Tour the translation editor

Open Translations → Translate contents to edit extracted content strings. Administrators and editors receive the translation-management capability when POM Translate is activated.

The screen edits one target locale at a time. The main language is shown in the source column and is not a translation target.

Start from a content editor

For an enabled post type, the classic and block editors display a summary for each additional locale. Each row can show:

• the locale label and flag;
• a translated percentage;
• translated and missing string counts;
• counts grouped as Reviewed, Human, Machine, and Pending;
• Translate with AI when machine translation is available and rows are missing;
• Manage translations.

Select Manage translations to open the central table in a new tab, already scoped to the current object and locale. The percentage counts non-empty post and configured meta translations; it does not measure linguistic approval.

Read the table

The columns are:

The context identifies rows such as Post title, Post content, Shortcode attribute, Shortcode inner content, or Field: _meta_key. Use it before translating short text whose meaning is ambiguous.

Narrow the result set

The toolbar provides:

• Search strings;
• All statuses, or a specific status;
• All objects, Post, Term, or Nav menu;
• Object ID;
• Taxonomy (terms only).

Filters change which rows are displayed; they do not modify translations. The screen normally shows up to 100 rows per page unless the user changes the screen option. Save the current page before navigating away.

Edit and save

1. Select the target locale above the table.
2. Filter by object or use the link from its WordPress editor.
3. Compare Original Text with its Context.
4. Enter the translation in the corresponding textarea.
5. preserve every required placeholder token exactly;
6. choose Save translations.

POM Translate sanitizes the submitted HTML. A changed non-empty manual value is saved as Human; an empty value is saved as Pending. Unchanged fields are skipped.

If a protected placeholder is missing, duplicated, reordered invalidly, or otherwise incompatible, that row is not saved and the screen reports the string-specific problem. Correct the tokens rather than removing them from the source.

Use bulk actions deliberately

Select rows to:

• Mark as Pending;
• Mark as Machine;
• Mark as Human;
• Mark as Reviewed;
• Delete selected translations.

Changing a status does not rewrite the translated text. Deleting affects only the selected rows in the current locale and makes them fall back to their source values.

Mark Reviewed only after checking the public result. The table permits status changes as an editorial tool; it cannot determine linguistic quality automatically.

Understand temporary locking

While a background machine-translation queue is actively processing, Save translations can be disabled and a notice asks you to wait. This prevents simultaneous manual and background writes to the same translation set.

Refresh after processing finishes. Failed or paused background work does not keep the editor permanently locked.

What this editor does not control

Translate contents does not:

• publish or unpublish the WordPress object;
• create a translated duplicate;
• edit localized post or term slugs;
• change the configured post-type fields;
• provide a separate unsaved translation draft;
• translate software catalogs or WooCommerce email templates.

Use Translations → Translate URLs for slugs and the other tabs under Translations for their named content families.

Verify after saving

Confirm the Translations updated. notice appears, reload the filtered table, and inspect the target-language public route. Check both the edited row and surrounding structure because several strings can be assembled into one content block.

Continue with Understand translation status.