[Closed] Translation memory keeps resetting translations

I’ve noticed that the “Grant Scan” page was not available in secondary language that’s why you were facing this issue, so I’ve followed the below steps:

1. Duplicated the "Grant Scan" page into Dutch language to make the page available in secondary language.

2. Pressed the "Scan now and adjust links" button and it changes the button link automatically as you can see in the attached screenshots.

Could you please check and confirm?

Thank you

Sorry for the delay, I was off during the weekend (Friday-Saturday).

1. Regarding the button translation, If it should not go to the translation of same page automatically, in this case, please try to follow the below steps:
1.1. Add the below XML:

<wpml-config>
  <elementor-widgets>
    <widget name="button">
      <fields>
        <field type="Button Text" editor_type="LINE">text</field>
        <field type="Button URL" editor_type="LINE" key_of="link">url</field>
      </fields>
    </widget>
  </elementor-widgets>
</wpml-config>

In WPML >> Settings > Custom XML Configuration section.
1.2. Make a small change in the default language page to reload the translation.
1.3. Open the translated page in WPML Advanced Translation Editor, search for your button URL and add the translation.
1.4. Clear all sorts of cache and see if this resolves the button translation issue.

2. Usually, the system resets translations if you use the WPML Advanced Translation Editor (ATE) and then update translations using the default WordPress Editor or the WPML String Translation page. When you try to update the translation again using ATE, it removes any changes made with the default WordPress Editor or String Translation because ATE uses translation memory. Changes made outside of ATE don't get saved in this memory, so ATE loads the old translation.

Here is a doc for more details: https://wpml.org/faq/why-arent-my-translations-showing/

2.1. To avoid this issue, please continue using WPML Advanced Translation Editor for all translations, in case, if you want to use default WordPress Editor then, please first disable the WPML Translation Editor for that particular page by following this doc: https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/using-different-translation-editors-for-different-pages/

2.2. If the issue persists, please provide step-by-step instructions to replicate it so we can debug further.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience

1. I'm glad to hear you're able to translate the Elementor button URLs using the Advanced Translation Editor (ATE). I hope this resolves the issue permanently.

2. Regarding the GravityForms shortcode translation issue, I've created a new support ticket:https://wpml.org/forums/topic/gravityforms-shortcode-translation/ to handle this separately as per our support policy. This will allow us to focus specifically on debugging this problem.

3. Thanks for sharing the screenshots. WPML only translates pages automatically if the "Translate Everything Automatically" option is enabled in WPML >> Settings >> Translation Mode. Otherwise, it does not make changes without user intervention.

Please let us know if the translation overwrite issue occurs again if you only use ATE, and we will investigate further.

Thank you for your cooperation

Thanks for the additional details. That’s a bit strange. You can confirm it by updating the default language posts/pages and WPML will not update the translated page automatically if the “Translate What You Choose” option is selected from WPML >> Settings > Translation mode section.

If you prefer discussing this via chat, please feel free to create a new chat anytime with the reference of current ticket link: https://wpml.org/forums/topic/translation-memory-keeps-resetting-translations/ and we will be more than happy to help.

Thank you

1. When you translate a page using the default WordPress Editor, the content is saved in the site's database. If you use the Advanced Translation Editor (ATE) instead, the content is saved both in the site's database and in ATE's translation memory.

When you view the page on the frontend, it displays the content from the site's database. However, when you load the page in ATE, it shows the content from ATE's translation memory. Since you've deleted the translation memory, the fields appear empty in the backend, but the frontend still shows the content from the site's database. You can edit the page in the default WordPress Editor to access this content.

To completely remove the translated pages, follow the instructions in this document:
https://wpml.org/faq/how-to-delete-the-translation-of-a-page/

2. When you translate page builder content using the WPML Translation Editor, it registers the page builder strings as string packages in WPML >> String Translation for internal use. We don't recommend modifying these strings in WPML >> String Translation because they might be overwritten when you update the translation using ATE again.

When you use any shortcode on a default language page and then translate that page, WPML copies the shortcodes into the secondary language to display the content correctly in secondary language. If you don't translate the page that having a shortcode, it won't automatically copy the shortcode into the secondary language.

Regarding the system translating strings by itself, this shouldn't happen with the "Translate What You Choose" option. If you're seeing translations for strings that aren't in ATE, it might be due to this process of copying shortcodes for proper display, but it shouldn't change the actual string translations.

Please let me know if you need further clarification.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience