Maintaining Recipe Translations

Once automatic translations are set up, Recipe Kit keeps your recipe data and Shopify's translation system in sync. This guide covers how to monitor translation coverage, re-translate after edits, and check progress over time.

Before You Start

This article assumes you've already completed the one-time setup. If you haven't:

• Enable Multi-Language Translations
• Translate Recipes with Translate & Adapt for at least one language

How Recipe Kit Stays in Sync

After setup, every change you make in Recipe Kit is automatically synced to the underlying Shopify metaobjects:

• Saving a new recipe creates a new metaobject in Shopify
• Editing an existing recipe updates its metaobject
• Changing UI labels in the Customize Labels section updates the labels metaobject

The translation app (Translate & Adapt) sees these updates and marks any changed fields as needing re-translation. You don't need to trigger anything — Recipe Kit handles it on save.

Translation Status on the Recipe Edit Page

When you open a recipe that has been synced for translation, a Translations card appears at the bottom of the edit page. It shows one badge per non-primary locale on your store:

• Green "complete" badge — the recipe is fully translated for that locale
• Empty/incomplete badge — the recipe is missing one or more translations for that locale

Click any badge to jump straight to the Translate & Adapt app for that recipe and locale. This is the fastest way to update translations after editing a recipe.

Tip: If you don't see translation badges on the recipe edit page, confirm that the recipe was created or saved after translations were enabled. Recipes saved before setup are picked up by the bulk sync, but very old drafts may need a manual save.

Re-translating After Recipe Edits

When you edit a translated recipe and save:

1. Recipe Kit syncs the updated content to Shopify
2. Translate & Adapt detects the changed fields and flags them
3. The translation badges on the recipe edit page may switch from "complete" to "incomplete" for affected locales

To re-translate:

1. Click the locale badge on the recipe edit page (or open Translate & Adapt directly from Settings)
2. Translate & Adapt shows the updated source text alongside the existing translation
3. Use Auto-translate to regenerate, or edit fields manually
4. Click Save

Note: Translate & Adapt preserves manual edits. If you've previously customized a translation (for example, adapting "Chef John" to a German name), updating the source field won't overwrite your override automatically — review the translation and re-save.

Translation Status Panel (Settings)

For an at-a-glance view of progress across all your recipes and labels:

1. Go to Settings in Recipe Kit
2. Scroll to Translations and Labels and expand it
3. Click View translation details

You'll see a panel showing each configured locale with two metrics:

• Labels — X/Y    UI labels translated into this locale
• Recipes — X/Y    recipes fully translated into this locale

A timestamp at the top of the panel shows when the stats were last computed (e.g. "updated 12m ago").

Refreshing Stats

Translation stats are computed in the background and don't always reflect the very latest changes. To force an update:

1. In the Translations and Labels section, click Manage Translations to find the More actions menu (three-dot icon)
2. Click Refresh stats

A spinner appears while the stats recompute. When it finishes, the badges update with the latest counts.

Tip: Refreshing stats is most useful after you've translated several recipes in a row and want to see the panel update without waiting for the next automatic refresh.

Re-syncing Metaobjects

In rare cases — for example, after upgrading the app or restoring a backup — you may want to force a fresh sync of all your recipes and labels to Shopify.

1. Open the More actions menu next to Manage Translations
2. Click Re-sync metaobjects

This re-runs the same sync that the setup wizard performed. Existing translations are not affected — only the source data is re-pushed.

Warning: Re-syncing can take several minutes for larger catalogs. The progress is shown in the setup wizard area and continues in the background if you navigate away.

Recovering from Revoked Permissions

If a Shopify admin removes the metaobject scopes from Recipe Kit (for example, by changing app permissions), the Translations and Labels section shows a critical banner: "Translation permissions were revoked."

While permissions are revoked:

• New recipes won't sync to metaobjects
• Existing translations on the storefront still work, but become stale over time

To recover:

1. Click Re-enable Permissions in the banner
2. Approve the permission request from Shopify
3. Recipe Kit resumes syncing automatically — no data is lost

After re-enabling, run Re-sync metaobjects if you suspect any recipes were edited while permissions were missing.

Disabling Automatic Translations

If you want to turn off automatic translations:

1. Open the More actions menu next to Manage Translations
2. Click Disable translations
3. A confirmation modal explains what will happen:
   • Translations stop appearing on your storefront
   • Recipe labels revert to manual translation mode
   • Your metaobject data is preserved by default (so you can re-enable later)
4. Optionally check Also delete all RecipeKit metaobjects to permanently remove the metaobject definitions and data

Warning: Deleting metaobjects is irreversible. Your recipes themselves are safe, but you'll need to re-sync everything if you re-enable translations later.

Troubleshooting

Recipe edit page doesn't show translation badges

• Confirm automatic translations are enabled in Settings
• Confirm your store has at least one secondary locale published
• Save the recipe once after setup so it gets a metaobject ID
• Refresh the page

Translation status shows the wrong counts

• Click Refresh stats in the More actions menu
• Wait for the spinner to finish, then check the panel again
• If counts still look off, run Re-sync metaobjects

A translation looks outdated on the storefront

• Open the recipe in Translate & Adapt and confirm the translated fields match the latest source content
• Clear your browser cache and revisit the localized URL
• If you use a CDN or page cache (e.g. Shopify's full-page cache), allow a few minutes for the cache to refresh

Some recipes are missing from the translation app

• Ensure the recipe is saved (not in a broken or unsaved state)
• Check the failed recipes banner in Settings — if any recipes failed during sync, click Retry Failed
• For very old recipes, edit and save once to trigger a fresh sync

What's Next?

• Translating Custom Labels — Manage UI label translations and manual overrides
• Translating Recipes with Translate and Adapt — Day-to-day translation workflow
• Enabling Multi-Language Translations — Initial setup wizard