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This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
You are trying to translate a page using the WPML translation editor, but when you click to edit the French translation, it opens an empty (white) page. This issue has occurred despite using different browsers and ensuring that admin/translation user details are correctly set.
Solution:
We checked it and the issue was related to escaping special characters in regex for some glossary entries. Our developers worked internally and found a solution. If you're still experiencing a similar issue, please open a new ticket for us to double-check it.

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.

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This topic contains 17 replies, has 2 voices.

Last updated by Mateus Getulio 1 year, 4 months ago.

Assisted by: Mateus Getulio.

Author Posts
October 19, 2023 at 8:32 pm #14619191

davidN-36

Tell us what you are trying to do?
I want to translate a page.
- In the WP menu right, I list all pages
- When I click the link "Edit the the french translation" to open the WPML translation editor , it opens an empty (white) page.

This is the normal way I've been using for years to edit the translation text.
Since one week, I noticed that it doesn't work any more. I'm not sure exactly when it didn't work anymore, because I haven't done any translations lately.

I tried using the Chrome and Firefox browsers, same behaviour on both.
I checked that the admin/translation users have their fields 'name' and 'email' set correctly.

What is the link to your site?
hidden link

Screenshot 2023-10-19 at 21.57.36.png
Screenshot 2023-10-19 at 22.01.00.png
October 20, 2023 at 9:17 pm #14627227

Mateus Getulio
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hi there,

Thanks for your contact.

Before your ticket is assigned to one of my colleagues, please allow me to walk you through some initial debugging steps. This will help speed up the support process.

Please follow these steps:

- Just to be safe, make sure to have a website backup before proceeding
- Go to WPML -> Support in your admin dashboard
- Click the “troubleshooting” link bellow the plugin versions list
- Look for the “Clean up” section and hit these buttons:

# Clear the cache in WPML
# Remove ghost entries from the translation tables
# Fix element_type collation
# Synchronize local job ids with ATE jobs
# Synchronize translators and translation managers with ATE
# Set language information
# Fix post type assignment for translations

- Go to your affected page, and do a minor modification to the original language content
- Try to translate that page again and see if it'll work fine this time

Please let us know about your results. Thank you.

Kind regards,
Mateus.

October 23, 2023 at 6:06 pm #14640753

davidN-36

I followed the steps listed above.
When I pushed the translate buttom the first time, the page to perform the translation was shown.
Instead of finishing the translation, I pushed the "back to list" buttom.
When I pushed the translate buttom a second time, for the same page, the white page show again.
The problem is not solved.

October 23, 2023 at 8:48 pm #14641305

Mateus Getulio
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hello,

I would like to request temporary access (wp-admin and FTP) to your site to take a better look at the issue. You will find the needed fields for this below the comment area when you log in to leave your next reply. The information you will enter is private which means only you and I can see and have access to it.

Our Debugging Procedures

I will be checking various settings in the backend to see if the issue can be resolved. Although I won't be making changes that affect the live site, it is still good practice to backup the site before providing us access. In the event that we do need to debug the site further, I will duplicate the site and work in a separate, local development environment to avoid affecting the live site.

Privacy and Security Policy

We have strict policies regarding privacy and access to your information. Please see:
https://wpml.org/purchase/support-policy/privacy-and-security-when-providing-debug-information-for-support/

**IMPORTANT**

- Please make a backup of site files and database before providing us access.
- If you do not see the wp-admin/FTP fields this means your post & website login details will be made PUBLIC. DO NOT post your website details unless you see the required wp-admin/FTP fields. If you do not, please ask me to enable the private box. The private box looks like this: hidden link

Please, let me know if you need any additional details. Have a nice day.

October 23, 2023 at 10:02 pm #14641631

davidN-36

I did a mistake withb the FTP Account information.
How can I correct it (private)?

October 24, 2023 at 12:23 pm #14647485

Mateus Getulio
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hello there,

I am marking your next response as private again. Moreover, we're receiving a 503 error when trying to open the login page: hidden link. Can you please review it? Thanks.

Regards,
Mateus.

October 24, 2023 at 2:10 pm #14648593

davidN-36

I restored the backup from yesterday 2023.10.23 22:52 CEST
Now it seems to be working again.

October 24, 2023 at 8:23 pm #14650807

Mateus Getulio
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hi there,

Thanks for providing the credentials.

Just to make sure, do we have your authorization to make a copy of the website and migrate it into another server? In order to perform more complex tests without compromising the live production.

Please keep us posted about it. Thank you.

October 25, 2023 at 5:21 am #14652069

davidN-36

Hi Mateus
Yes, you are allowed to clone the website.

Best regards
David

October 25, 2023 at 7:28 am #14657345

davidN-36

Hi Matues
Just for your information:
When I started with WPML (years ago), I tested the WPML Automatic Translation.
We decided not to use it and to translate everything manually.
I've just noticed that in my WPML account (https://wpml.org/account/) under "Sites Using Prepaid Credits" I see following "Site URL":
hidden link
This link doesn't working anymore. At the time I tested the WPML Auto Translate, our website was accessed through Cloudflare (CDN/WAAP).
This was a feature from our hosting provider "hostinger.com". Last year the feature was removed from Hostinger and our website is not using Cloudflare anymore.
But since last year, we have made manual translations with WPML without problems.

Best regards
David

October 25, 2023 at 6:06 pm #14663985

Mateus Getulio
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hi David,

Thank you for the details, and the confirmation.

Upon further inspection, we were able to check that the Advanced Translation Editor and its entries in your database got corrupted at some point. We've followed these steps in order to fix the issue in our copy version:

- Make sure to have a complete website and database backup
- Go to WPML -> Settings - Translation Editor and activate the Classic Translation Editor (for new and old translations)
- Get access to your database
- Run this command:

select *
from wp_options
where option_name = 'WPML_SITE_ID:ate'
OR option_name = 'WPML_TM_AMS'

- Delete those entries - again, after a database backup
- Go to WPML -> Settings -> Translation Editor, and re-enable ATE

It should be solved after this. Therefore, may I kindly ask you to give it a try on the live website?

We're looking forward to your reply. Thank you.

Kind regards,
Mateus.

October 25, 2023 at 9:37 pm #14664989

davidN-36

Hi Mateus

I followed the steps you wrote. Here is the result:
- I try to open the translation for a page which haven't changed
=> Message "WPML didn't manage to translate this page. Try again" is showed on the top.
- I make a change on the page and saves it
- I try to open the translation for that page
=> WPML Translation editor is opened, but the "old" translated text is gone. Only the "simple" translation sentences are filled in, the rest is empty.
The progress bar at the bottom shows 0%
This would mean that I have to translate all pages manually again?

October 26, 2023 at 11:48 am #14670115

Mateus Getulio
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hi David,

Sorry about that. No, it shouldn't have happened. Could you please restore a previous backup and we'll check it again?

Please let us know. Thank you.

Regards,
Mateus.

October 26, 2023 at 4:20 pm #14672693

davidN-36

Hi Matteus
I've restored to the backup from 2023.10.23 22:52 CEST

I also checked with my hosting provider.
hidden link is a leftover from the integration with Cloudflare.
It is not valid anymore. I'll have to replace that with hidden link later.

Regards
David

October 26, 2023 at 6:12 pm #14673569

Mateus Getulio
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hello David,

Thank you for restoring the backup.

Let me ask you something before we move on. Did you use the Classic Translation Editor for these translations in the past? Because if we enable it in WPML -> Settings -> Translation Editor, we're able to open and see any translation in the website.

We've tested it on this copy version, please check it (the credentials are the same as the ones in the original website): hidden link

This would explain why the translations do not appear in the ATE when we switch the Translation Editors, as explained in our related doc: https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/translation-editor-options/

Moreover, would it be a viable solution for you? That is, to use the CTE, instead of the ATE?

Please keep us posted about it. Thanks!