Background of the issue:
I am trying to ensure that product color variations work correctly across all language versions on our website. We have fully translated color attributes, and they are correctly assigned to products. The issue appears randomly, and we have previously used the WPML troubleshooting tool to temporarily fix it. Current examples of the issue can be seen on these pages: hidden link and hidden link. Additionally, when we update the main (SK) product to 'Draft', the status does not synchronize to translated versions.
Symptoms:
In some languages, color variation buttons are unclickable, and affected colors do not appear in dropdowns. The issue occurs with color variations added later to existing products. Also, the product status does not synchronize across translations when set to 'Draft'.
Questions:
How can I ensure that variation colors are always synchronized in all languages?
How can WPML automatically create all variations for all translated versions?
How can I ensure that product status (published/draft) syncs properly across all languages?
How can I resolve the issue without repeatedly running Troubleshooting → Synchronize posts taxonomies?
Thanks for your patience. Here is the ticket and I will require temporary access (WP-Admin and FTP) to a test site where the problem has been replicated, if possible. This will enable me to provide better assistance and determine if any configurations need to be modified.
Please note that it is important to have a backup for security purposes and to prevent any potential data loss. You can use the UpdraftPlus plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/) to fulfill your backup requirements.
Your upcoming reply will be treated with confidentiality and will only be visible to you and me.
✙ To resolve the issue, I may need your consent to deactivate and reactivate plugins and the theme, as well as make configuration changes on the site if necessary. This emphasizes the significance of having a backup.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve checked your Website and below are my answers to your questions.
How can I ensure that variation colors are always synchronized in all languages? I compared both URLs — hidden link
and hidden link and everything appears to be synchronized correctly. Could you please tell me which specific product variation is not syncing as expected?
How can WPML automatically create all variations for all translated versions? When a product is translated, the variations should automatically appear in the translated version as long as all WPML plugins are updated. Please update all outdated WPML plugins here: hidden link
Once done, retranslate the product and check whether the variation shows correctly.
How can I ensure that product status (published/draft) syncs properly across all languages? This can be controlled under WPML → Settings → Translated documents options.
Please note that this applies only to new translations. If the original content is published, the new translated version will be saved as a draft until reviewed.
Existing translated content will not change automatically, so you’ll need to manually switch to the secondary language using the Language Switcher in the top admin bar and change the status, or bulk-edit from the Pages → All Pages screen. See the attached screenshot.
How can I resolve the issue without repeatedly running Troubleshooting → Synchronize posts taxonomies? Just to confirm, your product attributes only sync correctly after running that option?
Hello, here is a short clarification of the issue:
The problem appears randomly after updating a product or adding a new color.
Some color variations become unclickable, even though they are in stock, translated, and exist in all languages.
This happens on older and new products.
When a color becomes unselectable, we can see in the HTML that the attribute value does not match the translated term.
Example:
The correct translated term should be:
chocolate-en
But the swatch renders:
chocolate
This mismatch explains why the swatch cannot be clicked.
(We mention this only as an observed symptom — not as a definitive root cause.)
Running Synchronize posts taxonomies fixes the issue temporarily,
but it reappears later on another product or another color.
Currently, on the reported products, the color “Black” is not selectable.
We are looking for a permanent solution, because manually syncing taxonomy mapping across 5 languages is not sustainable.
Thanks for your reply. I need to be able to see the issue before I can troubleshoot this. I've checked this product hidden link and I'm able to select the "Black" color without issues, as shown in the attached screenshot.
May I know which product you are having issues with?
Thanks for the screen recording. I see the issue now. I regret any inconvenience caused, but to proceed with troubleshooting, I kindly ask for a snapshot of the site. Alternatively, with your permission, I can create one myself. For this purpose, I typically recommend using the free plugin "Duplicator." If you're already familiar with Duplicator (https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/), please skip the following steps and simply send me the archive file you downloaded.
To guide you further, please adhere to these instructions:
1. View the Duplicator instructions video: hidden link
3. If the archive file exceeds 400MB, please use Duplicator's file filters to exclude cache, wp-uploads directory, media, and archive files.
Once you have the archive file ready, kindly share the link with us. You can utilize platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, or similar for file sharing, as the snapshot file might be large.
Please note that your next reply will be private, visible only to you and me. You can paste the file link there. Rest assured that once the issue is resolved, I will delete the local site.
Hello, thank you for the information.
It would be best if you create the Duplicator snapshot on your side. The Duplicator plugin is already installed — you can simply activate it and generate the package.
Just one small request:
When you extract the site on your testing environment, please temporarily disable the following plugins, so they don’t send any live data to external APIs during your tests:
Packeta
Pošta EPH
SuperFaktúra WooCommerce
You can then proceed with testing and troubleshooting on your copy.
Thanks for your patience. I will have to escalate this further to our 2nd Tier Support for further investigation. I will come back to you once I've feedback.
nothing was changed on our side. Yes, we can see the issue has disappeared, but that is not a solution for us. We need to identify the root cause, because I reported two separate problems to you, and both “resolved themselves” without any action from us or from you.
The first case was the product Emily — by the time you checked it, the issue was already gone. Then we recorded a video for Vivien Coko, a few days passed, and the problem disappeared again. I can describe exactly what happened: two new colors were being added to existing products. In the past, the same issue also occurred with completely new products.
Something is clearly not behaving as it should. We restock handbags, and customers are unable to place orders because they can’t click on a specific color. We have no idea why the issue resolves itself after some time, but it definitely shouldn’t be considered closed.
Thanks for your reply. Understood. The next step is to update all outdated WPML plugins to the latest versions hidden link . Since updates can occasionally cause issues, I recommend creating a full backup first and performing the update during a low-traffic period.
Once that's done, we can monitor the site over the next couple of days to see if the issue persists.
