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WP Provider Translate Academy

Edit and correct translations in WordPress

You can edit any translation in two places: right on the page, by clicking the text, or on the WP Provider Translate → Translations screen, which lists every text with its translation. A correction is yours: it is never replaced automatically, and when you later change the original text, WP Provider Translate asks you what to do. Administrators and editors can edit translations.

Edit translations on the page

The quickest way to fix a translation is where you see it.

  1. Open a translated page on your site while logged in to WordPress.
  2. In the admin bar at the top, click Edit translations. On a page in your site’s own language, hover it and choose the language.
  3. A bar appears: “Editing translations. Click a text, image or video to change it.” Click the text you want to change.
  4. A box opens with the Original above and the Translation below, with links and formatting shown as on the page. Change the words.
  5. Click Save. The page shows your new text right away.
  6. When you are done, click Done editing translations in the admin bar.

Text you cannot click, such as image descriptions, button labels or a menu that is closed, is listed under All texts in the bar. Use Search this page to find a text there. To mark a machine translation as good without changing it, click Looks good.

See where a text appears

The box tells you where a text sits and how far a change reaches: In the menu, In the header or In the footer, and whether it is used only on this page or on several pages. Click Which pages? to see those pages, with links to open them. A change only affects the language you are editing; the box says so.

Change a text on one page or everywhere

A text that appears on several pages, such as a menu item or a footer line, is translated once for all of them. When you edit it you choose:

  • Save on all … pages changes the translation everywhere the text appears.
  • Only on this page changes it on this page only, for example when a word needs a different translation in one context. Such a text is marked Edited for this page.

If some pages already have their own version of the text, saving everywhere keeps those versions, unless you tick the option to also replace the version those pages have of their own.

Edit translations on the Translations screen

The Translations screen is handy for working through many texts or searching for one.

  1. In WordPress, go to WP Provider Translate → Translations.
  2. At the top, pick the language tab, for example EN → ES.
  3. On the left, choose All texts for the whole site, or a page. Use Find a page if your page is not listed.
  4. Filter by state (Not translated yet, Machine, Reviewed, Corrected, Imported) or use Search text, and click Filter.
  5. Click in the translation column and change the text.
  6. Click Save. On a page, the button is Save for this page; use Apply to all places to change the text everywhere it appears.

To approve machine translations without changing them, click Mark reviewed on a row, or tick several rows and click Mark selected as reviewed. View translated page opens the page in that language.

From the edit screen of a page or post, the Translations box shows how many of its texts are translated per language, with a link to Edit translations for that page.

A sentence with a link, bold or italic words keeps that formatting in its translation. In the editors these words are highlighted: on the page, a link shows in blue, and on the Translations screen the formatting is marked. Change the words as you like, but keep each highlighted part, around the right words, so the link or formatting stays.

  • Every highlighted part must stay exactly once. If one is missing or doubled, the translation is not saved and the editor says what to keep.
  • Line breaks and images inside a sentence are marked too: on the page as ↵ and “image”, on the Translations screen as ¶. Keep them.
  • Texts over several lines, such as a widget text with line breaks, are translated line by line and keep their breaks.

On the Translations screen, Show code shows the raw text with its markers, for when you need to see exactly what is there.

Review texts whose original changed

When you change the original text of a sentence you corrected or reviewed, your translation is kept until you decide.

  1. On WP Provider Translate → Translations, a notice says how many texts changed. Click Review now, or choose Needs review in the state filter.
  2. Each row shows What changed in the original (added and removed words marked), Your translation, and a Proposal for the new text.
  3. Choose Keep mine, Use proposal, or edit and click Save my edit.

Small changes, such as capitals, punctuation or one typo, never need a review: your translation carries over. More in How translation runs.

Customer emails and shop texts

Texts that are not on a page, such as WooCommerce emails and the email and payment texts from the WooCommerce settings, are listed as groups on the left of the Translations screen: Emails to customers (WooCommerce) and Shop settings: email and payment texts (WooCommerce).

The email group shows a Preview of each email as the customer gets it, in the chosen language. Click a sentence in the preview to change it. A change there is used everywhere the text appears, also when a language pack translated it. See What gets translated and WooCommerce.

Order numbers, search terms and other visitor values

A page can show something that belongs to one visitor, such as “Results for: blue shoes” or an order number. The sentence around it is translated once for everyone; the visitor’s own value is kept apart and put back on the page. The value itself is never sent for translation.

What the labels mean

On the page and on the Translations screen, each text shows how it got its translation:

  • Translated automatically (on the screen: Machine).
  • Checked (Reviewed): someone marked it as good.
  • Edited by you (Corrected): someone changed it for every place it appears.
  • Edited for this page (Corrected on this page): changed on this page only.
  • Imported: brought over from WPML or TranslatePress.
  • Translated by WordPress: an interface text from an official WordPress language pack.
  • Not translated yet: on its way.

Only automatic translations are ever replaced by WP Provider Translate.

Troubleshooting

  • I don’t see Edit translations in the admin bar. You need to be logged in as an administrator or editor, and at least one language must be chosen under WP Provider Translate → Settings.
  • The translation is not saved (“Keep every highlighted part and ¶ exactly once.”). A highlighted part (a link or formatting) was removed or doubled. Put it back once, around the right words, and save again. If the message is “Could not save. Try again.”, try again after a moment.
  • I can’t click a text on the page. It may be an image description, a label or text in a closed menu. Find it under All texts in the editing bar, or on the Translations screen.
  • My correction does not show for visitors. If you use a caching plugin, its stored copy may be older; see Caching plugins.
  • A text I corrected shows the old translation on one page. That page has its own version. Edit it there, or save everywhere with the option to also replace other pages’ own versions ticked.
For developers
  • wp wpprovider-translate forget <text> forgets machine translations whose original contains a text, so they are translated again. Reviewed and corrected translations stay.
  • wppt_text_groups adds your own named groups of stored texts to the Translations screen, optionally with a preview.
  • wppt_visitor_values marks more values as belonging to one visitor, so they are never sent.

Details: Filters and actions and WP-CLI commands.