What Shopify auto translation skips on purpose

The job is green. `black-out-curtain` is still English. SKU `CUR-120` did not become German. `/products/black-out-curtain` is the same path. That is not a fault. What Shopify auto translation skips is the skip list: handles, URLs, IDs, SKUs, size codes, JSON, empty source, locked fields. Checked 11 November 2026 on the OO - Ultimate AI Translations listing and docs FAQ and limitations, Translate content in the editor, Quick start and What is OO Translations?. If the FAQ grows that list, or listing jobs start rewriting handles, re-read those before you file “AI refuses German”.

Skipped already showed up in job history and in image alt. This post is the list: what *belongs* in skipped, and what failed is.

Shopify will not translate a handle for you

Languages and Markets publish locales. They do not rewrite a product handle, a SKU, or a JSON key in a theme file. A translated storefront URL is not a licence to rename `black-out-curtain` to `verdunkelungsvorhang`. That path is technical. Paste it into ChatGPT and you get a tidy German slug — and broken links, broken integrations, broken size codes `S/M/L`.

The app translates customer-facing copy: titles, descriptions, SEO title/description, option labels, image alt. Jobs skip technical values. FAQ: *empty source fields, locked fields, and technical values (handles, URLs, IDs, short size codes, and similar).* Listing/positioning research also names SKUs, barcodes, JSON.

What shops misread until they open the column

Calling a handle “failed”. Job details: translated / skipped / failed. Handle in skipped is the happy path. Failed is almost always AI: key, model, credits at the provider — Connect AI.

Leaving the source empty “so AI fills it”. FAQ and editor docs: empty source is skipped. No source, no target. Write the source sentence first.

Fixing German by hand, then running daily. Save = lock. Scheduled jobs do not overwrite locked fields. Unlock only if the job may touch it again. That is manual edits. Here: locked belongs in skipped.

Listing, plans, skip list — 11 Nov 2026

Live listing: launched 14 October 2026, 0 reviews. Do not invent stars. Free $0: own AI, unlimited languages/markets/translations, language switcher; no backups, no scheduled jobs, no App AI. Professional $10/month + usage: 1+1 backup, monthly jobs, glossary, App AI at translation cost (~$0.01/unit) or own AI. Plus $20: 5+5 backups, daily jobs, same unit price. USD.

Hero USPs that matter here: own AI on Free; App AI pass-through; jobs; locks; glossary/brand voice; backups; styleable switcher. Free has no schedule — you see skipped after a Translate action, or after a job your plan actually includes.

Quick start: check Jobs for skipped or failed. Editor: Missing / Outdated / Complete. Translate actions fill Missing or Outdated. Empty source skipped. Save locked.

Sources under the table: listing 11 Nov 2026; FAQ; editor; Connect AI. If jobs later translate handles, the first row dies. Until then skipped is success.

Curtains into DE: one product, read the job before you call it broken

Shop “North Textiles”, locale `de`. Title “Blackout curtain 120”. Handle `black-out-curtain`. SKU `CUR-120`. Size option `S/M/L` is a width code, not a sentence.

What I would do on 11 Nov 2026:

1. Glossary: pin the brand. Short brand voice.

2. Editor, language DE, type products, that one product. Title + description + SEO. Leave the handle. Save (lock) the title if the sentence is right.

3. Job or Translate Missing on products. History: title translated or locked-skipped. Handle skipped. SKU skipped. Size codes skipped.

4. Only if failed: Settings → AI connection, credits at the provider. Do not “fix” the handle in ChatGPT.

5. Backup before a large run on Professional/Plus — backup. Free has no backups.

SEO fields should ride along when they are copy. Handles in the URL should not. See SEO translations. Collections and pages use the same skip rule: collections/pages. Product titles: AI translate products.

Daily jobs are Plus; monthly is Professional. A schedule with no AI or no content type does not run — FAQ. Shop timezone, not laptop timezone.

Get it live

Run one content type, one language, one resource. Open Jobs. Count skipped. Handles and SKUs in that column: done, do not restore. Failed is the other column. The OO - Ultimate AI Translations listing: Free to see the skip list with your own AI; Professional when you want monthly plus glossary.

Close

On 11 November 2026 I would not treat a “German catalogue without German URLs” as an incident. I would open job details, treat skipped handles/SKUs as green, and only take failed + AI error to the provider. I would fill an empty source in English first, not hope the job invents it. If the FAQ changes the skip list, this note is stale. Until then skipping is the product, not a bug.

Install: OO - Ultimate AI Translations.