How it works

Where the text comes from

The plugin reads the text straight from the database:

• products, variations, categories, tags and attributes;
• pages and posts;
• menus;
• the store settings (names of shipping and payment methods, payment instructions, and so on);
• one page of each theme template, to pick up the theme’s own texts (footer, header, buttons);
• and the page of each piece of content you save. That is where the text shows up that a page builder (Elementor, Breakdance, Oxygen, Bricks, Divi…), a custom field (ACF and others) or a custom product tab keeps outside the regular fields. It works the same with any builder: the plugin reads what the page shows, not each builder’s own data.

Where it goes

The text is sent to the PixelHunter translation API, which checks your license, counts the characters and translates. You do not need an API account or a key of your own: the plugin only talks to the PixelHunter translation API.

How it is served

Translations are stored in a dictionary compiled to a PHP file inside wp-content/uploads/. Serving a translated page makes no database query and no internet request.

In the source language the plugin does nothing: zero cost.

On a very heavy translated page (262 KB, 719 replacements) the measured cost is about 130 ms. With a page cache active, that cost only happens once per page and per language.

When it translates

Situation	What happens
You publish or save a product, page, post or category	Translated a few seconds after the last save, in the background — the text from a page builder included
A visitor opens a translated page with text the plugin has not read yet	The page is read in the background; the next visit sees it translated
Once a week	The whole site is checked again
After a theme or plugin update	The whole site is checked again
You click Translate the site	The whole site is read and whatever is missing is translated

The first four rows need automatic translation, which is on by default in Settings → How to translate. With it off, new content waits until you click Translate the site on the Dashboard.

Only new or changed text is sent. What is already translated never costs anything again.

Two saves in a row — a typo fixed right away — count as one: the page is read once, a few seconds after the last save. A sentence that comes back after being deleted is already translated, and is not paid for again.

Composite sentences

Sentences that combine a name with theme text — such as “Be the first to review ‘Summer Dress'” or “5 items” — are assembled from pieces that are already translated at the moment the page is served, instead of being translated one by one for every product. That saves about 60% of the strings.

Short texts in context

Buttons, menu items, headings and shipping methods are translated knowing where they appear, so Início in a menu becomes Home, not Start. Menus and buttons keep the capitalization of the original instead of English Title Case, and the translation knows your site’s name and tagline (Settings → General), instead of treating every site as a store. Translations into English (United States) come out American (sweater, pants), not British (jumper, trousers). None of this uses extra characters.

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The panel, tab by tab

At the top of every screen you see:

• the brand and the plugin version;
• the characters left on your license, with a bar;
• the plan and the sites in use (e.g. Pro · 3 of 5 sites);
• a shortcut to My account (your PixelHunter account).

The balance is refreshed every time you open the plugin and after every translation.

Dashboard

• Translate the site — reads the site and translates what is missing (without a license, the button becomes Get a license to translate).
• Import recording — only appears when there is a recording made with recording mode.
• The state of automatic translation (on or off).
• Notices: texts that failed, license or balance errors, pages that did not respond.
• Progress by language — a table per language:

Column	Meaning
Translated	Translated automatically
Reviewed	Reviewed by hand (never replaced by the machine again)
To translate	Waiting for translation
Failed	The service could not translate it — see Translations
Dictionary	Version of the compiled dictionary (e.g. v12) or not built

License

• The License key field and the Save button next to it.
• The plan cards, with each plan’s price, characters and sites, and the button to subscribe.
• See License, plans and updates.

Languages

• Source language — the language the site is written in.
• Target languages — each target language, with:
  • Prefix — the address prefix (2 to 10 characters: lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens). Two languages cannot share the same prefix.
  • Name in the switcher — how the language appears in the switcher (e.g. English, Español).
  • Status — Published or Draft. A draft is translated like the others, but only administrators can open it: it stays out of the switcher, the hreflang tags and the sitemap, and a visitor who opens its address goes to the same page in the source language. A new language starts as a draft and goes live by itself when its translation is complete (Goes live by itself when the translation is complete); setting it to draft by hand turns that off. Publishing or unpublishing clears the page cache, because every page lists the languages.
  • Preview — opens the language on the site, to review it before publishing.
  • The button to remove the language.
• The language list shows the most used languages first and then all of them.

Warning: changing the source language after there are translations does not rewrite them — the stored strings remain those of the old language.

Strings

The table of every sentence on the site, with the translation next to it. See Translations.

Addresses

The translated address of every page, language by language. Pick a language, search by page title or address, and type a new address in the field: it saves when you leave the field, and the old address redirects (301) to the new one. An address another page already uses, one the site needs for something else, or one made only of numbers is refused, with the reason under the field. With Translated addresses off in Settings, the tab only points there. See Translated addresses.

Switcher

Where the language switcher appears, with which shape and which colours. See Language switcher and The language suggestion bar.

Settings

• Automatic translation
  • On (default) — new and edited content is translated in the background.
  • Off — translation only happens when you click Translate the site.
• Translated addresses — on by default for new installs; a site that updates keeps its addresses until you turn it on. Existing addresses keep working either way: they redirect (301) to the current ones. Each one can be changed in the Addresses tab.
  • On — addresses use the translated words (/en/linen-blouse/).
  • Off — only the language prefix changes (/en/blusa-de-linho/).
• Glossary — one rule per line, for brands, product names and terms that must always come out the same. Example:

acme = acme (brand name, do not translate)
portes = shipping

• Brand tone — one or two sentences about the brand’s tone, sent with every translation request. Example: “Warm and simple, no formalities. Speak directly to the customer.”

• Per language — one row per target language:
  • Formal or informal — how visitors are addressed: Formal (Sie) or Informal (du) in German, vous or tu in French, usted or tú in Spanish. Every translation in that language uses it. On Automatic (the default) nothing is fixed, and the same page can mix both. English has no such choice: it only has “you”.
  • Glossary for this language — fixed translations that only fit that language, for example portes = Versandkosten for German. They are added to the glossary for all languages, and win when the two say different things.

The glossary, the tone and the per-language choices only affect translations made after you save them. What is already translated is fixed in Strings.

Help

A summary of the license: how it works, plans, sites, balance, cancellation, invoices and support.