Advanced Custom Fields Multilingual (ACF Multilingual)

Overview

ACF makes it easy to manage custom field values across a multilingual WordPress site. Since most multilingual plugins create a separate post for each translation, ACF integrates seamlessly without requiring complex workarounds. This guide provides best practices for setting up ACF on a multilingual site.

WPML Integration

The WPML plugin works smoothly with ACF. Follow these recommendations to ensure your multilingual site runs efficiently:

1. Enable Field Group Translation

• Before creating a field group, enable translation for the Field Groups post type via WPML → Translation Management.

• The “Fields” option is hidden in newer versions of ACF. Leave it as “Do nothing” to avoid conflicts when loading fields.

2. Translate Field Groups

• Each language requires its own version of the field group.

• Create your field group in the default language, then use the Duplicate tool to copy it for other languages.

• Edit the field labels and settings as needed, but keep the field names identical across translations, since ACF relies on field names to store data.

3. Editing a Post

• When editing a post, only the field groups for the current language are loaded.

• Use the Duplicate tool to create a translated post, but click “Translate Independently” to prevent changes in the original post from affecting translated custom fields.

4. Prevent Data Loss

• WPML shows a metabox with options to Translate or Copy field data.

  • Copy: Copies the original post’s values to the translated post. This replaces existing values in the translation, so use carefully.

  • Translate: Allows ACF to store unique values for each language without overwriting.

• Avoid copying underscore-prefixed fields (e.g., _image), as these are system fields. Leave them set to Translate to maintain proper functionality.