Troubleshoot taxonomy translations

Start with one known term, one target locale, and the generated archive link. Separate missing source extraction, missing translation, and routing failures before changing settings.

Record a reproducible case

Note the term ID, taxonomy slug, requested locale, source address, generated destination address, and the component that exposed the problem. Retest in a private browser window so an editor session or language cookie does not obscure the visitor result.

The term does not appear in Translate contents

Check in this order:

1. An additional language exists.
2. The term still exists in WordPress.
3. Its taxonomy is category, post_tag, or enabled under Settings → POM Translate → Content types.
4. The term was saved after the taxonomy became eligible.
5. All objects is set to Term.
6. Object ID, Taxonomy (terms only), Search strings, and the status filter are not hiding it.
7. The term is not globally excluded from translation.

An empty source description correctly produces no description row.

Source text appears on the target archive

Confirm the requested URL resolved to the intended locale. Then inspect the name and description independently. A blank target value falls back to the source text. A per-locale term exclusion also leaves that term in its source wording.

Save the missing value under Translate contents and confirm Translations updated. If the source term was recently edited, review Update translations after changing a term.

The slug editor cannot find or load the term

Choose Term, search by the current source name, and ensure the owning taxonomy is still registered. If No base slug is stored for this object yet appears, save the term in WordPress and load it again.

For custom taxonomies, keep the theme or plugin that registers the taxonomy active while editing its terms.

Saving a slug reports a conflict

The normalized slug is already assigned to another stored post or term in that locale. Select a distinct slug; changing capitalization or adding spaces may normalize to the same value.

The archive returns 404 or has the wrong hierarchy

• Follow a generated WordPress term link instead of typing the path.
• Verify the language prefix and taxonomy base.
• For hierarchical terms, check every ancestor slug.
• Confirm the term still has the expected parent.
• Resave permalink settings only when rewrite configuration itself changed.
• Clear the relevant application or edge cache after confirming the stored values.

Use Understand term archive URLs to identify the failing segment.