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14. Things to be careful with
- Content languages can be created unpublished. Always check the Status column in Content Languages after installing a pack.
- Never remove the Home item set to All. You need it plus one published Home page per content language. Multilingual Status counts them for you.
- "All" means "not translated". On our Greek page, the category Uncategorised (language All) appeared in English. Give each language its own categories, or translate the category titles and set their language.
- Module titles are text too. Our Language Switcher title showed in English on the Greek page. Hide the title, create one module per language, or use a language override.
- Associate menu items, not just articles. Otherwise the switcher can land on the other language's home page.
- "Copy Reference to Target" saves immediately. It creates an unpublished copy named like "Title (2)". Translate and rename it, or delete it.
- Existing sites change URLs. Enabling the Language Filter adds a prefix to every URL. Plan 301 redirects in Components → Redirects and test on staging first.
- Settle URL codes and "Remove URL Language Code" before launch. Changing either later changes URLs and costs rankings.
- Language packs are extensions. Update them with Joomla (System → Update → Extensions), or interface strings will lag behind after a Joomla update.
- Clear the cache after multilingual changes if page or conservative caching is on, or visitors may see a mix of old and new menus.
