we are facing a critical issue with WPML on our production website:
hidden link
Problem:
All translated pages (FR, EN, IT, PT) are generating incorrect URLs using the default WordPress structure with ?page_id instead of proper permalinks.
Example: hidden link
Expected: hidden link (or equivalent slug)
Important:
- The issue affects ALL secondary languages
- The default language (DE) is working perfectly
- Permalinks are correctly set to "Post name"
- .htaccess is correct and standard WordPress rewrite rules are in place
- WPML is configured to use "Languages in directories" (/fr/, /en/, etc.)
What we already tested:
- Flushed permalinks (multiple times)
- Switched permalink structure (simple → postname → saved)
- Cleared all caches (WordPress, server, Cloudflare)
- Verified .htaccess rewrite rules
- Checked individual translated pages (slug exists, pages are published)
- Ensured translations are complete (100%)
- WPML Troubleshooting tools executed:
- Clear cache
- Set language information
- Fix post type assignment
- Synchronize taxonomies
- Remove ghost entries
Observation:
WordPress fails to generate rewrite-based URLs for translated content only. It falls back to query-based URLs (?page_id=), which indicates a problem with WPML language routing or rewrite integration.
We are using:
- WPML (latest version)
- Elementor
- Custom theme (Saasive-based)
- Yoast SEO
- Cloudflare (proxy enabled)
This is a blocking issue for SEO and production rollout.
We need:
- Root cause analysis
- Clear fix (configuration or code-level)
- Confirmation if this is a known issue or theme conflict
Please advise what is breaking the permalink generation for translated content.
