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Edit on your site (visual editor)

BuiltLast updated 2026-11-07

The visual editor opens your own live page next to your dashboard. You click the text you want to change and type the better translation. It is called Edit on your site in the dashboard.

Turn it on (once per site)#

1. Open the site page in the dashboard. In the card Edit on your site press Turn the editor on. It is off for every site until you do this.
2. Publish once (Publish now). The publish writes the dashboard's address into your signed files as the only address allowed to edit your pages. Nothing changes on your page for visitors.
3. Make sure the page you want to edit is on one of your site's allowed origins (site settings).

You turn it off the same way: press Turn the editor off and publish once. The address is then removed from your signed files.

Use it#

1. On the site page or in the translation editor press Edit on your site. Your page opens in a frame, or in a new window if your page forbids frames.
2. A toolbar says "Preview – not published". Switch on Edit mode and click a text on your page.
3. The dashboard shows the original text and your translation. Type the new translation. Press Preview to see it in place, Save draft to keep it, or Undo.
4. Press Back to dashboard (top of the page) when you are done. A saved edit is a Manual draft. Nothing is published from the visual editor. Publish from the dashboard. See Publish changes.

Both the site page and the translation editor have the button. It is shown to editors, admins and owners.

Your language#

The editor page and the toolbar on your own page appear in the language of the dashboard (English, German, Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic or Hebrew), and switch to right-to-left for Arabic and Hebrew. Messages such as "Saved" or a glossary warning use the same language. Your own page text is not changed by this: only the editing tools are translated. The translations of the editing tools are machine drafts that a native speaker has not reviewed yet.

Keyboard#

Alt+Shift+P moves to the toolbar. The keys ] and [ step to the next and the previous string. Escape ends edit mode.

How it stays safe#

• Off by default, per site. Without your switch and a publish, your signed files carry no editor address and your page never loads any editor code.
• Only from the address in your signed files. The site loader adds the editor script only from an address listed in the signed previewOrigins of your files. A changed or added address breaks the signature, so the files are ignored. The editor script refuses to run if it did not come from that list.
• Only for a signed-in team member. The dashboard puts a short-lived session token (15 minutes) in the page address after the #. The part after # is never sent to any server. Every read and every save needs that token and your dashboard sign-in. An expired link opens nothing and a save with an expired token is refused. Reload the dashboard page for a new one.
• Visitors see and send nothing. A normal visit has no token, so no editor code is loaded and nothing is sent. The page can only tell the dashboard which string was clicked. The text, the status and every save come from the dashboard.
• Memory only. The editor keeps nothing in the browser. Close the page and it is gone.

If you use a Content-Security-Policy#

The editor script comes from the dashboard's address, so a strict policy blocks it. In your policy allow the dashboard address in script-src, and in frame-ancestors for the pages you edit. The dashboard card shows the exact address. If you do not want to change your policy, use Open in a new window on the editor page for the frame part, and add only the script-src entry. X-Frame-Options: DENY on your page also stops the frame; use the new window then.

Limits#

• The editor works on the original-language page. If a visitor language is already applied, the dashboard tells you to switch the page back first.
• Text that JavaScript adds after the scan is not editable until you reload the page.
• Following a link inside the preview ends the preview (the token stays in the address of the first page only). Press Reload page.
• When it edits a right-to-left language, tags and placeholders are shown as buttons and a live check, so they cannot get scrambled.
• The switch is stored by the dashboard. The loader that delivers the editor is part of the loader version released with this feature; sites keep the older loader until their next loader update (WordPress plugin update or script address with the new version). The WordPress plugin and the generic script tag load the same loader and need no extra step.
• Tested in Chromium (automated, real loader, real dashboard page). Firefox and Safari have not been tested for this feature: verify. Real WordPress and Shopify sites have not been tested with it: verify.