Once you have successfully installed the Smartling Plugin to your WordPress instance and connected your WordPress instance to Smartling, it's time to configure the Expert Settings & WP Cron.
Expert Settings
In WordPress, go to Smartling > Settings > Show Expert Settings
Any updates made to these settings will change how content is handled during the translation process. Please consult your Customer Success Manager or Solutions Architect before making any changes.
| Field Settings | Options and Descriptions |
| Resubmit changed content | Automatically: The Connector resubmits content to Smartling whenever a change in original content is detected. Manually: You must resubmit original content when it changes. |
| Force sync attachment files on upload | Disabled: The connector synchronizes attachments from source to target sites only once when they are submitted the first time. This allows you to add localized images later and the connector will not override these manual changes. Enabled: Every time attachments are submitted to Smartling they will synchronize from source to target sites. This would work well when you want all images on the target site to be replaced, for example, if all icons have been redesigned. If you resubmit attachments with this option enabled, all target site icons will be overwritten. |
| Live notifications |
Disabled: Show no notifications. Enabled: Show notifications when downloading translations from the sidebar widget. |
| Auto Authorize | Checked (default): Strings are authorized for translation in Smartling automatically. Cleared: You must go to the Smartling dashboard and authorize strings for translation. When you manually authorize strings, authorize only for the locales list set up for submitting with the connector. Languages that are not on the locales list will not be tracked or retrieved. |
| Download Options: | |
| Retrieval Type | Pseudo: Smartling can provide pseudo translations, which is the original strings with extra characters added to increase the length by 30 percent (default). This emulates the increase in length that can occur when strings are translated, allowing you to test the expanded text before translation is completed. Published: Only completed translations will be retrieved. |
| Download translated files when | Translation Completed: Translations will be downloaded when they reach the Published step in a workflow. Progress Changes: Translations will be downloaded when the connector finds that a translation in a file has been added or changed |
| Change asset status on completed translation |
Change the asset status on completed translations. Options: Don’t change status: Post status is not affected when translations are downloaded.
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| Auto synchronize properties on translated page with source |
Disabled: Third-party plugins can add/remove properties for a page (these are stored in the
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| Treat Exclude fields by field name and Copy fields by field name as regex |
If set to RegExp, treat each line as a regular expression for exclude/copy fields by field name |
| Exclude fields by field name |
Fields listed will be excluded when the post is sent to Smartling for translation, and will not appear in the translations returned to WordPress. This is useful for elements that only need to exist on the source page, like post dates, comments, or comment counts. Example: |
| Copy fields by field name |
Fields listed here will be copied from the source to the target locale. No translation will take place. The translated content will be the same as the source content. Example: |
| Copy by field value |
Fields that match the regular expressions listed here will be copied from the source to the target locale. No translation will take place. The translated content will be the same as the source content. This allows you to capture multiple fields using expressions instead of entering every field name in the Copy fields by field name box. Examples: |
| SEO fields by field name | Field names listed here will be flagged as SEO (search engine optimization) terms in Smartling, identifying them with a special translation key so they can be translated appropriately. |
Adding Custom Smartling Directives
The Expert Setting Custom Directives allows you to specify file directives which should be applied when the content is uploaded to Smartling. File directives can determine how content is parsed. For example, they can be used to specify a custom placeholder format.
Click here for a list of all available directives.
To add custom directives, navigate to Smartling > Settings > Show Expert Settings in your WordPress instance, and fill in the Custom Directives text area by specifying all required directives, one directive per line. The connector will wrap each line from the text area into inline directives automatically.
Please note that invalid directives will break the processing of translatable content.
Configure WP Cron
The WordPress Connector uses WP-Cron to run regular tasks. See here for further information about hooking WP-Cron into the system task scheduler.
- Ensure that the domain name of your WordPress site is resolved on the server by pinging it when you’re logged in via ssh. for example:
ping mywordpressinstallation.com
If you get a response like "Could not resolve host: mywordpressinstallation.com", then you will need to add a record to your /etc/hosts file - To configure a Cron task, edit your crontab (using the appropriate user nginx\ www-data):
sudo -u nginx crontab -e - Add a line to the end of the file:
*/5 * * * * curl http://mywordpressinstallation.com/wp-cron.php > /dev/null 2>&1
OR*/5 * * * * wget -O - -q -t 1 http://mywordpressinstallation.com/wp-cron.php
This will run WordPress cron every 5 minutes. Remember to leave at least one blank line at the end of the file. - Edit your wp-config.php file and add the following line:
define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true)