WPML Logs – The Six Read-Only Logs Under WPML > Support
The middle tier on WPML > Support is six read-only logs. They can’t change anything (they show what WPML has been doing), so they’re safe to open and inspect freely. Use them to confirm what’s actually happening when a symptom is hard to reproduce or hard to explain. Once a log points at a fix, the Safe-tier troubleshooting tools are usually where you act on what you found – and for tickets, attach the relevant log via Sharing debug information with support.
When to Reach for Which Log
| Symptom | Log |
|---|---|
| Translation jobs failing or stalling at the service | Communication log |
| Errors inside the Advanced Translation Editor | Advanced Translation Editor error logs |
| A specific translation job behaving unexpectedly | Translation management job logs |
| License or update issues from WPML’s installer | Installer log |
A theme or plugin’s wpml-config.xml not being read or applied | Remote XML config log |
| WooCommerce Multilingual state confirmation | WCML configuration log |
All six are on the WPML > Support page under the Logs – read only heading.
Communication Log
What it is: every API call between your site and the translation services (ATE, PTC, and the legacy engines), with timestamps, request payloads, and server responses.
When to read it:
- A translation isn’t reaching the service.
- A translation completes on the service side but isn’t coming back to your site.
- You want to see how long individual API calls are taking. Useful for performance triage.
Controls on the page: Clear log wipes the existing entries; Disable logging stops new entries from being recorded. Logging is usually on by default; turn it off only if it’s filling up storage on a high-volume site.
Advanced Translation Editor Error Logs
What it is: server-side errors the Advanced Translation Editor has encountered. ATE runs partly in the cloud, so its errors don’t appear in WordPress’s debug.log. They’re collected here.
When to read it: anything weird inside ATE that you’d describe as “it threw an error” or “the editor refused to load this job”.
Pair this log with a debug log (WP_DEBUG) when reporting ATE issues to Support. The two together give the full picture.
Translation Management Job Logs
What it is: the lifecycle of each translation job WPML has handled. The stages: created, sent, accepted by translator/service, completed, returned, marked complete on the site.
When to read it:
- A job is “stuck” and you want to see exactly which lifecycle step it’s stuck at.
- A job vanished and you want to confirm what happened to it.
- You’re auditing translator activity.
Controls: Download last action log exports a recent slice of the log as a file (useful for attaching to support questions); Clear logs wipes existing entries.
Installer Log
What it is: a record of every licensing and subscription-update call WPML’s installer has made. It covers checks against your WPML account, plugin downloads, and license-data refreshes.
When to read it: license renewals not reflected, plugin downloads failing, the Check for updates button doing nothing.
Remote XML Config Log
What it is: every wpml-config.xml WPML has read on this site, from themes, plugins, and the in-admin Custom XML Configuration editor.
When to read it:
- You added a
wpml-config.xmlto a plugin you’re developing and want to confirm WPML found it. - You wrote a custom
wpml-config.xmlblock in WPML > Settings > Custom XML Configuration and the new translation behavior isn’t appearing. The log shows whether WPML applied your block or not. - A theme or plugin you expected to ship a
wpml-config.xmldoesn’t appear in the log. That means it isn’t actually shipping one.
For background on wpml-config.xml itself, see Compatibility – Custom wpml-config.xml.
WCML Configuration Log
What it is (WooCommerce sites only): a read-only snapshot of the WooCommerce Multilingual configuration, covering multicurrency setup, store-page mappings, attribute configuration, and integration-plugin state.
When to read it: when WPML Support asks for the WCML state. Copy the dump and paste it into your support question.