Jetpack Backup Not Handling Multilingual Sites Correctly and the WPML-Compatible Restore Workflow That Fixed Errors

For many WordPress website owners, running a multilingual site offers expanded reach and a chance to engage users globally. However, ensuring robust and reliable backups for such complex configurations can be a technical minefield. This is particularly true if you’re relying on popular tools like Jetpack Backup that may not be fully optimized for multilingual plugins such as WPML. When things go wrong, the flood of language-based discrepancies can frustrate even seasoned developers.

TLDR:

Jetpack Backup has shown limitations when handling WordPress sites with WPML for multilingual content, leading to partial or corrupted data restores. Issues included missing translations, mismatched language strings, and broken relationships between translated posts or pages. A structured WPML-compatible restore workflow was developed to counteract these problems, restoring full site functionality and language integrity. This article explores what went wrong, which fixes tested successful, and how a reliable restore process can save multilingual WordPress sites from disastrous inconsistencies.

The Jetpack Backup Dilemma with Multilingual Sites

Jetpack Backup, a widely trusted solution by Automattic, offers real-time site backups, easy restores, and promised peace of mind. For single-language installs, it performs admirably. However, our team discovered critical gaps when using Jetpack to backup and restore sites powered by WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin).

What we initially assumed would be a seamless restore after a server migration turned into a frustrating battle with data integrity. Critical multilingual data was lost, leading to:

• Missing translated versions of posts and pages
• Corrupted language configuration files
• Broken post relationships between default and translated variants

Jetpack performed a rollback, but the restored content was only partially usable. WPML’s database tables and configuration files weren’t integrated properly into Jetpack’s backup schema. This flaw created a partially functional site — readable in one language, broken in others.

Understanding Why Jetpack Falls Short with WPML

WPML operates by adding additional database tables and establishing interdependencies between translated strings and original content. It also relies on precise language mapping and configuration files located in the wp_options table and elsewhere.

The core issues happened for two main reasons:

1. Selective Table Backup: Jetpack doesn’t back up all custom tables by default – particularly ones using non-standard prefixes or added by plugins like WPML.
2. Language Mapping Errors: After the restore, WPML tried to load language configuration strings that no longer existed or referenced data that had been partially restored, resulting in critical translation mapping errors.

Jetpack’s focus on standard WordPress tables is both its strength and Achilles heel. This strategy accelerates backups but ignores essential multilingual plugin structures required for proper restoration.

The Impact: A Real-World Breakdown

We tested this on a client project running an e-commerce site in English, French, and Spanish. Following a hosting failure, we restored the site through Jetpack, expecting full recovery. Instead, we saw:

• The homepage content appeared only in English
• French and Spanish versions resulted in 404 errors
• All multilingual menus were broken
• Product pages loaded without translated titles or descriptions

The issue wasn’t just cosmetic. SEO rankings dropped within 48 hours, user bounce rates soared, and restoring proper multilingual support required immediate intervention beyond Jetpack’s offerings.

Solving the Problems: The WPML-Compatible Restore Workflow

To overcome Jetpack’s limitations, we had to supplement its backup and restore methods with a more WPML-aware approach. After some trial and error, our development team established a WPML-compatible workflow that can restore multilingual data with precision.

This restore process involves:

1. Backing Up WPML-Specific Tables and Configurations Manually

WPML creates and utilizes several non-standard tables such as:

• icl_translations
• icl_languages
• icl_string_translations

These were not reliably covered by automatic Jetpack backups, prompting us to supplement with a custom script to pull complete database dumps of those critical tables before any major change or restore attempt.

2. Exporting and Reimporting _wpml-config.xml_

The wpml-config.xml file defines which strings are translatable across specific theme and plugin contexts. Upon restoration, we confirmed its presence and synchronization with current plugin versions to ensure translations were correctly mapped.

3. Re-indexing Language Data Post-Restore

After re-importing the necessary tables, the WPML plugin required a resynchronization of language elements and a purge of cache data within the plugin settings. Running the “Troubleshooting” options under WPML settings (such as “Scan for lost translations” and “Fix element relations”) helped rebind orphaned translated content.

4. Verifying Media Translation File Integrity

Media translations often rely on metadata to preserve alternate titles, captions, and ALT text. A separate tool was used to verify that all attachments with language variants were intact and linked to the correct locales.

Lessons Learned and Best Practices

From this experience, we identified a number of vital takeaways for any WordPress administrator running multilingual sites using Jetpack:

• Do not rely solely on Jetpack Backup for multilingual configurations. It’s excellent for generic settings but not suitable for full WPML site restores.
• Always keep a secondary full SQL backup — especially before site migrations, plugin updates, or theme changes.
• Know where WPML stores its data so you can validate what’s missing in the event of data loss.
• Test your backup and restore process periodically, ideally on a staging version of your live site.

Ultimately, full recovery for WPML-powered sites requires awareness of the plugin’s architecture and preparedness to supplement generic backup routines with targeted, plugin-aware practices.

The Future: Advocacy for Plugin-Aware Backup Solutions

This incident highlighted a broader industry issue: mainstream WordPress backup plugins are not always designed with plugin-specific architectures in mind. WPML is widely used, and yet its database structure remains “invisible” to many backup systems.

We’ve since been advocating for Jetpack and other backup vendors to support a *plugin-aware mode*, where selected advanced plugin integrations can trigger backup routines that account for additional data structures. Until such features exist, site administrators must remain proactive.

Conclusion

Jetpack Backup is a solid tool, but it has its blind spots — especially when it comes to handling multilingual WordPress sites. Relying solely on it can result in partial data losses and broken site functionality. By combining manual backups of WPML-related data with a detailed restore workflow, site operators can avoid catastrophic failures and maintain multilingual integrity.

This challenge is a stark reminder for digital agencies and solo developers alike: backup solutions must evolve with the complexity of the modern WordPress ecosystem — and until they do, it’s on us to build smarter, more resilient processes.