Automatic translation not working

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

Problem:
The client is unable to automatically translate the homepage to French despite having enough credits. The translation job appears in the Jobs queue, but clicking on the translation does nothing, and the page remains untranslated. The client also mentioned that the wpml-config.xml file is missing in their new theme.
Solution:
We suggested checking if the translations are assigned to another reviewer or if the client is not assigned the correct language pairs. This can be managed in WPML -> Translation Management -> Translators. For further guidance, we recommended reading the following documentation:

Regarding the missing wpml-config.xml file, which might affect translating custom blocks, we advised composing a new wpml-config.xml file for their custom blocks and referred them to the following guide:
https://wpml.org/documentation/support/language-configuration-files/how-to-register-page-builder-widgets-for-translation/

If these steps do not resolve the issue or if the information provided becomes outdated, we recommend opening a new support ticket. We also highly suggest 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. For further assistance, please visit our support forum at https://wpml.org/forums/forum/english-support/.

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: Documentation request

This topic contains 8 replies, has 1 voice.

Last updated by Itamar 5 months, 1 week ago.

Assisted by: Itamar.

Author	Posts
December 19, 2024 at 1:13 pm #16530324
ivanS-69	Background of the issue: I am trying to automatically translate the home page to French using WPML. I can see the translation job in the Jobs queue, and we have enough credits. This was working fine before. We cannot give wp-admin access because our admin is under VPN access for our company. We have enough memory and everything is green in the support page. We also tried clearing WPML cache. Symptoms: Automatic translation is not working. When I click on the translation, nothing happens. The page is stuck and I expected to see a translated page. Questions: Why is the automatic translation not working despite having enough credits? What can be done if clearing the WPML cache does not resolve the issue?
December 20, 2024 at 5:15 am #16532105
Prosenjit Barman WPML Supporter since 03/2023 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Dhaka (GMT+06:00)	Hello There! Thanks for contacting WPML Support. Before this thread gets assigned to my colleague, I'd like to offer some initial guidance or potential solutions. Before this thread gets assigned to my colleague, I’d like to provide some initial guidance and potential solutions. I quickly reviewed our system and noticed that the site (hidden link) has 555 available translation credits. However, the site key has been used on 3 additional sites. Please note that the other 3 sites currently do not have any credits assigned. If you try to run automatic translation on those sites, it’s expected that the translation will not work. You’ll need to assign credits to those sites to enable Automatic Translation. If you are trying to use automatic translation on the main site and it is still getting stuck, please try the following steps and see if they help resolve the issue: - Please go to "WPML > Settings" - Change the Translation mode to "Translate what you choose" - Once done, go to `WPML > Support > Troubleshooting`. - Click on the following buttons: -- Cancel in-progress automatic jobs [Scroll down to see this button] -- Clear the cache in WPML -- Fix element_type collation -- Synchronize local job ids with ATE jobs -- Synchronize translators and translation managers with ATE -- Assign translation status to duplicated content -- Set language information -- Fix post-type assignment for translations - Once done, clear object and other caches from the site. If possible, keep Object caching disabled for some time. - Now, go to "WPML > Settings" - Switch the translation mode to "Translate Everything Automatically" and set it to translate all content on your site. Please give it a try and let me know how it goes. I'll be happy to help if you need further assistance in this matter. Best regards, Prosenjit
December 23, 2024 at 9:59 am #16539831
ivanS-69	Hi! I tried your fix but I still see the page in the jobs, and when I go to the home page, change my language to French, the content is still in English. How is the automatic translation made? Because we have dynamic blocks on our page, not the regular JS blocks. Also, one thing I noticed is that once I restarted the automatic translation the home page settings changed for me to 'Your latest posts' in the WP Reading settings. This should never happen. And we had this issue before but didn't see that anybody changing this settings. Can you check if this happens for you? I am doing the automatic translation from the Translation Management screen by checking the page, and then going below to select translation options (selecting French translate), then translate automatically and starting translation. This creates the job, the content is not translated and our homepage setting is changed.
December 23, 2024 at 1:28 pm #16540537
ivanS-69	Also, can you remove the hidden link and hidden link from the list of the sites with the credits. Only the main site should have credits assigned to it, the other two were just test sites.
December 25, 2024 at 1:32 pm #16545465
Itamar WPML Supporter since 02/2016 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Jerusalem (GMT+03:00)	Hi, I'll continue to help you with this issue. How can I see this problem on your site? I expected to see it here: hidden link, but I was redirected to another website here: hidden link. Please see the attached screenshot. Why does this happen? It might be part of the problem. Waiting for your reply, Itamar.
January 2, 2025 at 9:51 am #16557983
ivanS-69	Hi, we are redirecting hidden link to hidden link for all external visitors, which is a different WordPress instance. This is because we can not serve a broken or untranslated experience to users of the French site due to the reputational damage that it could cause. This is an intentional configuration of our website and happens on the HAProxy level. We don't see why it would be part of the problem, but if you have a suggestion, we can try it out.
January 2, 2025 at 12:08 pm #16558774
Itamar WPML Supporter since 02/2016 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Jerusalem (GMT+03:00)	Hi, Thanks for explaining why I get redirected. You wrote: "This is because we can not serve a broken or untranslated experience to users of the French site due to the reputational damage that it could cause. This is an intentional configuration of our website and happens on the HAProxy level." A side note for your information: hidden link is broken on my end. Please see the attached screenshot. I think it is worse to serve such a broken page than to serve it untranslated. I've read this ticket and found that I overlooked the translation of your homepage, which is pending review. I could see it in the screenshot you shared in this reply. https://wpml.org/forums/topic/automatic-translation-not-working-3/#post-16539831 This may explain why the translations are not showing on the front end. Please read our guide about reviewing automatic translations. https://wpml.org/documentation/automatic-translation/how-to-review-automatic-translations-on-your-site/ Does this help to solve the problem? I've checked from our side, and I can see you translated the homepage from English into French in May. Credits number\|Transaction type\|Permalink\|Job ID\|Engine\|Langs\|Created at\| 2950 used credit\|hidden link\|98715008\|deepl\|en_fr\|2024-05-06 15:51:51UTC 2950 used credit\|hidden link\|98715003\|deepl\|en_fr\|2024-05-06 15:51:45UTC Then, last month, you also sent a page named 'homepage' to translation. Credits number\|Transaction type\|Permalink\|Job ID\|Engine\|Langs\|Created at\| 79\|used credit\|hidden link\|123970089\|microsoft\|en_fr\|2024-12-23 09:47:41UTC You should be able to see the full report (download as CSV for each month) also on your site in WPML -> Translation Management -> Tools -> Automatic Translation Usage Report (tab). You also asked: "How is the automatic translation made? Because we have dynamic blocks on our page, not the regular JS blocks." Automatic translation is done on our Advanced Translation Editor server. More details can be found on this page: https://wpml.org/documentation/automatic-translation/ If you create custom blocks, please read our guide for developers on registering them. https://wpml.org/documentation/support/language-configuration-files/how-to-register-page-builder-widgets-for-translation/ I hope this information will help you fix the problem on your site. Regards, Itamar.
January 3, 2025 at 1:45 pm #16561546
ivanS-69	Thanks for your reply. > A side note for your information: hidden link is broken on my end. Please see the attached screenshot. I think it is worse to serve such a broken page than to serve it untranslated. I absolutely agree. We can not reproduce this, and this could be a geographically localized issue due to the fact we're running this distributed. Do you mind sharing a HAR file for the page load so we can investigate this further? > I've read this ticket and found that I overlooked the translation of your homepage, which is pending review. I could see it in the screenshot you shared in this reply. > https://wpml.org/forums/topic/automatic-translation-not-working-3/#post-16539831 > >This may explain why the translations are not showing on the front end. Please read our guide about reviewing automatic translations. This opens another can of worms. Hovering over the WPML icon in the toolbar, I see that 15 translations are waiting for review. However, opening the queue shows only one translation, even when I remove filters. See the attached screenshot. I have tried clearing WPML cache, and "Synchronize local job ids with their ATE counterparts", neither of which resolved the problem. We also seem to be missing the wpml-config.xml file in our new theme, so this could be a factor - but I don't think it's the root cause at play here. Thanks!
January 5, 2025 at 5:55 pm #16564670
Itamar WPML Supporter since 02/2016 Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Jerusalem (GMT+03:00)	Hi, You might not see all the translations waiting for review because they are assigned to another reviewer or you are not assigned the correct language pairs. This can be done in WPML -> Translation Management -> Translators. If you have not done so yet, please read the following guides. https://wpml.org/documentation/support/wpml-admin-capabilities/ https://wpml.org/documentation/automatic-translation/how-to-review-automatic-translations-on-your-site/ You also wrote: "We also seem to be missing the wpml-config.xml file in our new theme, so this could be a factor" I don't see how it could be a factor in being unable to review the translations. However, it might be a factor in the other issue you mentioned - being unable to translate some custom blocks. Please check the guide I have already shared with you. https://wpml.org/documentation/support/language-configuration-files/how-to-register-page-builder-widgets-for-translation/ In this case, you must compose the wpml-config.xml for your custom blocks. If you have questions about this, we'll be happy to help. Thank you for suggesting sharing a HAR file to investigate the page issue. However, as this falls outside the scope of the WPML-related problem we’re addressing and involves security considerations, I won’t be able to provide it. Regards, Itamar.