Change the language Office uses in its menus and proofing tools (2024)

Tip:To prevent having to manually configure the proofing language with each new document in Word, switch on the option to detect the language you're writing. On the Review tab, go to Language. Choose Language > Set Proofing Language, and then select Detect language automatically.

Note:If you're usingOffice 365 and the commands available are different from what's shown here, expand theConfigure Office language for Office 2016 or earlier section and follow the instructions there.

In Office, the language options are in the Office Language Preferences dialog box. The display and authoring languages can be set independently. For example, you could have everything match the language of your operating system, or you could use a combination of languages for your operating system, authoring, and display.

To configure the display language:

1. Within any Office application, select File > Options > Language.

2. Under Office display Language, make sure the display language you want Office to use is listed.

   

3. Select the language you want, and then select Set as Preferred. If you want your Office display language to match the display language you have for Windows, select Match Microsoft Windows [Language].

4. If the language you want is not listed, select Install additional display languages from Office.com and follow the instructions there.

To configure the authoring and proofing language:

1. Within any Office application, select File > Options > Language.

2. Under Office authoring languages and proofing, make sure the language you want to use for authoring your document is listed.

   

3. If the language you want appears in the list, select it, and then select Set as Preferred. If the language you want is not listed, select Add a language, and then follow the instructions in the Add anauthoring language dialog box.

4. If the language accessory pack includes proofing tools for that language, its status appears asProofing installed.If the status is Proofing available, click the link to install the proofing tools.

Tip:To prevent having to manually configure the proofing language with each new document in Word, switch on the option to detect the language you're writing. On the Review tab, go to Language. Choose Language > Set Proofing Language, and then select Detect language automatically.

In Office, the language options are in the Set the Office Language Preferences dialog box. The display and help languages can be set independently. For example, you could have everything match the language of your operating system, or you could use a combination of languages for your operating system, editing, display, and Help.

To configure the editing and proofing language:

1. Within any Office application, select File > Options > Language.

   

2. If your language already appears among the editing languages press Set as Default. Otherwise select the language from the Add additional editing languages list then press the Add button. The new language will appear in the list of editing languages.

If the Keyboard Layout shows as Enabled, you're all set for editing. If it says Not enabled in the Keyboard Layout column follow these steps to enable it:

1. Click the Not enabled link.

2. In the Add Languages dialog box, press Add a language, select your language in the list, and then press Add.

3. Close the Add Languages dialog box. Your language should display as Enabled under Keyboard Layout in the Choose Editing Languages section.

Under Proofing, if your language shows as Installed, you're ready to go. Otherwise press Not installed and Office will take you to a page where you can download the necessary Language Accessory Pack for that language. Follow the instructions on that page to download and install the pack, then come back to the Office Language Preferences dialog box to confirm that it's now installed.

To configure the display and help languages:

• Within any Office application, select File > Options > Language.

  

If you've already set your Microsoft Windows display language to be the language you want Office to display in you can leave this set to Match Microsoft Windows. Otherwise select your language and press Set as Default to move that language to the top of the list. The language that is listed first is the one Office will use for its menus and buttons. Please note, if your Windows display language is not also installed in Office, your Office display language will appear in the next language in the display list.

Repeat to configure your help language if you want to.

User Interface - The display language for Office for Mac uses the primary language set for operating system. To change the display language for Office for Mac, you need to set a different primarylanguage for your operating system:

1. On theApple menu, chooseSystem Preferences > Language & Region

2. In the Preferred Languages list, setthe desired language to be your primary language by dragging it to the top of the list.

3. If the language you want doesn't appear just press the + sign and add it.

4. You'll have to restart your Office application for this change to take effect.

Editing - Setting the editing language depends on the program you're working in.

User Interface & Editing - The display and keyboard languages for Office for Android is the same as the language that the device is set to. You can configure those by going to Settings > Language and Input.

Proofing - On Android you can change the proofing language in Word.

In Word on your Android phone, tap Edit at the top of your screen, and then tap Proofing and Language under Review.

In Word on your Android tablet go to the Review tab and you can select your proofing language from the ribbon.

User Interface & Editing - The display and keyboard languages for Office for iOS are the same as the language that the device is set to. See Change the language on your iPhone or iPad for instructions.

Proofing - On iOS you can change the proofing language in Word.

In Word on your iPhone, tap Edit , tap Home > Review > Proofing tools, and then tap Proofing Language.

In your document, on the Review tab, tap Spell Check ,and then tap Proofing Language.

User Interface & Editing - The display and keyboard languages for Office for Windows Mobile are the same as the language that Windows is set to.

• Change Language Preferences in Windows 10

• Add or Change Languages in Windows 7 or 8

Proofing - On Windows Mobile you can change the proofing language in Word.

In your document, on the Review tab, you can select the proofing language from the ribbon.

User Interface - The best way to set the display language inOffice for the webis to set the language in the host where your documents live. That's usually OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox, etc. When you open a document from one of those sites, Office Online will use the display language you have that service set to.

Tip:If you're using a personal Microsoft account, you can choose your preferred display language in your profile settings at https://account.microsoft.com/profile.

• Change views on OneDrive (Scroll to the bottom for language settings)

• Set your language in SharePoint. If you're using SharePoint, and want a language other than your system language, you'll want to be sure to select a SharePoint language.

• Change your language settings in Dropbox

To set the proofing tools language in your app go to theReviewtab > Spelling & Grammar > Set Proofing Language. InOneNote for the web this is found on the Home tab.

Things to know

• This change will only take effect from this point in the document forward.

• To apply this change to any existing text in the document, press Ctrl+A to select all of the existing text, then set the proofing language with the steps above.

• This change only affects the current document. For subsequent documents you'll need to repeat these steps.