Shack Forms Documentation

How to Translate "Send a copy to yourself" in a Shack Forms Pro Form

If you're using the Shack Forms Pro module in a language other than English and your form includes the "Send a copy to yourself" checkbox, you’ll need to translate that label into your chosen language:

untranslated language string

You can do this in four simple steps:

  1. Create a folder for your target language’s Shack Forms Pro language files.
  2. Copy the English Shack Forms Pro language files into this new folder.
  3. Rename the copied files to match your language code.
  4. Add a translation for the "Send a copy to yourself" label.

For this tutorial, we’ll walk through translating the "Send a copy to yourself" label into Russian.

Step #1. Create a folder for your target language’s Shack Forms Pro language files

  • Connect to your Joomla site using FTP.
  • Navigate to the following folder: /administrator/components/com_shackforms/language/

the language folder

  • Inside this folder, create a new directory named exactly according to Joomla’s language code format for your language. For this tutorial, we’ll create a folder named ru-RU:

the new language folder created

Note: Joomla language codes follow the xx-YY format:
  • xx is the two-letter ISO 639-1 language code (e.g., en for English, es for Spanish).
  • YY is the two-letter ISO 3166-1 country or region code (e.g., GB for the United Kingdom, FR for France).
Examples of Joomla Language Codes:
  • en-GB: English (UK)
  • en-US: English (US)
  • es-ES: Spanish (Spain)
  • fr-FR: French (France)
  • uk-UA: Ukrainian
  • ru-RU: Russian

Step #2. Copy the English Shack Forms Pro language files into the new folder

  • Go to this folder: /administrator/components/com_shackforms/language/en-GB You’ll find two files: en-GB.com_shackforms.ini and en-GB.com_shackforms.sys.ini

the two english source files to be copied

  • Copy both files into the folder of your chosen language. For this tutorial, we will copy them into the ru-RU folder:

the two english source files copied

Step #3. Rename the English language files

Next, rename the copied files to match your target language’s code. In this tutorial, we’ll rename:

  • en-GB.com_shackforms.ini → ru-RU.com_shackforms.ini
  • en-GB.com_shackforms.sys.ini → ru-RU.com_shackforms.sys.ini

the two english source files names changed

Step #4. Add the translated language string

  • Open the file: ru-RU.com_shackforms.ini (or the one corresponding to your language code)
  • Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following line:
MOD_PWEBCONTACT_EMAIL_COPY = "Add your translation of 'Send a copy to yourself' here"

the language string to be translated

  • Now replace the placeholder text with your actual translation. For this tutorial, we’ll translate it into Russian:
MOD_PWEBCONTACT_EMAIL_COPY = "Отправить копию себе"

the translated language string

  • Check your form. You should now see the translated "Send a copy to yourself" label next to the checkbox:

the translated label