Skip to main content
A broken placeholder is the translation error with the biggest consequences: a visible :attribute on the site, or a PHP error in WordPress because sprintf() is missing an argument. That is why Tolk checks placeholders strictly.

​
Which placeholders Tolk knows

Per project, you set which types Tolk checks under Settings (Instellingen). Tolk does not treat times (10:30), URLs (https://) or :: as Laravel placeholders.

​
What Tolk checks

A different capitalization than in the source (:attribute where the source has :Attribute) is only a warning: it can be intentional. The singular form may leave out the number, as is common: Eén item as the singular of %d items.

​
When Tolk checks

  • In the editor: while you type. You can save, even halfway, but the error stays visible.
  • In an import: the preview counts the translations with a placeholder error. They are imported anyway, so you can fix them in the editor.
  • After an AI translation: Tolk protects placeholders before the text goes to the AI and checks them afterwards. If there is an error, it retries once.
  • In an export: a translation with a placeholder error is never included. Tolk uses the fallback instead. That way a live site never breaks on a translation.