Giving a translator access

The Translator role

WPGlotty adds the Translator role for freelancers, agencies or colleagues who correct translations. They can use the editor, but cannot access other dashboard screens or start whole-site runs. To limit languages, open their profile under Users, then WPGlotty, Languages, and tick those they may translate. Tick nothing to allow all. Anyone who can manage WPGlotty is never limited.

Create their account under Users → Add User and choose the Translator role. That is all it takes.

What they see

When translators sign in, they land on your site, not on the dashboard. The toolbar shows Translate this page and a link to their own account, where they can sign out.

They browse your site and click Translate this page to open the editor wherever wording needs work. Closing the editor returns them to the page they were viewing.

• Correct translations in all languages or only those you allow
• Set the image a language uses, and its alt text
• Edit the title and description a page shows in search, per language
• Ask for a machine translation of a line that has none

What they cannot reach

If a translator opens any admin address other than the editor, WPGlotty redirects them to your site. This includes the dashboard, posts list and screens added by WPGlotty or other plugins. So they see your site, not an error page.

Translators cannot open WPGlotty’s Settings, Languages, Licence, Strings, Glossary or Translation status screens. They also cannot use the actions behind those screens. This prevents them from starting a whole-site run, emptying the queue or changing the glossary that guides other translations. These actions can spend money or change other people’s work, so they stay with you.

The source text stays yours

Translators can edit translations, but not the original text. In the search preview, they can see the source language field but cannot change it. A message tells them why. Editing that field would change the original page, which the Translator role does not allow.

This applies throughout the editor. Translators can give German its own title, description and picture, for example, without changing the source language’s content.

Translators can upload images

Translators can open the media library and upload images. They need this access to choose a different picture for a language. Without it, the image selection button could not work.

Give this role only to someone you trust with your images. Translators cannot delete other people’s posts or pages. They can open the media picker inside the editor, but cannot access the media screen in the WordPress dashboard.

Removing translator access

Change the user’s role or delete their account, as you would for any other WordPress user. Deactivating WPGlotty keeps the role, so an update does not lock them out.

Uninstalling WPGlotty removes the Translator role. Users who still have it become subscribers, so their accounts still have a valid role.

Advanced: your own role

WPGlotty checks capabilities, not the role’s name, to decide who gets the translator view. That view goes to anyone who can translate but cannot open the plugin’s screens. You can create a role with those capabilities using any role editor, and WPGlotty will treat it the same way.

Editors keep access to the translation editor and plugin screens, but not spending settings. The Translator role sits below the Editor role; it does not replace it.

// May correct translations, in the editor and nowhere else.
'wpglotty_translate' => true,

// May also open Strings, the glossary and the queue,
// and the actions behind them.
'wpglotty_browse'    => true,

// May change settings, languages, exclusions and the licence.
'wpglotty_manage'    => true,