Shopify Translate & Adapt adds eight-language Auto-sync

Shopify has expanded Translate & Adapt to eight automatic languages for eligible stores and introduced weekly updates for translated content. The change, announced on 9 October, addresses a familiar maintenance problem: a product description changes in the default language while its translated versions remain out of date.

Which stores qualify?

The announcement lists Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The eight languages are additional to a store’s default language.

Shopify’s Help Center adds an important eligibility check: if your app displays Translate now, the eight-language allowance and Auto-sync apply even if your country is not listed. Other stores normally retain two automatic languages without Auto-sync.

Enable it for each language

Auto-sync starts switched off. Open Translate & Adapt, select a language and enable its Auto-sync toggle. Published languages then receive updates weekly; the setting can be changed separately for each language.

Use Translate now when content needs translating sooner. Running both options for the same language uses one language slot, rather than two. Shopify says manually written translations remain protected from overwriting.

Choose languages before using the allowance

Automatic language slots cannot be swapped to another language, and deleting a language does not reset the quota. Additional languages require manual translation or another app.

The first scheduled translation can take up to a week. An unpublished language waits until the scheduled run after publication. For some default theme text, automatic translation adds missing translations without refreshing existing ones. Legal policies need manual translation.

Make translation review part of a launch

Our recommendation: choose languages around the markets you actually serve, then review a representative product page in each. Check measurements, delivery wording and product terminology alongside the main description.

For a time-sensitive launch, assign someone to check the translated storefront before traffic arrives. A weekly maintenance schedule is useful, but it should not be the launch checklist’s only translation step.

Feature image: Shopify’s Translate & Adapt App Store graphic illustrating side-by-side editing; it is not a screenshot of the new Auto-sync controls.