Background of the issue:
I am trying to link the already imported second language posts to their main language counterpart on a site under development. I have the posts uploaded and the main language post ID in the CSV file that I'm trying to link.
Symptoms:
The process of linking the second language posts to the main language posts always fails. The page gets stuck on 'how would you like to export' and shows a troubleshoot link that goes nowhere.
Questions:
Why does the WPML import process fail to link second language posts to the main language posts?
Why does the page get stuck on 'how would you like to export' during the WPML import process?
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out!
Usually, there are three steps to take:
1) Choose the import method at WPML > Export & Import
2) Run the import using the import method of your choice
3) Go back to WPML > Export & Import to run the dialog that merges the content
The export and import methods need to be identical. If you created the export files, for example, with the native WordPress Export Tool, then you will need to use the native WordPress Importer to import the content.
Did you follow those steps?
Also, note that the plugin "WPML All Import" is outdated. If you use "WPML Export and Import" with "WP All Export" or WP All Import" to create the export and import files, then please disable "WPML All Import".
Also, if possible, send me screenshots that include all columns of the exported file or send me a download link for the file.
Apologies for the delay in my replying and the curtness of my previous post!
To answer your questions:
> Did you follow those steps?
I did follow those steps many times over. Let me describe my steps, maybe that will help clarify what I may be doing incorrectly.
BEFORE STARTING
I'm using a cloned website of my current production website. The DB is also cloned, so it has all of the main language blog posts (EN) already baked in.
I exported the EN blog posts from the cloned site into a CSV and have attained all of the POST IDs for the EN content.
I then exported all 2nd language blogs (JA) from production JA website into a separate CSV file. I then added the column of the corresponding EN post IDs to match the JA Side so that the import tool can match the content. Here's a link to that CSV file: hidden link
In that spreadsheet, the corresponding EN POST ID is under the col header: _wpml_import_translation_group
Also, I used WP All Export to export these blog posts into CSV format.
And now that I have this CSV, I the All Import Plugin to make a new import with that CSV file and try to match the columns. This didn't work.
so I went back and tried exporting all posts, both EN and JA to one CSV file, with the proper col showing what that language is supposed to be and the corresponding EN post ID for the JA Side to properly match. You can find that here: hidden link
I think my CSV files are fine, I think it's the importing method that is being screwed up.
Can you explain to me what I need to do after I have this CSV file ready to be imported? What plugin do I use? You indicate that WP All Import is outdated, so what should I be using?
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
Indeed, WPML All Import appeared inside the provided debug information, but I can see it is currently deactivated on your site.
The issue with your import is that when using "WPML Export & Import" you will need to add WPML's language-specific column entries as custom fields to the WP All Import settings, and this is only possible using the PRO version of WP All Import. See screenshot.
Thanks, I went through that doc and still no dice. I feel like i'm close but must be doing something wrong. Please see attached screenshots.
As for my steps:
1. Removed ALL posts
2. Re-ran import, for EN first, set unique ID as WP translation group
3. Ran import for JA, telling it to match to the unique ID from the EN import.
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
In this case, please disable "WPML Export & Import", as it does not support the free version of WP All Import.
I ran a test using your export files and "WP All Import Multilingual 2.3.2" on the following sandbox:
One-Click-Login: hidden link
As a unique identifier, I used {id[1]}.
After importing the file Posts_Export_2025_October_15_1633_Posts_Export_2025_October_15_1633.csv
I find 591 English posts, from which many are in Japanese.
I suggest you create new export files with WP All Export, making sure to only include one language per file.
Then create one import for the English file and another import for the Japanese file, without having "WPML Export & Import" active on the site.
If this does not solve the issue, I can offer to take a closer look at your site.
