway through the work that I noticed the default language had switched to English (United States). I didn’t action this - it must be a default staging thing at Siteground. What are the implications of me now telling WPML and WordPress that the default language should be English (UK). Can and should I do this whilst still at staging2 or should I wait until the staging2 is fully deployed Live. Or should I just leave it as it is?
September 11, 2025 at 12:19 am #17392384
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	About the errata: https://wpml.org/errata/avada-form-notifications-not-available-in-translation-editor/ This issue was already solved in WPML 4.7.5, and you should no longer need this code. You can remove it. --- The remote config for Avada is maintained by WPML at: hidden link WPML automatically loads this configuration when Avada is detected as the active theme, unless a custom XML override is defined in WPML → Settings → Custom XML Configuration. The dynamic loading of this config may fail if: - The PHP cURL extension is disabled - allow_url_fopen is turned off inside your PHP configuration - A firewall or security plugin blocks outbound HTTP requests --- About the Translation Dashboard: Yes, it is likely that the jobs requested and updated since automatic detection of media was enabled and possibly not all the metadata for these images was translated earlier. This means, if you add an image to a post, for example, then all the metadata that exists inside the media library for this image will be translated on the Advanced Translation Editor. --- About Avada: Yes, I recall an issue in the past where display conditions were not met between different layouts. Going to Avada > Layouts whilst in ‘All languages’ and saving the page should make sure that all layouts use the same display conditions. --- About Avada Live Builder: Basically, the workflow would be that you edit the original content inside Avda Live Builder, then close the builder, save the page or post, and then use the WPML Translation Editor to create the translation. --- About the string issues: I am about to look into this shortly. --- About the language setup question: I will also take a look into that and let you knwo shortly.
September 11, 2025 at 2:04 am #17392494
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	I have logged in to "staging3" and completed the migration wizard. Note that each site URL needs to be registered on wpml.org with a unique site URL and WPML needs ot be registered inside WordPress, so that you can use the Advanced Translation Editor. How to register WPML: 1) Go to https://wpml.org/account/websites/ 2) Enter the new site URL. This will create a new site key. 4) Click "Show key" and copy it. 5) Enter the key under Plugins > Add plugin > Commercial (tab) to register WPML. Please drop me a comment on this ticket once the site is registered, so that I can start testing.
September 13, 2025 at 5:59 pm #17399444
dominicC-10	Andreas Apologies for forgetting to register the new staging3 as dev site. This is done now and ready for you to test. Main Menu Issue I've realised I also need to translate the primary navigation to Chinese (SC & TC) and the included MegaMenu (under 'Courses'), despite it appearing translated already on the front-end. I have tried selecting 'Translation Dashboard > Navigation menus' and translating this item (fr, es, pt were already done a few months back, but I can't remember how I did it!?!?). This is the technique outlined at https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/translating-menus/#translate-menus-site-editor The menu in question is 'Appearance > Menus > University Main Menu' I was getting some help in a previous ticket (https://wpml.org/forums/topic/a-few-outstanding-translations-snags-with-avada-theme/), but this ended up with us troubleshooting another Avada Builder issue, and I can't remember now how i ended up translating for the three Latin scripts. Should I actually be using the technique at https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/translating-menus/#translate-menus-different-per-language ? But my main menu structure should be identical across all languages. Or is the solution to be found in 'WPML > WP Menus Sync' ? I've also removed the custom XML and php snippets relating to the Avada Forms issue from Staging2 site and Staging3 site. Thank you for your continued assistance.
September 14, 2025 at 1:34 am #17399619
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	The menu: WPML > Translation Dashboard > Navigation Menus is only dedicated to menus from Block Themes that use the new WordPress Site Editor. The Avada Theme is a Classic WordPress Theme. Your menu is created at Appearance > Menus. If you visit the screen, you will see translation options for each menu. Further, you can use WPML > WP Menus Sync to let WPML create the menus automatically, but take note that it can only sync pages that were already translated. IMPORTANT: Before syncing or translating the menus, note that your original menus show the following notification: "There are some invalid menu items. Please check or delete them." Please solve those issues first. For more details about translating menus, please read our guide: https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/translating-menus/ --- About your older ticket: As far as I see, we opened an errata based on your report: https://wpml.org/errata/private-custom-post-types-500-error-when-reviewing-automatic-translations/ --- Issue with form: Can you please confirm if this issue was about the Contact page? It looks like this form is currently translated correctly. --- I hope I did not miss anything? 🙂
September 14, 2025 at 9:13 pm #17400346
dominicC-10	Andreas Re '"There are some invalid menu items. Please check or delete them." - these issues relate to menus I don't use on the website. The main menu is 'University Main Menu' I have deleted all unused menus and only kept the two used on the website - 'University Main Menu' & 'FSUK Top Secondary Menu'. So it looks like previously, I have unnecessarily manually created the Fr/Es/Pt translations of the main menu, as shown at https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/translating-menus/#translate-menus-different-per-language - i think I ended up doing this as I was having trouble getting the megamenu items to display in the correct translation. The main menu is to have the same pages/posts/portfolio and heirachy/structure/organisation across all 5 languages. So, according to the video at https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/translating-menus/ I didn't need to translate the main menu after all? So what should I do now? My main menu has been unnecessarily translated 60% - should I undo this (how)? But won't that revert me back to the problem I had with the Avada MegaMenu? If I continue to manually create and translate (at Appearance > Menus) for the Chinese x2 main menus, how will I tell which pages/portfolios to drag in place, as it starts with an empty menu and I can't read Chinese?! I assume this is where I use WPML > WP Menus Sync. I've done screencast to show you where I am up to with this on staging2: hidden link The older ticket I referred to is solved now, as I rebuilt the forms using Gravity forms. The only other issue, apart from the main menu and mega menu translation, is the original question in this thread: The two Avada Fusion Elements (News Articles 1 & News Articles 2). I still get the error when trying to translate either/both of these Avada fusion elements from the translation dashboard. Are you able to have a look at these on staging3 first and see if you get a similar error? I
September 17, 2025 at 2:34 am #17408045
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	Hi, About the menu: Once a menu uses advanced options like those coming from Avada, I would always suggest translating the menus. Example: The menu is not translated to Chinese, and there you can see that the mega menu falls back to the site's default language. This is why I suggest you translate the menus manually and make sure that the menu options are set correctly on each menu. You could also test if this is quicker to solve with WPML > WP Menus Sync, but it might be that case that you will still need to manually set the mega menu options on each menu afterwards. You could give it a try anyway, without any doubt. About the Avada Elements: While going to the Avada Library and switching the admin language to English, I can see that "News Article 1" and "News Article 2" are original contents and their translation method is currenlty set to "WordPress Editor". See screenshot. This might explain why you can not translate them automatically or by using the WPML Translation Editor or while going to WPML > Translation Dashboard. If you want to use WPML > Translation Dashboard, note that each content now has a specific translation method for this purpose.
September 19, 2025 at 3:43 pm #17417331
dominicC-10	MegaMenu: I took your advice and used menu syc. It created massive further problems: hidden link So I then had to remove duplicate items within menus, add back in the mega menu to SC & TC, and add back in the search icons. But eventually I have got these. Don't think I will use Menu Sync again. Avada Elements: Does 'might explain' mean 'does explain' or 'could explain'? Re 'If you want to use WPML > Translation Dashboard, note that each content now has a specific translation method for this purpose.' - is this a recent new feature and where do I see this in the backend? Again, your answers don't really offer a route forward! I see your screengrab, but what should I now do? See my questions within the screen cast here: hidden link
September 19, 2025 at 4:08 pm #17417438
dominicC-10	I decided to have an experiment at the staging3 site I created for you (you have access to this). If you login there you will see how I attempted to translate News Article 2 Avada Library element. Initially, I tried switching the English version to WPML Translation Dashboard (see screen grab) and then seeing if I could translate the SC & TC. But I got the 'endoded' content issue alert again. So i then tried using the 'Duplicate' option at News Article 2 for Simplified & Traditional Chinese. So this gives me two layouts identical to the other languages for 'News Article 2'. I can then change the postcard button text to 'bing bong' for SC. And this updates on the frontend OK. See the chinese versions of hidden link But the excerpt length is far too long. It should be 55 chars and won't change if I change the excerpt value. Any ideas? And is the approach i've taken for this avada element valid/correct or is there a better way to do it. Please advice with some details, and thanks again for your help.