Linking an Already-Written Translation

Sometimes translations already exist on your site but are not connected to their originals through Lang Forge. This happens when you migrate from another multilingual plugin, when a team member creates a translated post manually instead of using the Create Translation button, or when you merge content from multiple WordPress installations into one. The Link Existing feature lets you manually connect these independent posts into a proper translation group so that Lang Forge treats them as related language versions.

Understanding when and how to link existing translations is especially important during a migration. If your site previously used a different multilingual plugin (like WPML, Polylang, or TranslatePress) and the translation links were not preserved during the switch, you may have dozens or hundreds of posts that need reconnecting.

When you would use this feature

• You imported content from another multilingual plugin and the translation relationships were not preserved
• A team member created a translated post using the standard “Add New” button instead of the Lang Forge “Create Translation” button
• You are migrating from a site where translations existed as separate, unlinked posts in different categories
• You merged content from two separate WordPress installations into one site
• You received translated content from a freelance translator who created the posts independently

Step-by-step: Linking two existing posts as translations

1. First, confirm that the post you want to link has the correct language assigned. Open it in the editor and check the Language metabox (sidebar in the Block Editor, side-column in the Classic Editor) — the language shown at the top should match the actual language of the content
2. The language dropdown in the metabox is a switcher, not a setter — changing it navigates to the existing translation post in that language. If a post is incorrectly assigned to the wrong language and has no other translations yet, fix it by re-saving the post with the right _lf_language post-meta (Tools → Quick Edit, or the WP-CLI command wp post meta update {id} _lf_language {code}). The metabox will reflect the new value on next reload
3. Now open the original post (the one in your default language) in the WordPress editor
4. In the Language & Translations metabox, find the row for the language you want to link
5. Click Link Existing next to that language
6. A search popup appears. Start typing the title of the translated post you want to link
7. Results appear as you type. Only posts that meet all three conditions are shown: they are set to the correct language, they are the correct post type (Page to Page, Post to Post), and they are not already linked to another translation group
8. Click the correct post to select it
9. The link is created immediately. Both posts are now part of the same translation group
10. Verify the link by checking that the metabox now shows a clickable link to the translation instead of “Create Translation” or “Link Existing”

Step-by-step: Unlinking a translation

If you linked the wrong post by mistake, you can undo the connection without affecting either post’s content:

1. Open either the original or the translation in the editor
2. In the Language & Translations metabox, find the linked post
3. Click the Unlink icon (a broken chain icon) next to it
4. Confirm the action in the dialog that appears
5. Both posts are now independent — they retain all their content but are no longer connected as translations

Real-world example: Migrating from another plugin

Imagine your company’s site was built with WPML and you are switching to Lang Forge. You have 50 English pages and 50 Spanish translations. After deactivating WPML and activating Lang Forge, the Spanish pages still exist in your database, but Lang Forge does not know they are translations of the English pages. You would go through each English page, click Link Existing for Spanish, search for the corresponding Spanish page, and connect them. For 50 pages, this takes about 30 minutes. After linking, the language switcher works correctly and visitors can switch between English and Spanish versions seamlessly.

If your site was built with TranslatePress, run Lang Forge → Tools → Migration first. TranslatePress stores most translated content as string records instead of separate WordPress posts, so Lang Forge creates per-language post copies, links them into translation groups, imports the language settings, and moves TranslatePress gettext strings into String Translation.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Trying to link a post that is set to the wrong language. If your Spanish page shows “English” in the metabox, it will not appear in the Link Existing search results. Fix the language first
• Trying to link a Page to a Post. Both items must be the same post type. You cannot link a Page in English to a Post in Spanish
• Trying to link a post that is already in another translation group. Each post can belong to only one translation group. If the post you want to link is already connected to a different original, unlink it first

> Tip: If a post does not appear in the Link Existing search results, check three things: (1) it has the correct language assigned, (2) it is the same post type as the original, and (3) it is not already linked to another translation group.

> Good to know: Linking and unlinking translations does not modify, move, or delete any content. It only changes the metadata that connects posts together. Your content is always safe.

[Screenshot: The Link Existing search popup showing search results for a Spanish page with post titles and types]

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