This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.
Problem: The client is experiencing issues with large MySQL data tables due to the 'Translate Everything Automatically' feature in WPML, which is translating more content than necessary. The client is also unable to exclude specific post types from being translated and is concerned about the increased costs and database size.
Solution: Our developers are aware that WPML's tables can grow to a huge amount of data and they are looking into optimizing the dataflow in WPML 4.8. Further, in case you need more control about what should be translated in which way, we recommend disabling the 'Translate Everything Automatically' option. This can be done at WPML > Translation Management > Dashboard on the top right. By disabling this option, the client can manually select which content to translate or assign it to other translators. For further guidance on managing translations, we suggest reading this guide: https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/.
If the solution provided does not resolve the issue or seems outdated, or if it does not apply to your specific case, please open a new support ticket. 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. For further assistance, 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.
Background of the issue:
I am working on a site under development and trying to reduce the size of my MySQL translate table using a tool I already have, but it is not working.
Yes, I’ve already used it, but perhaps with the wrong job IDs—I didn’t fully understand the instructions.
It might also be related to the new version and its automatic translation feature. From what I can tell, the plugin seems to be translating more than necessary. Unfortunately, I can’t disable specific post types, which may be contributing to the issue. This could also be the reason why the database tables have expanded significantly.
What do you think? If this is a bug, I’m hopeful it can be fixed. But if it’s expected behavior, is there a way I can limit translations to only the frontend strings I actually need?
Since the update, my invoices have increased noticeably, so it seems something may have gotten out of control.
Any advice on how to optimize this would be greatly appreciated.
I have custom post types assigned to users, and I’d like them to be automatically translated. Is there a way to control this individually, like in the older version?
Also, how can I delete too many translated posts or strings—especially from the backend—to reduce the database size? Or is this still the unresolved issue with WPML and large databases that's supposed to be addressed soon? If so, maybe the size will go down on its own soon?
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
My apologies if I repeat myself, but I answered the questions already in my prior comment:
In the latest version of WPML, you no longer have the option to exclude specific post types.
If you use "Translate Everything Automatically" then everything will be translated automatically.
If you disable the option "Translate Everything Automatically" you will be able to control what to send when and how.
You can disable the option at WPML > Translation Management > Dashboard on the top right.
---
For the database issue please wait until our developers release an update that should solve these problems. So far this seems to be planned for WPML 4.8.
Thanks for the quick reply!
Okay, I understand now — I didn’t mean to be a bother, but this really clarified that I need to choose the “Translate Everything” option.
Unfortunately, that also means I can’t exclude anything manually. Is there really no way to exclude specific content via PHP code?
Also, do I need to enable all translation jobs in the queue for new custom posts to be translated immediately, instead of getting stuck at the end?
Another question: Are plugin backend texts also being translated? I don’t need that at all — I only want the **frontend** content visible to users translated.
My main concerns are:
1. I don’t want to pay for translations I don’t actually need
2. I want to avoid unnecessary database bloat from too many translations
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
Regarding your concerns:
If you want more control and not translate every content of your site, you should disable the option "Translate Everything Automatically".
This way you can determine what should be translated automatically or by yourself or another translator at WPML > Translation Management > Dashboard.
---
If you use "Translate Everything Automatically" then all post types will be translated automatically, and there is no longer a way to exclude specific post types.
You can further send strings from plugins or themes to automatic translation or assign them to be translated by yourself at WPML > Translation Management > Dashboard > Other texts.
Thanks for your help, but I need to ask again to clarify my use case:
- I have disabled automatic translation globally.
- However, when a user adds a new custom post from the frontend, that specific post should be translated automatically right away.
- All other content should not be translated automatically.
How can I achieve this selective automatic translation for these custom posts only?
Unfortunately, the guide you sent doesn’t cover this scenario.
That’s more or less what I feared. Even though the translations for those strings were buggy in the older version and have apparently been improved now, it feels like the solution went too far – like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
It’s a really frustrating situation. Just because I need automatic translation for one specific post type, I’m now forced to activate automatic translation for the entire site? That’s now costing me almost €300 unnecessarily – and honestly, that’s quite bitter.
There really should be an official way to control this kind of behavior via a code snippet in the functions.php, at the very least.
That said, in my further testing I was able to disable automatic translation and found that my custom code – which used to work with the previous plugin version to duplicate a custom post type – still works fine, even without auto-translation enabled via WPML.
I just wish there had been an official alternative to handle this after the removal of the specific auto-translation setup. Something more flexible.
Anyway, thank you – I’ve now defined a working path for myself.
Now I’m hoping for further improvements, especially regarding database storage size.
