Translating Custom Labels

⚠️ Beta feature: Metaobject-based recipe translations are still in beta. If you run into bugs or unexpected behavior, please contact support so we can investigate.


Custom labels are the UI text Recipe Kit shows around your recipe content — words like Ingredients, Directions, Prep Time, Add to Cart, Calories, and so on. With automatic translations enabled, these labels can be translated into every language your store supports, just like recipe content.


This guide covers how to translate the built-in labels, customize them in your source language, and fix gaps where auto-translation doesn't fill everything in.


Before You Start

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


What Counts as a "Label"?

Labels fall into two groups, each stored as a separate metaobject in Shopify:


RecipeKit Labels — general UI text:

  • Section headings (Ingredients, Directions, Equipment, Recipe Note)
  • Time and serving labels (Prep Time, Cook Time, Servings, minutes, hours)
  • Action text (Add to Cart, Add All to Cart, View Cart, Print Recipe, Jump to Recipe)
  • Rating system text (rating count, rating thanks, rating confirmation)
  • Tags, Category, Cuisine, Author

RecipeKit Labels (Nutrition) — nutrition section text:

  • Nutrition heading (Nutrition, Amount/Serving, % Daily Value, per serving)
  • Macronutrients (Calories, Carbohydrates, Protein, Fat, Fiber)
  • Detailed fats (Saturated Fat, Trans Fat, Unsaturated Fat, Polyunsaturated Fat, Monounsaturated Fat)
  • Other nutrients (Sodium, Cholesterol, Sugar, Iron, Potassium)
  • Units (Grams, Milligrams, Micrograms)

Both metaobjects are translated once and applied to every recipe on your store.


Customizing Labels in Your Source Language

Before translating into other languages, you may want to customize the source-language labels. For example, you might rename Directions to Steps, or shorten Preparation Time to Prep.


  1. Go to Settings in Recipe Kit
  2. Expand the Translations and Labels section
  3. Click Customize labels
  4. Edit any field (e.g. change Directions    to Steps   )
  5. Click Save Translations

When you save, the updated source labels sync to Shopify automatically. Translate & Adapt sees the change and flags the affected fields as needing re-translation in your other languages.


Tip: If you change a label after translating it into other languages, plan to revisit Translate & Adapt to update the translations. Otherwise, customers in those locales may see the old label or fall back to the source language.


Translating Labels into Another Language

  1. Open Translate & Adapt (from Apps > Translate & Adapt, or click Manage Translations in Recipe Kit Settings)
  2. Select the language you want to translate into
  3. Scroll the Metaobjects section — you'll see two Recipe Kit entries near the top:
    • RecipeKit Labels
    • RecipeKit Labels (Nutrition)

Auto-translating

For each labels entry:


  1. Click into the entry
  2. Click Auto-translate at the top of the page
  3. In the popup, click Translate
  4. Wait for the translations to fill in (this takes a few seconds)
  5. Click Save

Auto-translation handles most labels well. You can move to the next entry or another language while it runs.


Manual translation

You can also translate fields one by one:


  1. Click into a labels entry
  2. For each field, type your translation in the right column
  3. Click Save

This is useful when you want full control — for example, to use a regional variation or shorter abbreviation that auto-translation wouldn't pick.


Why Some Labels Aren't Translated

After auto-translating, you may notice the Labels count in the Translation Status panel shows fewer translated labels than the total. For example: 54/56    instead of 56/56   .


This is normal. The most common reasons:


The word is identical in both languages.

For example, the English label Tags is also commonly used in German recipes — Translate & Adapt may leave it untranslated because it considers it a loanword. The recipe card will display the source-language version (e.g. "Tags") in those locales, which is usually correct.


The label is empty in your source language.

If you've cleared a label field in Customize Labels, there's nothing to translate.


Auto-translation skipped a field.

Occasionally Translate & Adapt skips a field. You can fill it in manually.


Filling in Missing Labels

If you do want a translation for a label that auto-translation skipped:


  1. Open the labels metaobject in Translate & Adapt
  2. Find the empty field
  3. Type your translation
  4. Click Save
  5. Return to Recipe Kit Settings → More actions menu → Refresh stats
  6. The translated count for that locale should increase

Tip: Recipes will still render correctly even if some labels are untranslated — Shopify falls back to the source language for any missing translation. You only need to fill in labels manually if the source-language word doesn't fit the target locale.


Checking Label Translation Status

In Recipe Kit Settings:


  1. Expand the Translations and Labels section
  2. Click View translation details
  3. For each locale, see the Labels badge: X/Y    translated

The badge color reflects coverage:


  • Green — all labels translated
  • Yellow/warning — partially translated
  • Default — no labels translated yet

If the count looks out of date, click Refresh stats in the More actions menu.


Updating Labels Over Time

Whenever you change a label in Customize Labels, the workflow is:


  1. Save your changes in Recipe Kit
  2. Open Translate & Adapt and select an affected language
  3. Find the labels metaobject — Translate & Adapt highlights the changed fields
  4. Re-translate (auto or manual) and save
  5. Repeat for each non-primary language

Recipes themselves don't need any action — only the labels metaobject is affected.


Labels Not Translated Through This System

A few label-like fields are part of the recipe content itself, not the shared labels metaobject. These are translated per-recipe in RecipeKit Recipe (Translatable):


  • The recipe title, description, and recipe note
  • Ingredient names and direction text
  • Custom field names (if you use them)
  • Recipe-specific tag values

See Translating Recipes with Translate and Adapt for the per-recipe workflow.


Troubleshooting

Labels metaobject is missing in Translate & Adapt

  • Confirm automatic translations are enabled in Recipe Kit Settings
  • Confirm the initial sync has completed (the setup wizard should show all three steps green)
  • Refresh Translate & Adapt
  • If still missing, run Re-sync metaobjects from the More actions menu

A label still shows in English on my translated storefront

  • Open Translate & Adapt for that locale and confirm the label has been translated and saved
  • Clear your browser cache and revisit the localized URL
  • If the label is intentionally left untranslated (because the word is the same in both languages), this is expected — the source language is used as a fallback

Custom labels changed but storefront still shows old text

  • Confirm you clicked Save Translations after editing
  • Wait a few seconds for the sync to complete
  • If you've translated the labels into other locales, update those translations in Translate & Adapt
  • Clear browser/page cache and reload

What's Next?

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