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Using Contact Form 7 with WPML

Amir
Updated
May 2, 2022

Contact Form 7 allows you to create, customize, and manage front-end forms for your site. In this tutorial, we provide step-by-step instructions on how to make these forms multilingual using WPML.

Here is a short video that explains the process of translating form built using the Contact Form 7 plugin:

On This Page

Getting Started

Start by installing and activating the following plugins:

If you’re new to WPML, check out our Getting Started Guide. It quickly walks you through different translation options you can use.

Translating Your Forms

To translate your forms, use the following steps:

1. Creating the Default Language Contact Form

To create your form, go to Contact → Add New. When completed, you will get a shortcode for your contact form. Copy it to insert it later into your contact page.

2. Translating the Contact Form

Now, it’s time to translate the form and WPML provides you with different ways of doing that.

Translating the Form Automatically

If you use the Translate Some mode, you can use Translation Management to automatically translate your contact forms. Simply go to WPML → Translation Management, find and select your form, and click to translate it.

Send the Form to be Translated by Others

Go to WPML → Translation Management to send all types of content, including contact forms, for translation.

You can send any content, including forms, to be translated by your own translators, or by one of many professional translation services integrated with WPML.

You can find detailed instructions on how to do this in our guide about using WPML’s translation management.

Translate the Form Yourself

Alternatively, you can translate the form yourself. To do this, edit the form and in the Language box, click the plus icon corresponding to the language you want to translate your form into.

Starting the form translation

This takes you to WPML’s Advanced Translation Editor (ATE) screen and you can translate the form texts.

Translating Contact Form 7 texts

Translating Placeholder Texts

If your form has placeholder texts you need to translate, you can use the Advanced Translation Editor. Use the Search Source feature in the upper-left-hand corner to find the original placeholder texts. Then, add and save the translations for each of your placeholders.

wpml-translating-placeholder-texts
Using the Advanced Translation Editor to translate placeholder texts

Translating Select, Radio, and Checkboxes Fields

The steps to translate fields with multiple options are slightly different. This includes fields such as dropdown menus, select fields, radio buttons, and checkboxes.

An example of a select field with multiple options in Contact Form 7

Start by opening the form for translation using the Advanced Translation Editor, as described above. Then, use the following steps to translate fields with multiple options:

  1. Search for the value of the option that you want to translate.
  2. Enter the translation.
  3. Save the translation.
Translating an option coming from a field with multiple options

Repeat these steps for all values coming from multiple options fields in the form.

3. Inserting the Block Into the Content

Now you need to insert your form into a post, page, or widget in the default language. To do this, simply insert the Contact Form 7 block and select your form using a dropdown.

Selecting the from in the drop-down

4. Translating Content With Embedded Forms

Finally, you need to translate the pages, posts, or widgets that hold the forms. Just like translating the forms, you can send these to be translated by others, or you can do it manually yourself.

To translate it yourself, edit the post or a page and use the Language box to translate or duplicate it.

Using the Language box to translate or duplicate content

Make sure to translate only the texts. Do not change anything within the shortcode. WPML will automatically display the form in the correct language.

Non-translatable Form Elements

There are certain form elements whose texts come from your browser and not Content Form 7 or WPML. This includes elements like the Browse and Upload File buttons and reCAPTCHA.

A user visiting your site will see these fields displayed based on the default language of their browser.

WPML Content Form 7 Non-translatable Browser Element
Translated page with a non-translatable browser element

Known Issues

There are no unresolved compatibility issues between this plugin and WPML. Search all known issues.

Getting Help

In case you need help translating your forms built using Contact Form 7 and WPML, visit WPML’s support forum.