Background of the issue:
I am trying to follow up on a recent ticket regarding a timeout error that occurs when saving a product category page. I have updated all plugins and identified a specific plugin causing compatibility issues. The issue persists. Here is the link to the page where the issue can be seen: hidden link.
Symptoms:
When updating any product category with translations, I get a timeout error. The error occurs in the backend and sometimes deactivates some plugins, which I have to activate manually. I expected the page to load normally after saving, but instead, I got a timeout error message.
Questions:
Why does updating product categories with translations cause a timeout error?
How can I prevent the timeout error when using the sitepress-multilingual-cms plugin?
I have an update from our hosting company and here is a resume of what they found
"I have thoroughly reviewed the server logs and found out that the issue of the timeout is stemming from one of the plugins on the application.
These were the slow logs that were generated while I was running the update operations under product category: hidden link.
We can see that your plugins, mainly the "wpml-string-translation" is causing the bottleneck here which is leading to high memory consumption on the server causing a timeout on Cloudflare. This is a global limit for all websites integrated with Cloudflare and is not something that can be altered. "
Can you please review our settings to make sure we have everything optimised so this error doesn't happen?
It seems that there's some kind of overloead related to the String Translations plugin. Please make sure to have a full website backup and follow these steps:
1. Go to WPML > String Translation and deactivate the auto register of strings. Check image;
2. Go to WPML > Support > Troubleshooting and click on the buttons indicated in the image attached;
If the issue persists, please restore the user you sent to me at first, so I can download a copy of your website (I got a message saying the user does not exist). Thank you.
Regarding the String Translation and deactivating the auto-registration of strings, this has already been deactivated.
Regarding the troubleshooting options, I have run them all, and the issue persists.
The admin user is restored, so you can log in and check what you need.
Please note that I do have a staging site already of the website, and I can't replicate the issue there, but feel free to make a copy and do your tests
Best Regards
Ruben
P.S. Can you please CC ruben@echowebsolutions.co.uk so I can receive the notifications when you reply to the ticket
Unfortunately, I cannot control where notifications are sent — it's a system-wide configuration.
Regarding the categories — I noted that the issue is also prevented if Yoast SEO is deactivated, there's probably a more complex interaction between the 2. I've cleared up most of unused strings and was able to fix the issue. Now, we don't have more timeouts when editing product categories. I've disabled the query monitor plugin (it's best to leave it active only when it's being used, as it uses many resources). You can reactivate it, if you prefer.
