Translate Shopify theme content before the catalog is the only part that's local

Germany is live. Product titles are German. Add to cart, the footer, the announcement bar, and the winter draft theme are still English. Shoppers get a bilingual page and leave. A products job does not fill theme strings.

Translate Shopify theme content is its own type: theme strings, including draft/development themes prepared before you publish. Not a second pass in the theme editor per locale. Not a spreadsheet of button labels.

OO - Ultimate AI Translations lists scheduled runs for products, pages, theme content, and metaobjects, including draft themes. What is OO Translations? repeats that map. Job history was yesterday. This article is the theme type.

Theme copy does not live on the product

Product fields sit on the product. Theme copy sits in the theme: sections, buttons, labels, JSON templates. Shopify Help on theme language is per theme, often manual or Translate & Adapt. A catalog job never touches those keys.

Draft theme: you build the drop unpublished. The live storefront ignores it. Translate only the live theme and you publish an English winter over a German catalog.

Jobs skip handles, URLs, IDs, SKUs, size codes (S/M/L), JSON, empty source, locked fields. Do not “SEO-translate” a theme handle. Do translate “Add to cart.”

Half-translated storefronts

Products-only jobs. Dashboard looks green. Footer and ATC stay default. The language switcher — on Free — flips into a theme you never included.

Theme editor, locale by locale. Every label pasted. The next theme update wipes it, or you skip the draft.

A chat tab and twelve strings. Fine until the theme has 400 keys. No lock, no Missing/Outdated, no draft theme in the same run.

The actual path: theme (and draft theme) as a content type, locks on copy you wrote, a schedule if the plan includes one.

Theme inside OO Translations

OO - Ultimate AI Translations — 0 reviews, launched 14 Oct 2026. Live listing, USD:

• Free $0 — your own AI (OpenAI-compatible), unlimited languages/markets/translations, language switcher. No backups, no scheduled jobs, App AI not included

• Professional $10/month + usage — 1 manual + 1 automatic backup, monthly schedule, glossary, App AI at translation cost (~$0.01/unit) or your own AI

• Plus $20/month + usage — 5 + 5 backups, daily schedule, App AI at cost or your own AI

Say it when it fits: free app with your own model; App AI pass-through; jobs include draft themes; locks; glossary/brand voice on Professional+; backups; a styleable language (+ country) switcher.

Quick start: one language, small type, then daily. Daily = Plus. Monthly = Professional. Free = you start the job; theme is still allowed.

Manage languages: unpublished locales can sit in a job so copy exists before go-live. Switcher preview after the locale is published. Language switcher: embed or block on the live theme or the control is missing (FAQ).

Side-by-side editor. Save = lock. Scheduled and automatic jobs skip locked fields. Unlock if AI may overwrite.

Own AI: Connect AI — base URL, key, model. Or App AI on $10/$20.

Winter draft DE, live theme NL/EN

Live theme already NL+EN. Winter drop in a draft. DE market in two weeks.

1. Install OO - Ultimate AI Translations. Free: own AI. Theme job by hand.

2. Turn DE on, even if still unpublished.

3. Tiny job: content type theme, Missing, unlocked. Jobs: translated / skipped / failed. Handles in skipped: good.

4. Include the draft/development theme in that run or the next — the listing puts draft themes on those jobs. Keep the live theme separate if winter copy must not hit the current storefront.

5. Button copy you wrote: save in the editor (lock). The rest on Outdated when the NL source moves.

6. Publish the theme later. Switcher on the now-live theme. DE published. Hard refresh.

Professional: monthly job on theme + draft, backup before the first large run. Plus: daily. Free stays a Run button.

Start here

1. Listing. Theme content and draft themes are in the pitch. Do not promise a schedule on $0.

2. Connect AI or App AI. Mini theme job, one locale.

3. Read skipped: JSON and handles belong there. Empty source too.

4. Switcher on the active theme. Draft-theme translation is ready before publish, invisible on live until you switch.

5. Glossary/brand voice on Professional so a footer brand name is not rewritten into a slogan.

A theme run does not fill product SEO titles. Keep product jobs on products.

Metaobjects are a third type — a listing USP, not the same as theme. Pages and collections are separate too. “Everything Missing” in one job mixes signals: a skipped theme handle is expected; a skipped product title often is not.

Brand voice and glossary (Professional): do not let the header brand name become a slogan. Tone rides with the AI request. Free has no glossary checkbox — do not promise one on $0.

Backups are not on Free. First large theme job on Professional/Plus: backup before Run, restore if the footer went too literal.

Close

Translate Shopify theme content is a content type, not leftover from the catalog. Draft themes belong if you want copy before go-live. Locks keep your button wording. Jobs skip handles. Free is manual; the clock is Professional/Plus.

Put theme in the job in OO - Ultimate AI Translations. Titles were already German. The button can be too.