Configure WPML Translator Workflows – Roles, Notifications, CAT Tools, External Services

The Default Workflow – Translating in WPML

The recommended and most common way translators work is inside WPML’s Advanced Translation Editor (ATE). Translators log into WordPress, open their Translation Tasks tab, click Translate on a row, and translate side-by-side in the browser. Everything that makes ATE the right editor (automatic translation, glossary, translation memory, safe HTML editing) is covered on Translation editor and behavior.

For most teams, that’s the entire workflow. This page exists to set up the team that does it.

Where the Team-Setup Settings Live

Open WPML > Settings > Translators.

Local Translators

Local translators are users on your WordPress site who translate the site’s content. They’re regular WordPress users with the Translator role.

In the Local translators card:

• + Add a Translator. WPML lists your existing WordPress users (or lets you create a new account). Pick the user, then assign the language pairs they handle: English > French, English > Spanish. Without a language pair, a translator can’t be assigned the corresponding jobs.
• The card lists every translator the site has, with the languages each one covers, plus per-row edit and delete actions.

If you don’t have translators yet and want to hire one, the page links to WPML’s Hire an experienced translator directory as a starting point.

For the translator’s-eye-view of what working inside WPML looks like (what they see when they log in, the Translate / Resign / View actions, the CAT-tool path), see For translators.

Translation Managers

The Translation Manager role is a step up from Translator. Translation Managers can:

• Add and remove local translators and external translation services.
• Create and assign translation jobs from the Dashboard.
• Review completed translations.
• Change translation-related settings.

What they can’t do is administer the rest of WordPress. They don’t get full admin privileges. For sites with a team that includes a dedicated translation coordinator, the Translation Manager role lets the coordinator handle the translation workflow without granting full admin access. The coordinator’s monitoring view of in-flight work is the Translation Jobs tab.

All Administrators are automatically Translation Managers. You don’t need to explicitly add admins on the Translation Managers card; they’re already there. The card is for adding non-admin users who should oversee translation work.

Notifications

Two halves on the Notifications card.

Emails to Translators

• Notify translators when new jobs are waiting for them. On by default. WPML emails the translator when a job lands in their queue.
• Limit number of jobs included in the email. For sites that send many small jobs in quick succession, optionally cap how many appear in each notification email.
• Include XLIFF files in the notification emails. This is the toggle that enables the CAT-tool path described below. Off by default.
• Notify translators when jobs are removed from their queue. When you reassign or cancel a job, the original translator gets an email.

Emails to the Translation Manager

• Notify the translation manager when jobs are completed. Immediately or as a digest.
• Notify the translation manager when jobs are late by N days. Pick the lateness threshold.

CAT Tools – The XLIFF Path

For translators who prefer to work in a desktop CAT tool (memoQ, Trados, OmegaT, MetaTexis, or anything that handles the XLIFF standard), WPML can hand off jobs as XLIFF files instead of opening them in ATE.

This is a specialised path. Most teams translate inside ATE; CAT tools are for translators who already have an established CAT-tool workflow and don’t want to switch to the browser-based editor. WPML supports it, but doesn’t recommend it as the default route.

The setup, done once by an admin:

1. In Notifications > Emails to translators, enable Include XLIFF files in the notification emails and save.

That’s the whole setup. From then on:

1. Admin assigns a job from the Translation Dashboard, picking the translator who works in a CAT tool.
2. The translator receives a notification email with the source content packaged as XLIFF (a single file or a ZIP, depending on the job size).
3. The translator opens the XLIFF in their CAT tool, translates, and saves the result.
4. The translator clicks the return URL in the notification email and uploads the translated XLIFF. They can upload individual files or zip multiple jobs together.
5. WPML imports the translation, applies it to the site, and emails the translator when it’s done.

XLIFF file options are configured at the same Settings > Translators page, including the XLIFF version (1.2 / 2.0) and which elements to include. Different CAT tools have different XLIFF version preferences; 1.2 is the most broadly compatible.

For the memoQ-specific tutorial with screenshots of the import-export flow, see Translating WordPress XLIFF files in memoQ.

Translators can also export XLIFF directly from the Translation Tasks tab without waiting for an email. See For translators for the alternative path.

External Translation Services

When the work goes to a professional translation agency rather than your own translators, WPML can connect to over 70 external translation services directly.

The Translation Services card on the Settings page is collapsed by default. Open it to pick a service from WPML’s list, authenticate with the service’s API credentials, and assign jobs from the Dashboard’s Assign a translation service method.

The Translation pickup mode decides how WPML retrieves completed translations:

• Automatic. WPML polls the service periodically and imports translations as they complete.
• Manual. You click Check status and get translations from the Dashboard when you want to retrieve.

Like the CAT-tool path, external translation services are a specialised option. Most sites translate with their own team or with PTC. Services exist for sites that want the work done by a vetted agency.

Two outbound references for clients comparing services:

• The Translation Services Directory – 70+ services that integrate with WPML, with reviews and ratings.
• Translation Management Systems integrated with WPML – TMS platforms (Crowdin, Lokalise, GlobalLink, others) for enterprise translation workflows.