How to Fix Multilingual Header and Footer Issues with WPML and Polylang

Creating a multilingual website is a common requirement, but getting your headers and footers to display correctly in different languages can be tricky. Many users of the 'Ultimate Addons for Elementor' plugin (often via the 'Header, Footer & Blocks' template) encounter issues where their translated headers or footers don't appear, or the wrong one shows for a specific language.

This guide will walk you through the most common causes and their solutions, based on community experiences with WPML and Polylang.

Why This Happens

The core of the issue usually isn't a bug in a single plugin, but rather a configuration step that was missed. The 'Ultimate Addons for Elementor' plugin provides the framework to create and assign headers and footers. For multilingual functionality, it relies on proper integration with your chosen translation plugin, be it WPML or Polylang. The most common reason for failure is that the necessary post type for these templates has not been enabled for translation.

Common Solutions

1. Enable Translation for the Correct Post Type

This is, by far, the most frequently reported solution in the community. Both WPML and Polylang require you to explicitly enable translation for custom post types.

For Polylang Users:

1. Go to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Languages → Settings.
3. Click on the 'Custom post types and Taxonomies' tab.
4. Find the post type for your headers and footers (it is often labeled something like 'Elementor Header & Footer' or 'ehf_templates').
5. Check the box next to it to make it translatable.
6. Save your changes.

For WPML Users:

1. Go to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to WPML → Settings.
3. Click on the 'Custom Post Type Translation' link or tab.
4. Locate the same header/footer template post type in the list.
5. Change its setting from 'Not translatable' to 'Translatable'.
6. Save your changes at the bottom of the page.

After completing this step, you should see new translation options appear in your header and footer template lists, allowing you to create and assign language-specific versions.

2. Create and Assign Individual Templates per Language

Simply enabling translation is not enough. You must create a separate header or footer template for each language.

1. Create your primary header (e.g., in English).
2. Use the WPML or Polylang translation interface to create a translated version of that template. This will not duplicate the design, only the post. You must then edit the translated version with Elementor to change the text, menu, and logo link to the correct language.
3. Ensure each language's template is assigned to display on the entire site or the appropriate conditions.

3. Check for Plugin-Specific Bugs and Updates

While rare, specific compatibility bugs do occur. For example, one thread mentioned an issue where Polylang's base64 image flags did not display correctly in a menu widget. This was confirmed as a bug and was fixed in a specific plugin update (v1.6.24).

Action: Always ensure both your 'Ultimate Addons for Elementor' and your translation plugin (WPML/Polylang) are updated to their latest versions to benefit from compatibility fixes.

4. Verify Logo Links and Static Content

Some users report that menus translate but static content like logo links or text slogans do not. This is typically because those elements are hardcoded into a single template.

Solution: You must ensure that every element that needs to change is edited within each language-specific template. For a logo link, you might need to create a dynamic link that changes based on the language or manually set the correct homepage URL in each translated header.

Conclusion

Successfully displaying multilingual headers and footers is almost always a matter of configuration. The first and most critical step is to enable translation for the template post type within your translation plugin's settings. From there, meticulously creating and assigning a unique template for each language will ensure your site's global elements are correctly translated for all visitors.