Language Management in Office Applications

José Daniel Cruz Ugalde 20 Reputation points
2023-09-06T12:35:08.15+00:00

Hi,

I use Word and PowerPoint to create documentation for different countries, who speak different languages.

I have found extremely difficult to make Word and PowerPoint understand the Language I am using in the current document. Let me unroll it:

  1. On one hand, there is the "Office Language", which is how I want Office to show itself, meaning, the tabs, the options, the commands, etc. Of course, I want that in my native language.
  2. On the other hand, we have the language check and correction setting, which basically means in which Language I am writing at the moment.

Point #1 is not a problem. We are OK with that. But regarding Point 2, it is really difficult to make Office Understand that, for instance, in one document I want to work in Spanish, and in other I want to work in English.

I know there is an option in the "Review" tab that has a "Language" button, where I am supposed to set the preferences of language. However, this button never seem to work! For instance, if I have a document in English, and I select English as my "creation and check" language, all the English words still appear as unrecognized, and even Office automatically changes the words that somehow resemble a correct word in Spanish (since my system language is Spanish).

Probably the automatic change can be changed somewhere, but that is not the main issue. What I would like is a simple button that unambiguously sets the language of the content that is created.

I hope to have been clear with my question, and if I am ommiting a command that would solve the issue, please let me know.

Best regards,

JC

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows
Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For business | Windows
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Accepted answer
  1. Charles Kenyon 3,136 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-09-07T18:54:58.0266667+00:00

    Documents, as such, do not really have a language.

    It is set at the character level. Language settings can be invisibly inserted when you paste text.

    That said, the keyboard language and the Windows language can both modify settings in Word for a new document. This is what appears to be happening to you.

    See my article: Proofing Language Keeps Changing - Solutions for more. One thing that can be helpful is to add the language to the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on the language shown there gives instant access to looking at and changing this for selected text.

    For Word documents with more than one language, you can use styles to sort things out. I do not know whether this works in PowerPoint.

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