Quick Start

This guide walks you through the complete workflow from installation to viewing your first translated page. Each step includes a callout explaining what to check if something does not work as expected.

If you have not installed Omnalingo yet, start with the Installation guide.

---

1. Install and activate Omnalingo

   Upload the plugin via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, select omnalingo.zip, and click Install Now. Then click Activate Plugin.

   After activation, WordPress redirects you to the Omnalingo settings page and a new Omnalingo menu item appears in the sidebar.

   If this step goes wrong

   If the redirect doesn’t happen, navigate to Omnalingo → Settings manually — the plugin still activated correctly. If the Omnalingo menu item is missing from the sidebar, try deactivating and reactivating the plugin.

2. Add a target language and enter your API key

   Go to Omnalingo → Settings → Languages and add the language you want to translate into.

   Then go to Omnalingo → Settings → License and click Generate Free Key — no account or credit card required. If you already have a key, paste it in and click Save.

   If this step goes wrong

   If the language does not save, check that your WordPress database user has permission to create tables — Omnalingo creates a new table for each target language. If API key validation fails with a network error (rather than “invalid key”), your server may not be able to make outbound HTTPS requests; this is a server configuration issue.

3. Gather your content

   Go to Omnalingo → Dashboard and click Gather Content.

   Omnalingo will scan your WordPress site’s structure and build a list of every URL that should be translated — pages, posts, products, taxonomy archives, and more. Keep the browser tab open while this runs. Progress is shown on the dashboard.

   A small site (a few hundred pages) typically finishes in seconds. A large WooCommerce store with thousands of products may take a few minutes.

   If this step goes wrong

   If progress appears to stop, make sure the dashboard tab is still open and active — gathering pauses if you close or navigate away from the tab. Click Gather Content again to resume. If specific content types are missing from the results, go to Omnalingo → Settings → General and verify those content types are enabled.

4. Scan your pages

   Once gathering is complete, click Scan Content on the dashboard.

   Omnalingo opens each URL in your content list and reads all the text a visitor would see: headings, body text, buttons, menu items, form labels, theme strings, and plugin strings. Keep the browser tab open while scanning runs.

   When scanning finishes, the dashboard shows you a word count — the total number of words that need to be translated.

   If this step goes wrong

   If scanning gets stuck on a specific URL, that page may have returned an error. Check the URL directly in your browser to confirm it loads correctly. If you are on a staging environment with HTTP password protection (.htpasswd), scanning will fail because Omnalingo cannot access the pages — temporarily remove the HTTP password protection, or ask your host about whitelisting internal requests.

5. Run your first translation

   You have two options:

   Translate everything at once (recommended for a first run): Go to Omnalingo → Bulk Translation, select your target language and the content types to translate, then click Start Translation. Keep the tab open while translation runs. Omnalingo sends your strings to the AI translation service and stores the results as they come back.

   Translate a single page first: In the content list on the dashboard, find a page and click Translate. This opens the visual editor where you can see the page, review each string, and accept, edit, or re-translate individual strings.

   If this step goes wrong

   If bulk translation shows a warning about partial results, some string batches failed but successful ones were saved — click Start Translation again to pick up where it left off. If no translation happens at all, confirm your API key is valid under Omnalingo → Settings → License. On the Free plan, also check that you have not exhausted the 2,000-word AI quota — if you have, you can still translate manually or upgrade to Pro for a language pack.

6. View your translated page

   Open your site in a browser and add your language prefix to any URL:

   • French: https://yoursite.com/fr/
   • German: https://yoursite.com/de/
   • Spanish: https://yoursite.com/es/

   You should see your page with all translated strings in place. A language switcher widget also lets visitors switch between languages.

   If this step goes wrong

   If the translated URL returns a 404 error, go to Settings → Permalinks in your WordPress admin and click Save Changes — this refreshes the URL rules that make language prefixes work. If the page loads but some text still appears in the original language, those strings were either not scanned or not yet translated. Run scan and translation again for that page.

---

What Comes Next

Now that you have a working translation, here are a few things worth setting up:

• Glossary (Pro plan required) — Define brand names or terms that should never be translated, or specify an exact translation for a key phrase. Go to Omnalingo → Glossary.
• AI context (Pro plan required) — Tell the AI about your business, tone of voice, and target audience so translations sound more natural. Go to Omnalingo → Settings → AI Context.
• Keep translations up to date — When you update a page, run scan and translation again to pick up the changes.