FAQ: What information do you need to solve my problem?

If you've reported a problem and it's not been resolved, it may be due to a lack of useful information. There are other reasons for unsolved issues, but if we posted a link to this page then please try to add some relevant detail to your report.

Because your problem is unknown to us, we can't tell you what information we need to solve it. Below are some suggestions for fleshing out your support request. They won't all be relevant to your issue, but please work through them and post what you can.

1. Eliminate your theme and other plugins

You may not be able do this if your website is live and you don't have a development server, but it's very useful to establish if something else you've installed is causing a conflict.

• Switch to a stock theme such as Twenty Twenty and tell us if you still have the same problem. If the problem goes away, tell us what theme you were using and post a download link so we can install and test it ourselves.

• Disable ALL other plugins, except Loco Translate and tell us if you still have the same problem. It's advisable to do this one by one, so you can tell us which plugin caused the conflict. As above, please post a download link for the offending plugin.

We may not be able to provide an immediate solution for this kind of conflict, but knowing what was causing the problem may help us improve the next version of Loco Translate.

2. Post a link to your theme/plugin

If your problem is specific to the bundle you're translating, we're going to need to try it for ourselves.

Please post a download link to the source code of your bundle. Don't post a link to a registration page or a shopping cart. We require a simple, free and legal download so we can install it on our own servers and try to reproduce your problem.

If you're not sure whether the problem is related to a specific bundle, try translating something that's known to work such as the theme used in our beginner's guide. If that doesn't work either, then your specific bundle is not the problem.

3. Is your bundle configured?

If your problem is specific to the bundle you're translating, the cause might simply be misconfiguration.

As per the most common questions, problems are likely to occur if your bundle is not compatible with Loco Translate. Bundles set up in a non-standard way must be configured to work. Click the "Setup" tab for more detail on the configuration status.

If you have WordPress debug mode enabled, you'll also see a "Debug" tab. This screen may also show up some useful warnings about your bundle's setup.

4. Post useful error messages

Loco Translate displays descriptive error messages when it knows a particular problem has occurred. A vague or generic error message like "Unknown Error" means the plugin has no idea what went wrong, and as such neither do we.

If you have an error message that doesn't convey anything useful, we're going to need you to do some digging. There are three places to look for more useful error messages. See what you can find and post them on the forum.

• On the screen (Minor script errors)
  If you enable WordPress debug mode you may see more messages on the screen. Minor errors can sometimes point to more serious problems, but it's hard to know what's relevant. If in doubt, post everything you see.

• In your logs (Fatal server errors)
  Post any server errors you find and ensure WordPress logging is set up too. If you don't know how to access your log files, please ask your hosting provider or IT department. We can't provide technical support for server administration.

• In the console (JavaScript errors)
  Most browsers have a developer console. This will display JavaScript errors which you won't find in your server logs. If you don't know how to use the console, try this guide for Chrome.

5. Ajax responses

Any action you perform that doesn't reload the whole page is an Ajax action. Loco Translate performs various actions via Ajax, including Save and Sync operations from the editor. The nature of these discreet actions can sometimes make serious faults less visible from the surface.

If your problem occurs during an Ajax action there may be some essential information available in your network inspector that you won't see on screen. If you don't know how to access your network inspector, try this guide for Chrome.

Please post more than just the status code. This tells us very little. To diagnose the fault of an Ajax failure, we need to see the raw HTTP response that was sent back from WordPress. If this is empty then at least post the response headers.

It's not uncommon for over-zealous security add-ons to block Ajax requests. Check with your hosting provider whether you have any extra software installed for security purposes. They may have to help you add a rule to allow Loco Translate to function.

6. Post your software versions

The following details alone won't diagnose your problem, but they're useful bits of information to include in any request for help.

• Version of Loco Translate
• Version of PHP
• Version of WordPress
• Web server (e.g. Apache)
• Web Browser (e.g. Chrome)
• Operating system (e.g. Windows, Linux)
• Other server software you're running (e.g. for security or caching).

Check you have the required PHP modules listed in system requirements. If you don't know the answers to any of these questions, ask your hosting provider or IT department.