Why does adding a new proofing language require me to download the entire Office installer?

Question

I'm using Office 365. I want to install another proofing language. That shouldn't be a big deal: dictionary for spellchecking, some grammar rules, should be a few MB. Except: Office has been downloading for half an hour at 2 MB/second now. My conclusion is that it's downloading the entire Office suite. That seems to be a spectacularly inefficient method for adding a proofing language.

Answer 1

Version: 2205 build 15225.20288 clck-to-run

Language pack: Default language is English, I'm installing the language pack for Arabic.

I just tried again, adding the Czech language pack. Result: 12 minutes of downloading at 2 Mbit/s. That's 180 MB, which still seems excessive for a dictionary and grammar rules.

Answer 2

A language accessory pack includes not only spellchecking tools but also the user interface language, so I believe it is a rather big download. However, it shouldn't take hours.

Once the installation has completed, you will see an entry for each language in Windows Apps & Features. The screen shot below illustrates what I see, running two language versions of a perpetual license:

Answer 3

Hi Harro,

Once again apologies for the inconvenience. I downloaded the Arabic language pack and I got OfficeSetup 8MB and the process of downloading the language pack begins. Based on my observation it will download the language pack from the background without interrupting your work. Kindly check this article and you can download manually the language pack you want Language Accessory Pack for Office (microsoft.com).

I hope the suggestion can help you.

We look forward to your response. Thanks for your cooperation. Stay safe and healthy always.

Sincerely,

Zee | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 4

Dear Harro de Jong1,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

I understand that you have a concern on adding a new proofing language taking so long and possible downloading the entire Office installer. Apologies for the inconvenience caused to you by this behavior. Before moving forward, we need more detailed information about the situation you are experiencing.

Kindly share with us the information below:

What is the version of your Word application?

May I know if you have language pack installed?

How many times you tried to add new proofing language and experience the same behavior?

Possible reason is the Office is trying to update or repair or install the language pack but yet to be confirmed. It would be great if you can provide a screen shot of the process.

We look forward to your response. Thanks for your cooperation. Stay safe and healthy always.

Sincerely,

Zee | Microsoft Community Moderator

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