Translate Shopify image alt text: the sentence, not the file URL

The French product page uses the same photo. Alt text still says “Ivory linen curtain, 140 cm”. A screen reader speaks English. Search indexes the source line. Translate Shopify image alt text is that sentence per locale — not `ivory-curtain.jpg` as a French slug. Checked 8 November 2026: OO ‑ Ultimate AI Translations listing, docs FAQ and limitations, Shopify Help Adding alt text to media. If the skip list changes, or Shopify changes the alt cap, reread this before you promise “we translate all images”.

Multilingual SEO translations is title and description. This post is alt only.

Native Shopify: one source alt, 512 characters

Help (8 Nov 2026): alt describes the media if the file fails to load and for assistive tech. Max 512 characters, 125 or fewer recommended. You set it on the product (media → Add alt text) or in the CSV column *Image alt text*. That is the source. Shopify does not fan it out to every published language on its own.

Workarounds that break:

Export CSV, run DeepL on the column, import. No lock. The next job overwrites it, or the handle `linen-curtain` gets “translated”.

Renaming the file. `curtain-ivory.jpg` becomes `rideau-ivoire.jpg`. A CDN path is not customer copy. FAQ: jobs skip handles, URLs, IDs, short size codes.

Leaving alt empty “for the AI”. FAQ: jobs skip empty source. No source, no target. Write a source sentence first, ≤125 characters.

Shopify Translate & Adapt can fill locale fields in admin. It is not a scheduled job with glossary and locks. Markets being on does not copy the source alt into French. The app does not raise the 512-character cap: a 400-character dump is still too long for a screen reader, translated or not.

What the job translates, what it skips

Listing 8 Nov 2026: 0 reviews — do not invent stars. Free: own AI, unlimited languages/markets/translations, language switcher; no backups, no scheduled jobs, no App AI. Professional $10/month + usage: monthly schedule, glossary, 1+1 backup, App AI at translation cost. $20/month: daily schedule, 5+5 backups. Usage $0.01 per unit. Categories include Image translation and SEO translation. That is not “rewrite the JPEG”.

Customer-facing fields include titles, descriptions, SEO title/description, option labels, image alt text. Jobs skip technical values.

Sources: FAQ (~one month old); listing 8 Nov 2026; Help. Listing category *URL translation* is not a promise that jobs localise `/products/linen-curtain`.

Pin colour names in the glossary. A changed source alt becomes Outdated; an empty one stays skipped — missing vs outdated. Product titles are a different job: AI translate Shopify products.

What I would run for 80 photos on a live FR market

Titles already French. Alts still English. `/fr` screen readers announce “ivory”.

Write source alts in admin, ≤125 characters, descriptive, no stuffing. Free with your own model, or Professional with App AI at $0.01/unit. Schedules are not on Free — run Missing on products by hand. After the job, open history: alt translated, URL skipped. A JPEG that “didn’t translate” is not a failure. Rewrite one colour term in the editor so it locks. The storefront language switcher does not fix alt.

Do not sell “image translation” as a new photograph.

Getting it live

If alt is blank, write the source first. Then products → Missing. After the run the FR alt exists and the CDN path does not. Re-check listing prices; 8 Nov 2026 App AI is $0.01/unit and review count is 0.

Closing

I would fill the 80 source alts, run one Missing job, then lock a glossary colour. Translate Shopify image alt text is the sentence per locale, not the file URL. Native Shopify stores one source alt (512/125). Jobs skip empty source, URLs, handles. Listing 8 Nov 2026: Image translation as a category, App AI $0.01, Free has no schedule. The FAQ owns the skip list. If that list moves, this advice is void.

Run alts from the OO ‑ Ultimate AI Translations listing after the source alt exists, not before.