It may happen that, after installing the plugin, not all the translation strings are downloaded to the Loco Translate plugin. You will recognize this by the lack of phrases in the translation file. How to avoid this situation?
You should delete the translation template created with the installation of the plugin, i.e. the .pot file, and then create the template file manually.
The Loco Translate plugin creates three types of files: .mo, .po, and .pot. The third one, the .pot file, is a template that takes phrases from the plugins. Strings are used to translate the plugins into any language.
The process of replacing an incomplete translation template, with a new one, is as follows:
go to Loco Translate > Plugins and select the plugin you want to translate
select the edit template link. You will find information about the number of strings, as well as a phrase browser there,
type the phrase you want to translate into the phrase browser, if you do not find it, it is a sign that the template file needs to be corrected/created as a new one
before deleting an existing template, try synchronizing the files by selecting the sync button.
If the sync attempt fails, delete the existing template and create a new one.
To do this:
go to the template,
select the Delete tab,
confirm it by selecting the Delete Permanently button,
The next step is to create a new template and edit it by adding translations to the new strings:
select create a template, then edit template
search for the phrases missing in the old template and start translating them
By the way, it is worth knowing that Loco Translate can create translation files in three different locations:
It would be best to use the path for Custom. Once added, translations will not be overwritten when the theme, plugins, or WordPress is updated. On the other hand, if you choose the System or Author option, you may risk losing your translations when you update the shop software.