Image sync for translations: copy missing pictures to translated pages

Image sync for translations finds the pictures that a page has and its translations do not, and proposes where to put them. It works in blocks, in classic text and in Elementor, and it can also compare the featured image. It is for sites where a translator or an AI translation copied the text but lost the pictures. Nothing is written until you tick an item and press Apply, and every run can be undone.

What you need

• A plugin that links translations: Polylang, WPML, the translation links of Baza Helper, or another plugin connected through the baza_helper_translation_driver filter.
• The tool switched on. It is in the Content group of the Dashboard, and its tab is Baza Helper > Image sync. Without a multilingual plugin the tab says so and the scan button is disabled.

Choose what is compared

• Take pictures from: the language the pictures come from. The default is the default language of the site.
• Also compare the featured image: adds the featured image to the comparison.
• Post types: the types to compare. Pages and posts are chosen at first.

Save the settings before you scan.

Scan and apply

1. Press Scan translations. The scan only reads. It goes through the originals a few at a time and shows its progress.
2. Read the proposal. Each item shows a missing picture, the page that lacks it and the place where it would go, before and after. Items are ticked at first. Untick what you do not want.
3. Press Apply selected and confirm.
4. Open a changed translation and check it.

When a picture is added, it keeps the caption and the alt text of the original. Translate them afterwards if you need to.

When two pictures count as the same

• Their media library item is the same, or the file path matches once the uploads folder, the size suffix (for example -300×200 or -scaled) and the extension are ignored.
• One is the translation of the other, when you translate media with Polylang or WPML.
• The translator replaced the picture with their own in the same place. It counts as present and is not touched.

Where a picture is put

• In blocks and classic text, in the same gap between the same text blocks, inside the same group or column, or after the same item of a gallery. This covers image, gallery, cover and media-and-text blocks, and images inside other blocks.
• In Elementor, in the element with the same ID: an empty picture control is filled, a gallery gets its missing items, and a lost image or gallery widget is put back beside its neighbour.
• The featured image is compared when you ticked it.

Items that are only listed

When the place cannot be told reliably, the item is listed with the reason and has no tick. You add that picture by hand. This happens, for example, when:

• The translation has another number or order of text blocks.
• The original is built with Elementor and the translation is not, or the other way round.
• The picture sits inside a paragraph or a layout block such as cover or media and text.
• The translation’s markup would be rewritten when saved, so it is left alone.

Undo a run

Before a page is changed, Baza Helper saves a revision and a snapshot of the page. Under Recent runs you see the last runs with the date and the person. Press Undo this run to restore the snapshots. If a page was edited after the run, Baza Helper asks before it overwrites that edit.

Good to know

• Only the new block, widget, control or list item is written. The rest of the page is left as it is.
• If a page changed after the scan, that item is skipped with a message. Scan again.
• Elementor styles of a changed page are rebuilt after the run.