WPML Advanced Tools – Support-Directed Only

Each of these tools requires a typed I understand confirmation before it runs. They’re documented here so you know what they are when Support directs you at one, not as a self-serve menu.

If you’re trying to fix a symptom, the right starting point is the Safe tier, not this page. Reading the Logs first often reveals which Advanced tool (if any) Support might end up directing you at, and walking through Before asking for support should precede any conversation about Tier 3 tools at all.

Synchronize With the Advanced Translation Editor

What it does: re-syncs your site’s local job IDs and translator/translation-manager assignments with the ATE server.

When Support uses it: after a botched migration or a state divergence where ATE thinks one set of jobs exists and your site thinks another set does. The sync establishes a single source of truth between them.

Database & Strings Maintenance

What it does: a collection of database-level maintenance actions. These cover optimizing WPML’s tables, cleaning up the strings tables, removing ghost entries from translation tables, regenerating compiled .mo files, removing language suffixes from taxonomy names, checking for string issues, fixing collation on the element_type field and on WPML tables generally, and repairing the tp_it field used by Translation Hub.

When Support uses it: when corruption or schema drift has gotten past the Safe tier. The collation fixes specifically help on sites that have been migrated across MySQL versions where utf8mb4 defaults changed.

Run only the specific sub-action Support points at. Running everything indiscriminately is what the warning is about.

Package Management

What it does: lists every string package – a bundle of strings another plugin hands to WPML so they can be translated (a Gravity Form’s field labels, a Gutenberg block’s preset text, a Toolset Types CPT’s admin labels, a page builder’s shortcode strings). Packages are created and kept in sync automatically by the plugins that own them. The advanced view lets you re-register or delete packages.

When Support uses it: when a specific string isn’t showing up for translation and Support is investigating where the package came from, or when an orphaned package was left behind after a plugin was uninstalled. Deleting the wrong package orphans its strings and removes translations from the forms, blocks, or templates that depended on it.

Content Type Linking

What it does: links custom post types and taxonomies that aren’t automatically discovered by WPML to its internal translation categories. Two sub-actions: Translatable custom posts linking and Translatable taxonomies linking.

When Support uses it: when a CPT or custom taxonomy has been registered in an unusual way and WPML hasn’t auto-detected it. Linking it manually adds it to the translation system.

WCML Translation Maintenance

What it does (WooCommerce sites only): repairs WCML-specific data integrity. Sub-actions cover fixing incorrect/missing translation links for product variations, fixing variation translation links, and cleaning up unused custom fields from product and variation translations.

When Support uses it: when product-variation translation state has corrupted. Typically after a botched migration of a WooCommerce site, or after a WCML upgrade that didn’t apply cleanly. The cleanup of unused custom fields is destructive (removed fields can’t be recovered without a backup), which is why it’s in the Advanced tier.

Usage Tracking and Reporting

What it does: an opt-in to send WPML performance and error reports back to WPML’s diagnostics infrastructure to help Support diagnose issues.

When Support uses it: when an intermittent issue is hard to reproduce on demand. Turning this on for a few days collects data Support can analyze. Turn it back off afterwards.

Reset WPML

The nuclear button. See Reset WPML for what it does and the safety gate around it.