Scanning
Scanning is the second step in the Omnalingo workflow. After content gathering has built the list of URLs to translate, scanning opens each of those URLs and reads all the text on the page.
Why Scanning Is Necessary
Section titled “Why Scanning Is Necessary”Omnalingo needs to see the fully rendered page — not just the raw content stored in the database. A WordPress page can contain text from many sources: the content you typed in the editor, text injected by your theme, strings from plugins like WooCommerce, shortcode output, widget content, and more. The only reliable way to find all of it is to open the page as a visitor would and read what appears.
Scanning captures all of that text and saves it as a list of “strings” — individual pieces of translatable content. Those strings are what Omnalingo translates in the next step.
How to Run a Scan
Section titled “How to Run a Scan”- Go to Omnalingo → Dashboard.
- Click Scan Content.
- Keep the browser tab open while scanning runs.
The dashboard shows a progress bar indicating how many URLs have been scanned out of the total. Scanning only advances while the Omnalingo dashboard tab is open. If you close the tab, scanning stops entirely. Reopen the dashboard to resume — progress is not lost. You can also click Cancel at any time to stop the scan; no data is lost when you do.
Word Count
Section titled “Word Count”When scanning finishes, the dashboard displays the total number of words found across all scanned pages. On the Free plan, this tells you how much of your 2,000-word AI quota a translation run will use. On Pro, word counts are informational — there is no per-word billing.
Because identical text appearing on multiple pages is stored only once, the word count reflects your site’s unique vocabulary rather than the raw total words across all pages.
What Types of Strings Are Found
Section titled “What Types of Strings Are Found”| String type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Page content | Headings, paragraphs, list items, table cells |
| Theme strings | Navigation labels, sidebar headings, footer text |
| Plugin strings | ”Add to cart”, “Search”, form placeholders, checkout messages |
| Image attributes | Alt text, title attributes |
| Dynamic patterns | Text that contains numbers or variable values (see Patterns) |
If Scanning Gets Stuck
Section titled “If Scanning Gets Stuck”Scanning stops entirely when the tab is closed. There is no background fallback — scanning only runs while the dashboard tab is open. Return to the dashboard and click Scan Content to resume; progress is not lost.
A specific URL may have an error. The content list on the dashboard marks failed URLs with an error status. Click on the URL to open it in a new tab and check that it loads correctly. Common causes are pages that redirect, require a login to view, or return a server error.
HTTP password protection blocks scanning. If your site is protected with HTTP authentication (common on staging environments), Omnalingo cannot open the pages to scan them. Temporarily remove the HTTP password protection, or ask your host about whitelisting requests that come from the same server.
JavaScript-rendered content is not captured. Omnalingo reads the page as the server delivers it. Text that is added to the page by JavaScript after it loads — such as content inside React or Vue widgets — is not visible to the scanner. That content needs to be handled separately.
Keeping Strings Up to Date
Section titled “Keeping Strings Up to Date”Omnalingo does not automatically re-scan when you edit a page. After updating content, run a fresh scan from the dashboard to pick up any new or changed strings, then translate again.
If strings on a translated page appear in the original language, that usually means those strings were added or changed after the last scan. Running scan and translation again for that page resolves it.