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Why Translations Remain After Deleting Loco Translate (And How to Fix It)

24 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Loco translate

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A common point of confusion for users of the Loco Translate plugin is that their custom translations continue to appear on their website even after they have uninstalled the plugin. This can be frustrating if you want to revert to the original language or completely remove all traces of a translation.

This article explains why this happens and provides the most effective solutions for completely removing translations from your WordPress site.

Why Do Translations Stay After Uninstalling?

This behavior is not a bug; it is by design. The Loco Translate plugin is a management tool for translation files (.po, .mo, .json, .l10n.php). When you create or edit a translation using the plugin, it writes these changes to physical files on your server.

Uninstalling the Loco Translate plugin only removes the plugin's core files. It does not automatically delete any of the translation files it helped create or manage. This is a safety feature to prevent you from accidentally losing your hard work if you deactivate or delete the plugin.

WordPress will continue to load and use any translation files it finds in the standard locations, which is why your custom strings remain visible.

How to Completely Remove Custom Translations

To stop your custom translations from appearing, you must locate and delete the files. The method depends on where you saved them initially within Loco Translate.

Solution 1: If You Saved Translations in the "Custom" Folder (Recommended Practice)

This is the easiest scenario to fix. All files are conveniently located in a single folder.

  1. Connect to your website's server using an FTP client, SFTP, or your hosting provider's file manager.
  2. Navigate to the root WordPress directory, then to wp-content/languages/.
  3. Look for and delete the entire loco folder. This folder contains all translations saved to the "Custom" location and is safe to remove.

Deleting this folder will permanently erase all translations you made using the custom location.

Solution 2: If You Edited "System" or "Author" Files (Not Recommended)

If you saved translations directly to the plugin's or theme's own language folder (shown as "Author" or "System" in Loco Translate), the files are mixed in with the core software. Manually deleting individual files here is riskier, as you could accidentally remove files the plugin needs.

The safest method is to:

  1. Reinstall the Loco Translate plugin.
  2. Navigate to the plugin or theme you translated.
  3. Use the plugin's built-in file manager to locate and delete the specific translation files you created.
  4. Once the files are deleted, you can uninstall Loco Translate again.

Alternatively, you can reinstall the original plugin or theme. This will overwrite its directory with fresh, default files, replacing any custom translation files you edited.

Important Considerations and Best Practices

  • Database: The Loco Translate plugin does not store translations in your database. It only leaves behind a few site options (prefixed with loco_) and the "Translator" user role, which are generally harmless.
  • Errors After Deletion: If you see PHP warnings about missing loco-translate-xx_XX.l10n.php files after uninstalling, it means your site had a translation for the Loco Translate plugin itself. These warnings will stop once you clear your WordPress cache or after a short time, as WordPress stops looking for the files.
  • Prevention for Next Time: Always choose the "Custom" location when creating a new translation in Loco Translate. This keeps all your custom files in the single wp-content/languages/loco/ folder, making them incredibly easy to manage or delete en masse in the future.

Following these steps should help you successfully remove any lingering translations and return your site's language to its default state.

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