Custom Field Data Translation Error - Blocking Field Type Changes

When customers enable data translation on fields within Product and Product Category records, they can translate text data stored in fields like custom “long description” fields on the Product object.

However, if the "long description" field has been enabled for data translation, and you attempt to change the field type from Text Area (Long) to Text Area (Rich), the following error will occur:

Error: You can’t change this field’s data type because it has related data translation information.

This restriction exists because, once data translation is enabled, the system links specific translations to the field’s data type. Changing the field type would result in mismatched data translations. Even if data translation is later disabled, the system still prevents field type changes, as data translation could be re-enabled, and prior translations would need to match the original data type.