Once you have configured AutoTranslate, MultilingualPress offers several ways to automatically translate your content. This guide outlines the primary methods to use the AutoTranslate feature effectively.
Table of Contents
1. Translating a New Site (Bulk Translation During Site Creation)
When you add a new site to your multisite network and relate it to an existing source site, you can automatically translate all connected content from the source site.
- Process: When using the “Add New Site” feature from the WordPress Dashboard (in multisite setups, it can be found under Network Admin > Sites > Add New), you’ll need to configure the MultilingualPress settings for that site. Check the Relationships box, select the related site, and enable the Connect Content checkbox. Once Connect Content is enabled, translation options will become available.
- Translate Content Dropdown: Look for the “Translate Content” dropdown menu. Here, you can select your preferred (and configured) translation provider (e.g., DeepL, OpenAI, Amazon Translate).
- Batch Translation: MultilingualPress registers a cron task (background process) to batch translate all eligible posts and terms from the source site to the new site.
- Status Message: During this process, posts on the new site awaiting translation may display a status message like: “This post is scheduled for an automatic translation from the following source post…”
2. Translating Individual Content (via Translation Metabox)
For existing content or when you want to translate specific posts, pages, or custom post types individually, you can use the options within the MultilingualPress translation metabox on the post edit screen.
- Accessing Options: When editing a post that is connected to translations in other languages, the MultilingualPress metabox provides several tabs.
- Automatic Translation Checkboxes:
- In the “Title and Content” tab (or a similarly named tab responsible for the main post elements), you will find new checkboxes to automatically translate the post title and the post content when the source content is copied or updated.
- In the “Excerpt” tab, an additional checkbox allows you to automatically translate the post excerpt.
- Automatic Translation Tab: The metabox also includes a new “Automatic Translation” tab. In this tab, you can select the translation provider you wish to use for translating this specific piece of content.
3. Translating Comments
Currently, AutoTranslate features specifically designed for comments include individual comment translation triggers via MLP metabox, bulk actions for translating comments, or automatic translation upon submission. Please see the “Current Limitations and Future Enhancements” section below and our Roadmap and Feedback page for more details.
4. What Can Be Translated (Currently Supported Entities)
MultilingualPress AutoTranslate currently supports the automatic translation of the following WordPress entities and fields:
Post Types
- Core Post Types (Posts, Pages)
- WooCommerce Products (basic fields – see limitations)
- Custom Post Types
Taxonomies
- Categories
- Tags
- Custom Taxonomies
Comments
- Translate a single comment
- Bulk-translate all connected comments from a source site
- Automatically translate new comments upon submission
Translatable Fields
- Post Title
- Post Content (including most core WordPress blocks)
- Post Slug (automatically generated from the translated title)
- Post Excerpt
- Term Name (for categories, tags, custom taxonomies)
- Term Slug (for categories, tags, custom taxonomies)
- Term Description (for categories, tags, custom taxonomies)
- Comment Text
5. Current Limitations and Future Enhancements
While AutoTranslate provides powerful capabilities, it’s important to be aware of current limitations and what’s planned for future releases:
WooCommerce Products
- Currently Supported: Basic product fields like Title, Main Description (post content), Excerpt, and Product Comments/Reviews.
- Planned for Future: Product Short Description, Attributes, Variations, Purchase Note.
Comments
- Bulk Translation: Translating comments in bulk currently could lead to a timeout if too many comments have been queued up. The reliability for large-scale comment translation is being improved for future releases.
Other Entities & Features
- Custom Fields (e.g., ACF): Enabling automatic translation of Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) and other custom field meta keys is under investigation for future releases.
- Media Library Meta Data: Translation of image titles, captions, descriptions, etc., is planned for future updates.
- Page Builder Support: Automatic translation of content built with page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi, etc., is not yet supported. This is a complex area under investigation.
- Convenience Features: We are exploring capabilities for (bulk) translating the current post(s) directly without necessarily requiring a pre-existing relationship with another post in the MLP translation metabox.
We are continuously working to expand the capabilities of AutoTranslate. For the latest information on planned features, please visit our Roadmap and User Feedback page.