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Problem:
The client needed guidance on activating WPML on a staging site without affecting the live site's license and ensuring that automatic translation credits are not used. Additionally, the client sought advice on managing translations to ensure future changes could be made easily without retranslating unchanged content.
Solution:
We advised the client to generate a new site key from their WPML.org account and register the staging site with this key, ensuring it does not affect the live site's license. To prevent the use of automatic translation credits on the staging site, we recommended ensuring that no credits are assigned to that site and that automatic translation is disabled.
For the translation workflow, we suggested using the WordPress Editor for manual translations and provided a link to the relevant documentation: https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/using-different-translation-editors-for-different-pages/. This method allows the client to manually add translations and ensures that only the modified segments need updating if the original content changes.
We also clarified that using the WPML Translation Editor is beneficial for tracking changes and only updating the modified parts, whereas manual translation requires updating the entire content manually if changes are made.

If this solution does not resolve your issue, or if it seems outdated or irrelevant to your case, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix,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 further assistance is needed, please open a new support ticket at WPML support forum.