The search on the back end has been broken a while, but we recently discovered that the problem is related to the WPML String Translation plugin. When we try searching for something using the search box on the page list on the WP dashboard, we get no pages found. There definitely are pages there that match the search term as when the plugin is disabled, it works nicely. The is the same behaviour for pages, posts, other CPTs and media library entries.
I've reverted to default theme, deactivated other plugins one by one, deactivated mu-plugins too. Still doesn't work. Everything is up to date, and I deactivated all WPML plugins, deleted plugin files, downloaded everything fresh and up-to-date, and reactivated, and still the same.
When I disable the above plugin, it works well and as intended.
Also, the site is live, but I work in my own dev environment (we also have a staging for testing and content creation). The same problem persists over all three environments.
Welcome to the WPML support forum. I will do my best to help you to resolve the issue.
Please tries the following troubleshooting steps after a full site backup{mandatory} and make sure the issue exists or not.
1) Go to WPML>>Support page, click on the Troubleshooting link (blue link in the middle of the page)
2) On the Troubleshooting page, please click on the following options of the *Clean up* section. Wait for confirmation of processing after each one.
- Clear the cache in WPML
- Remove ghost entries from the translation tables
- Fix element_type collation
- Set language information
- Fix WPML tables collation
- Assign translation status to duplicated content
- Fix terms count
- Fix post type assignment
- Cleanup and optimize string tables
- Show custom MO Files Pre-generation dialog box>>Generate .Mo files
The only one I couldn't do is the "Show custom MO Files Pre-generation dialog box>>Generate .Mo files" as the dialog box doesn't show. The screen refreshes as if something is loading, but a box doesn't show.
Thank you for the updates. Please create a new Post or Page for testing in the default language, then search for it in the backend and make sure the issue is existing or not.
Please share with us the WordPress debug.log(not WPML debug information) for collecting more details on this. Refer to the following pages for instructions
To enable the WordPress Debug log, open your wp-config.php file of site root and look for define('WP_DEBUG', false);. Change it to:
// Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
// Disable display of errors and warnings
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
@ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );
In this case, the errors will be saved to a debug.log log file inside the */wp-content/* directory. Please do the steps to reproduce the bug and check if you are getting any errors or warnings related to WPML in the log file.
If you can paste your debug.log to http://pastebin.com/index.php and provide me that link it would be great! (This is the cleanest way because sometimes the logs are long and create a complete mess of discussion).
Also, increase the *MaxInputVars* of PHP settings to *10000*. Please check the following article for more details or contact your system admin/hosting provider for this purpose.
I just checked the above and no difference. I made a new page with content in it, saved it as a draft, and searched for the content but no luck.
The debug log is clear - there was a warning (unrelated to this) but that hasn't come back since I cleared the debug file. Once debug file was cleared, I did try a search and still no luck.
Upping the MaxInputVars didn't make a difference either.
Having looked though some backups, I found one backup on which the search function worked perfectly (will double check both backups on a local server at some point this morning). Is there a way I can send you two DB backups to help us diagnose the issue, as it's getting increasingly difficult for us to work without a search feature on the back-end? I'd also probably need to send you the content files, in case you need to set it up on a server to test. What's the best way to get these over to you?
Thank you for the details. Please make a duplicator copy of your site using the Duplicator plugin(https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/) for debugging this issue.
I am enabling the private option for the next reply. You can share the duplicator copy of the site using Google Drive or Dropbox.
I have configured the site locally and had a few rounds of testing. The issue is existing after the initial checks. So consulting with our team for expert opinion. We will get back to you as early as possible. Please wait.
This bug is happening because there is a page with a slug s that is translated. s is a reserved term in WordPress and it makes a conflict. Refer to the following URL and attached image for more details.
Deleting the String s from WPML>>String Translation panel has solved the issue in our local copy. So please try it after a full site backup and let us know your feedback.
