Skip to content Skip to sidebar

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

Problem:
If you're experiencing issues with your mega menu where submenus are styled incorrectly and misplaced in different languages, this might be related to WPML settings.
Solution:
We recommend trying the following steps:
1. Navigate to WPML → Settings → Translate Custom Fields.
2. Click “Show System Fields”.
3. Locate the field named

_menu_item_the7_mega_menu_settings

and set it to “Copy”.
4. Then, go to WPML → WP Menu Sync and run the synchronization.
This approach may resolve the issue if it's related to the mega menu settings. Please ensure to back up your database before making any changes.

If this solution does not apply to your case, or if it seems outdated, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have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.

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: 

This topic contains 9 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by Andrey 2 weeks ago.

Assisted by: Andrey.

Author Posts
June 23, 2025 at 8:41 am #17158485

stefanoC-80

Background of the issue:
I have a problem with my mega menu on my site hidden link. I suspect it might be related to WPML. I have already contacted my theme support, and they suggested checking with WPML. The issue involves the presentation of submenus being wrongly styled and misplaced in some languages.

Symptoms:
The mega menu submenus are styled incorrectly and misplaced in different languages. In German, the Eisfischen menu has a transparent background instead of white. In French and English, the Leurres and Accessoires menus are displayed incorrectly, while Ice fishing is correct. The problem seems to shift between languages and menus without any changes being made.

Questions:
Is there a general problem with the translations on my mega menus?

June 23, 2025 at 6:40 pm #17162205

Andrey
WPML Supporter since 06/2013

Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский )

Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+03:00)

Thank you for contacting WPML support.

Did you follow the guide below? How do you set the background for the menu?

hidden link

Does the same issue happen if you temporarily activate any default theme?

June 24, 2025 at 5:39 am #17163005

stefanoC-80

No, I do not have a special plugin for mega menu. I made them with Elementor and widgets from WordPress and the theme.
I made the design for the website before our decision to make it multilingual.

Our website is life; I assume that it might be risky to switch the theme now?

June 24, 2025 at 6:15 am #17163066

stefanoC-80

This is so strange... I made a small change on one of the menus; now the layout looks good in French and Englisch, but super bad on the German menu "Köder" (hidden link). And the background is transparent on some menus in all languages (hidden link and hidden link).
So, with every small change, everything gets mixed up!

June 24, 2025 at 11:14 am #17164434

stefanoC-80

Update: I made small changes on some mega menu pages (changed the background color by a nuance), now all mega menus in all languages are correct.
But I am afraid that it will change again when I have to make new changes. Okay to keep this ticket open a bit?

June 24, 2025 at 11:17 am #17164454

Andrey
WPML Supporter since 06/2013

Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский )

Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+03:00)

Thank you for your feedback — I’m glad to hear it’s working now.

Of course, I will change the status of this support ticket to “Waiting for user feedback”. It will remain open for a while and will only be closed automatically if there is no activity for some period.

June 30, 2025 at 1:14 pm #17184641

stefanoC-80

It is still quite annoying; every time that I make a small change and translate it with WPML, something in the mega menus happens unexpectedly. Mostly that the background turns transparent, sometimes also the layout (see above). As already told, I have to make some adjustments again and it turns good after that. Don't you have any Idea why this could be?

June 30, 2025 at 2:56 pm #17185201

Andrey
WPML Supporter since 06/2013

Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский )

Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+03:00)

This could be a compatibility issue related to the Mega Menu or the specific implementation of the menu used in the theme.

I’m not certain which Mega Menu plugin the theme author has integrated. For example, Max Mega Menu is not officially listed as WPML-compatible. According to their documentation, manual translation is recommended—meaning the user would need to recreate the menu from scratch in each language, including its layout.

On the other hand, Mega Main Menu is listed as compatible with WPML and may provide a smoother multilingual experience.

July 1, 2025 at 8:23 am #17187222

stefanoC-80

Okay, so you don't see any other way than to a different plugin?

July 1, 2025 at 11:28 am #17188248

Andrey
WPML Supporter since 06/2013

Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский )

Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+03:00)

No, I meant to say that manually adjusting the menu in each language might be the only viable solution in this case.

However, I found a similar issue discussed here:
https://wpml.org/forums/topic/menu-synchroniseren-funktioniert-nicht/page/2/
where our team investigated the problem.

You can try the following steps:
1. Go to WPML → Settings → Translate Custom Fields.
2. Click “Show System Fields”.
3. Locate the field named _menu_item_the7_mega_menu_settings and set it to “Copy”.
4. Then, go to WPML → WP Menu Sync and run the synchronization.

This may help if the mega menu settings are causing the issue.

Before making any changes, please ensure that you back up your database first.