Documentation for Joomla 5

Shack Forms Pro allows you to display form field labels on the frontend of your Joomla site in languages other than English.

This is a simple two-step process:

1. Install and enable a Joomla language pack for your preferred language.
2. Create custom labels for the fields in your Shack Forms Pro module using that language.

Let’s go through this process step by step.

Step #1. Install and enable a Joomla language pack

• Visit the Joomla 5 Translations page.
• Find your preferred language and download its package.
• In your Joomla admin dashboard, install the language package the same way you would install any extension.
• Go to System > Manage > Languages:

• You will be taken to the Languages: Installed (Site) screen. Click the grey circle icon next to your new language to set it as the default language of your Joomla site:

• This will change the grey circle icon to a yellow circle icon with a yellow star inside:

Great! Now you can create frontend labels for your Shack Forms Pro module fields in your chosen language.

Step #2. Create frontend labels for Shack Forms Pro fields

• In your Joomla admin dashboard, open the Shack Forms Pro module you want to edit.
• Under the Module tab, click the little arrow next to the required field to open its settings. In this example, the “name” field is selected:

• In the Field label box, enter the label in your chosen language. For example, here “Ваше имя” is used, which means “Your name” in English:

• Click Save or Save & Close.
• Check your form on the frontend. You should now see the translated field label:

Can I translate labels by editing Shack Forms Pro language files?

Inside your Shack Forms Pro installation package, you may find language files for your preferred language. For example:

• Polish: /modules/mod_pwebcontact/language/pl-PL/pl-PL.mod_pwebcontact.ini
• Italian: /modules/mod_pwebcontact/language/it-IT/it-IT.mod_pwebcontact.ini

These files may already contain translations of some field labels. For example, the French file includes a translation for the “name” field:

You may be tempted to edit these files manually, but we strongly advise against it for two reasons:

1. Any manual changes will be lost the next time you update Shack Forms Pro.
2. New fields you create in Shack Forms will not be included in these files unless you add them manually—and those additions will also be overwritten in future updates.

Recommendation: Always translate field labels inside the Shack Forms Pro module settings, as shown in Step #1 and Step #2. This method is safe and update-proof.

Documentation for Joomla 3

Shack Forms Pro allows you to display form field labels on the frontend of your Joomla site in languages other than English. 

This is a simple two-step process:

1. Install and enable a Joomla language pack for your preferred language.
2. Create custom labels for the fields in your Shack Forms module using that language.

Let’s go through this process step by step.

Step #1. Install and enable a Joomla language pack

• Visit the Joomla 3 Translations page.
• Find your preferred language and download its package.
• In your Joomla administrator panel, install the language package the same way you would install any extension. 
• Go to Extensions > Languages:

• You will be taken to the Languages: Installed (Site) screen. Click the yellow star next to your new language. In the screenshot below, Russian is set as the default frontend language:

Great! Now you can create frontend labels for your Shack Forms module fields in your chosen language.

Step #2. Create frontend labels for Shack Forms fields

• In your Joomla administrator panel, open the Shack Forms module you want to edit.
• Under the Module tab, click the little arrow next to the required field to open its settings. In this example, the “name” field is selected:

• In the Field label box, enter the label in your chosen language. For example, here “Ваше имя” is used, which means “Your name” in English:

• Click Save or Save & Close.
• Check your form on the frontend. You should now see the translated field label:

Can I translate labels by editing Shack Forms Pro language files?

Inside your Shack Forms Pro installation package, you may find language files for your preferred language. For example:

• Polish: /modules/mod_pwebcontact/language/pl-PL/pl-PL.mod_pwebcontact.ini
• Italian: /modules/mod_pwebcontact/language/it-IT/it-IT.mod_pwebcontact.ini

These files may already contain translations of some field labels. For example, the Russian file includes a translation for the “name” field:

You may be tempted to edit these files manually, but we strongly advise against it for two reasons:

1. Any manual changes will be lost the next time you update Shack Forms Pro.
2. New fields you create in Shack Forms will not be included in these files unless you add them manually—and those additions will also be overwritten in future updates.

Recommendation: Always translate field labels inside the Shack Forms module settings, as shown in Step #1 and Step #2. This method is safe and update-proof.