Guide

How to keep Shopify translations up to date

Almost every store translates once and then slowly drifts. A new product here, an edited description there, and three months later half the German store is quietly back in your own language.

By Bram Sullot, founder of Unlost · 7 October 2026

Why translations go stale

A translation belongs to one specific version of a text. The moment you change the original, even a single sentence, the old translation no longer matches. Shopify marks it as outdated, but most tools then wait for you to translate it again. New products, collections and pages are worse: they start with no translation at all.

Nobody notices at first. Your own store looks fine, because you look at it in your own language.

How to spot the drift

Open your newest products in each language; they’re the most likely to be missing. In Translate & Adapt, look for content marked as outdated. And check anything seasonal, like banners and announcement bars, after every campaign, because those change most often and get forgotten first.

Three ways to keep up

By hand, after every change. Perfectly fine for a store that rarely changes. It does depend on you remembering every edit, in every language, forever.

Translate & Adapt, weekly or on a schedule. Translate & Adapt translates new and outdated content when you click Auto-translate, free for up to two languages (eight in select countries). In some countries its Auto-sync does this for you once a week. Elsewhere you need a routine, say every Monday morning.

An app that syncs on its own. Several apps translate new and changed content without you doing anything, although some only on their higher plans. Unlost does it on every paid plan: whatever you save is translated into every language within a minute. Only the text you changed is translated again, and your own edits are never touched.

Whatever you choose, protect your own edits

Before you commit to a tool, check one thing: what happens to a translation you corrected by hand when you later change something else on that page? A good setup leaves your correction alone. A bad one quietly undoes your work.

Questions

Does Translate & Adapt translate new products automatically?

In select countries, yes: according to Shopify’s help center, Auto-sync keeps automatic translations up to date each week. Elsewhere, new automatic translations are added when you click Auto-translate.

How fast does Unlost translate a new product?

Within a minute of saving it, on every paid plan. On the Free plan you translate new content with one click.

Try Unlost on your store

Free for one language and up to 50 products. Paid plans keep every language up to date within a minute of a change.

Install from the Shopify App Store