Home›Support›English Support›[Resolved] Repeater field rows disappear from the translation when English post is updated
[Resolved] Repeater field rows disappear from the translation when English post is updated
This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.
Problem: If you're experiencing issues where repeater field rows disappear in translations when the source language of a post is updated, this might be due to the translation settings of your fields. Specifically, if the field settings were changed from 'Copy once' to 'Translate' in WPML, updates to the original post require retranslation to maintain the repeater fields in the translated versions. Solution: We recommend using the 'minor edit' option when updating posts that have been translated. This approach helps in preventing the disappearance of repeater fields in translations when the source post is updated. If the translation still does not reflect the changes correctly, you may need to manually update the translation through WPML's Advanced Translation Editor (ATE) or adjust the field's translation preference settings back to their original state if feasible.
Please note that this solution might not be applicable if it's outdated or not relevant to your specific case.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 the issue persists, please open a new support ticket.
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Background of the issue:
I have a custom post type with repeater fields on my site hidden link. I am trying to ensure that when I update the source language of this post type, the repeater rows in the translation do not disappear.
Symptoms:
When the source language of a post with repeater fields is updated, the repeater rows in the translation disappear.
Questions:
How can I prevent repeater field rows from disappearing in translations when the source language is updated? I know how to handle it afterwards, meaning resubmit the translation through ATE, but that's not what I want. I simply don't want the translation to loose data because of an update on the source language. This makes changes on my front-end that I don't intend to have. I have a partial workaround, but it is not a rea solution.
Thanks for contacting WPML forums support. I'll be glad to help you today.
I would need to look closely at your site, so I would need to request temporary access (WP-Admin and FTP) Preferably to a test site where the problem has been replicated.
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Thanks for the access details. I checked hidden link">the post in your screenshot and found that the translation needed to be updated, so I updated it.
After updating the translation, the fields appeared correctly in the hidden link">German post. Kindly check it and let me know if it works as expected.
As I explained in the beginning, I am aware that by updating the translation I can have the repeater fields appear.
My goal is to have the repeater fields visible even if the translation has not been updated.
I sometimes have to do global updates on my posts. I don't want to have to update all my previous translations to have my repeater fields visible. I want that the source language update does not change the target language post automatically if I don't choose that.
To understand the situation better. We are in the process of implementing Automatic Translation and removing manual translations. But old posts have been translated and the translations are fine. By Translation here I mean the contents of a specific ACF field "description". This is the main text of the post.
This field used to be "Copy once". So the translation of it used to be done manually.
Now, with Automatic Translation, I had to change the setting of the field to Translate.
So if there is an update on an "old" post, it means that in order to have it updated, I would have to pay for the translation of this field, even though it has a translation, it's just that WPML doesn't recognize it as a translation, since the field didn't go through WPML before. Or I would have to manually copy the contents of the translated post into the WPML ATE so that from there on, the translation would be recognized.
Many times updates have nothing to do with the repeater fields, and could be done manually, since they are very small. Or they are a field that is copied across languages, so there is no real change in the main text. But the repeaters straight out disappear anyway. This is what I want to avoid.
What if the update is not a post update, but let's say only a single advanced custom field update? How would I let WPML know that it is a minor update?
How this single field will be edited? If you edit it using the WordPress edit post screen, you can select this option before clicking the update button.
I'm afraid that supporting custom code/function is out of our support scope. You would need to use a custom function to do that. Please check our Hooks reference to help you with this function.
