Getting started
Importing your TranslatePress translations
Import your translations and settings from TranslatePress into WPGlotty. The wizard leaves TranslatePress and its data unchanged.
What the import does
If you already use TranslatePress, you do not need to translate your site again. WPGlotty reads its tables and imports the translations into its own tables in one run.
The import covers page text, theme and plugin strings, translated addresses where you have them, exclusions and your glossary. It also copies the language of each WooCommerce order and account. You will only have translated addresses if you used TranslatePress’s paid SEO add-on.
Start under WPGlotty → Import. The wizard has four steps: what happens, what to bring over, the import itself and what to do afterwards.
The import never deletes existing WPGlotty translations. It also keeps any translations you have already written yourself.
The import leaves TranslatePress alone
The import only reads TranslatePress’s tables. It does not write or delete any TranslatePress data, and leaves its settings unchanged.
Your site can keep using TranslatePress while you check the imported translations in WPGlotty. Visitors see no change until you deactivate TranslatePress and enable your WPGlotty languages.
Before you start
- TranslatePress can stay switched on. It may also be switched off: the import reads its tables, and those stay in your database until the plugin is deleted.
- Take a backup before you start. The import only writes to WPGlotty, but a backup is a sensible precaution.
- You do not need to set up your WPGlotty languages first. The wizard can create them with the same URLs that TranslatePress used.
- The import needs neither a licence nor a provider. Afterwards, you need a licence to translate missing text, plus credits or your own key for automatic translation.
Match languages between the plugins
The second step lists each language with TranslatePress translations, its string count and how many strings were translated by hand. Beside each one, choose the WPGlotty language to import it into.
WPGlotty suggests a match using the URL first, then the language code, to distinguish languages such as pt_BR and pt_PT. Check each suggestion. An incorrect match could import European Portuguese translations into Brazilian Portuguese.
Choose “Do not import” to skip a language. Its translations remain in TranslatePress either way.
You cannot select your site’s source language as an import target. This prevents imported translations, such as British English on an English site, from replacing your originals.
Set up languages during the import
The wizard adds any missing TranslatePress languages with the same URLs before importing strings. It leaves languages you already have unchanged. Keeping the same addresses protects your search rankings, which changed URLs can hurt.
New languages start switched off. For automatic handover, tick “When the import finishes, switch the languages on and switch TranslatePress off”. Leave it unticked to check translations before visitors see any changes.
If existing WPGlotty translations use a different source language, the wizard leaves your languages alone and tells you why. Set them up by hand instead, so stored translations do not end up under the wrong language.
What to bring over
Everything is ticked by default except switching the languages on. Untick anything you would rather do yourself; you can run the import again later for the parts you skipped.
- Page text: everything TranslatePress collected from your pages.
- Theme and plugin strings: gettext translations matched to the corresponding strings in WPGlotty.
- TranslatePress translation blocks, split into individual sentences to match how WPGlotty stores text.
- Translated addresses, including the ones older TranslatePress versions kept in post meta.
- Short translations reused for titles, alt text and meta tags, so you do not pay to translate the same phrase again.
- TranslatePress’s do-not-translate rules, glossary and language switcher settings.
- The language of each WooCommerce order and account, so customers keep receiving e-mails in the correct language.
The dry run
A dry run reads the data without writing anything. It shows the same results table as a real import, so you can see what would come over before anything changes.
Use it to check for incorrect language matches or addresses that cannot be matched to content on your site.
When the dry run finishes, the wizard offers to start the real import. Nothing has changed yet, so the real import still includes everything you selected.
Track import progress
The progress bar shows how many rows the import has read out of the total. The line underneath shows what it is reading now and how far it has got.
The table updates during the import. “Read” counts rows read from TranslatePress; “Written” counts rows stored in WPGlotty. “Also written” counts sentences from translation blocks and extra spellings stored alongside short strings. “Unchanged or skipped” counts rows that needed no changes or could not be written.
Leave the page open during the import. If you leave, it pauses. Open the Import screen again to resume from where it stopped.
A second import on the same site is much faster and usually reports almost everything as unchanged. This is expected: it only writes changes.
What stayed behind, and why
The wizard lists anything it could not import, with counts and examples. Read through them to see whether anything needs doing.
Most skipped rows need no action. “You had already written your own translation” means WPGlotty kept your work. “WPGlotty already had exactly this” means the translation already matched.
Two cases need attention. The first is an unmatched address: check whether the page was deleted or moved. The second is TranslatePress’s option to translate only a list of addresses you chose. WPGlotty uses exclusions instead, so set that restriction up by hand under WPGlotty → Exclusions.
Handing the site over, step by step
After the import, your translations are stored in WPGlotty. If you kept the imported languages switched off, TranslatePress is still serving your site’s translations. WPGlotty shows nothing yet, so visitors see no change.
The plugins cannot both serve translations at once. Follow the handover steps in order, and deactivate TranslatePress before enabling languages in WPGlotty.
- Check the imported translations. Open WPGlotty → Strings, choose a language and read a few entries. Keep the imported languages switched off while you review them.
- Replace the TranslatePress switcher with WPGlotty’s switcher before deactivating TranslatePress. The new switcher stays empty until you enable languages in step 3.
- Deactivate TranslatePress first, under Plugins or with the Switch TranslatePress off button on WPGlotty → Languages. Then switch your languages on there.
- Keep TranslatePress deactivated under Plugins rather than deleting it. Its translations stay in your database in case you need to switch back.
- Empty your page cache, and your CDN if you have one.
- Check your site in every language, starting with menus, the footer and checkout. Translate any missing text in the editor, or use automatic translation under WPGlotty → Translation status.
- Give the site a few weeks of normal use first. If nothing is missing, delete TranslatePress, or leave it deactivated to keep its translations.
WPGlotty blocks languages from going live while TranslatePress is active, so step 3 deactivates it first. The Languages screen has a Switch TranslatePress off button for this.
Replacing the language switcher
The TranslatePress switcher disappears when you deactivate the plugin. Add WPGlotty’s switcher in its place before you deactivate TranslatePress.
The wizard recognises your page builder and tells you where to find the switcher element. In every builder, it is called “WPGlotty Language switcher”.
Elsewhere, paste the shortcode [wpglotty_switcher] where you want the switcher. Set shared defaults under WPGlotty → Settings → Switcher to keep switchers consistent. You can adjust individual switchers where needed.
The import copies TranslatePress’s switcher settings, so your new switcher starts with the same style, flags and position.
Switching the languages on
WPGlotty does not serve switched-off languages or include them in its switcher or sitemap. This lets you import translations on a live site without changing what visitors see.
Deactivate TranslatePress first. Then switch on each imported language under WPGlotty → Languages. WPGlotty starts serving the translated URLs as soon as you enable the languages.
Finally, clear your page cache and your CDN. Cached pages from the old set-up can prevent visitors from seeing your imported translations.
Deactivate TranslatePress, and delete it only if you want to
You must deactivate TranslatePress before enabling languages in WPGlotty. The two plugins cannot serve translations on the same site at the same time.
Deleting TranslatePress is optional. While it is deactivated, its translations stay in your database. You can run the import again if you find anything missing.
Before deleting TranslatePress, allow a few weeks of normal site use to check for missing content. Deleting it removes its tables and any data WPGlotty could still import, so you cannot import again afterwards.
Running the import again
You can repeat the import while TranslatePress remains installed. A second run writes only changes, so it is much faster than the first. It usually reports almost everything as unchanged.
Repeated imports keep your work. They never overwrite a translation you have written or approved yourself.
You only need to repeat the import if something is missing or you skipped some content the first time. You may also need another run if TranslatePress created more translations before you switched over.
The Import screen saves the last run. You can review its results, run the import again or clear the saved run and start afresh.
Two things that do not come over
Finish any missing translations in the editor, or use automatic translation under WPGlotty → Translation status.
- Rules that show a menu item only in certain languages. WPGlotty cannot import these, so set them up again by hand.
- Rules that hide individual builder elements by language. You need to set these up again by hand too.