Description
The Challenge
A multilingual WordPress site can go wrong in small, maddening ways. A product appears under the wrong language column on the Translations Dashboard. Translations sit in “In progress” for days with no movement. A language switcher keeps pointing at a domain you abandoned last month. Categories look orphaned from the posts they belong to. Each symptom has a different cause, and the fix usually means touching data that WPML stores against every post and term in your database.
Without the right tools, you end up guessing. You might edit rows by hand, deactivate plugins one at a time, or trade long messages with a developer while the site stays broken. When you do reach out to someone for help, they will ask for the same thing first: your debug information. Finding it, copying it, and knowing what else to include takes time you would rather spend on content.
How WPML Troubleshooting Helps
The WPML Troubleshooting WordPress plugin adds the repair tools that WPML’s Support page needs in order to fix problems rather than merely report them. Since WPML 5.0, these tools are no longer bundled with the core plugin. Without WPML Troubleshooting installed, the Support page still offers its read-only tools and the Clear cache action, and it shows a single line pointing you toward the add-on. Once the plugin is active, the tools that depend on it come to life.
Everything lives under the WPML menu on the Support page. At the top sits a search box that scans every tool and every sub-action across all three tiers. Type a symptom (“stuck”), the name of the broken thing (“taxonomy”), or the operation you want (“sitekey”, “duplicate”, “cache”), and matching tools appear with a tier badge. You never need to remember where a tool is filed.
This page concerns the Safe tier, the group of tools meant to be the first reach in most situations. It gathers diagnostics and the language-assignment repairs that correct data without wiping anything out.
Core Features
Debug Information and Diagnostics
The first tool shows the debug information block that WPML’s own team asks for before anything else. Copy it, paste it into your question, and the person helping you has the context they need at once. The same tool runs connectivity tests against WPML’s servers, so you can confirm or rule out a network problem when WPML cannot reach them. It also lists the PHP extensions WPML depends on, including SimpleXML, which helps when a host has quietly left one disabled.
A further action refreshes the local license data cache. If you changed a subscription and the site still reflects the old state, re-fetching the license data pulls the current account status.
Language Assignment Repairs
The second tool repairs the language assignments WPML records for each post and term. It is split into five sub-actions:
- Set language information assigns a language to content that has none, which is common after importing posts or migrating from a site that never used WPML.
- Synchronize posts taxonomies re-links taxonomy translations to their posts when categories and tags look disconnected.
- Remove comments that don’t match the content’s language cleans up comments that show in the wrong language context.
- Fix terms count recomputes the per-language term counts so archive and category totals are accurate again.
- Fix post type assignment corrects the post type recorded against translated content.
All of these require WPML Troubleshooting, with the exception of Clear cache, which stays available on the Support page regardless.
Searchable Tool Index
Because the search covers every sub-action, it works as a symptom lookup. If you cannot remember whether a duplicate-posts repair is considered safe or advanced, type “duplicate” and see. The tier badge tells you how cautious to be before you run anything. Distributed under the GPL, the plugin can be inspected and kept alongside the rest of your WordPress stack like any other add-on.
Practical Applications
Content in the Wrong Language Column
A post or term appears under the wrong language on the Translations Dashboard, or WPML reports that the default language is a translation. These are language assignment faults. Running Set language information on content with missing data, then checking the dashboard again, resolves the common cases.
Changing a Language Code
Suppose you switch a language code from en-gb to en and need existing content to follow. The language assignment tool is where you re-assign that content, so posts do not stay attached to a code that no longer exists.
Disconnected Taxonomies and Wrong Counts
A shop owner with a bilingual catalogue notices that translated categories no longer link to their products and that the category counts look wrong. Synchronize posts taxonomies restores the links, and Fix terms count recalculates the totals for each language. The same approach helps where WooCommerce store pages fail to appear in translated languages or some products are missing from one language version of the shop.
Comments Showing in the Wrong Language
When comments are not filtering properly between languages, the comment cleanup action removes entries that do not match the language of the content they belong to.
Preparing a Support Request
Before asking a question, open the Support page, copy the debug information block, and include it with your description. If you suspect a connectivity problem, run the server tests first and note the result. The same page confirms whether the PHP extensions WPML needs are present on your host.
License Changes
After upgrading, downgrading, or renewing, the site may keep showing the old state. Refreshing the license data cache re-fetches the account information so the dashboard matches reality.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need WPML Troubleshooting to see the Support page?
No. The Support page remains available without it, with its read-only tools and the Clear cache action. A short note points you to the plugin for everything else. Install WPML Troubleshooting when you need the repair actions, such as fixing language assignments or recomputing term counts.
How do I find the right tool when I only know the symptom?
Use the search box at the top of the Support page. It scans every tool and sub-action across all three tiers, so typing a word like “stuck,” “taxonomy,” or “sitekey” brings up the relevant matches. Each result carries a tier badge, which shows how cautious you should be before running it.
What can the language assignment tool fix?
It covers five jobs: assigning language information to content that has none, re-linking taxonomy translations to posts, removing comments that don’t match the content’s language, recomputing term counts per language, and fixing post type assignment. These suit problems like items in the wrong language column or categories detached from their posts.
Can it help me check whether my server is the problem?
Yes. The diagnostics tool runs connectivity tests against WPML’s servers and lists the PHP extensions WPML needs, including SimpleXML. If a test fails or an extension is missing, you have a concrete lead to take to your host rather than a vague suspicion.
