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Customize language setup and settings for Office 2013

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Applies to: Office 2013, Office 365 ProPlus

Summary: Learn how to customize languages for Office 2013.

Audience: IT Professionals

To customize and deploy language setup and settings for Office 2013, follow the steps that are described in this article.

Important

This article describes methods of deploying and managing language packs for the Windows Installer-based (MSI) delivery format of Office 2013, which is available for enterprise organizations through volume licensing. If you have an Office subscription and you are deploying Office 365 ProPlus, which uses the Click-to-Run delivery format, see Plan for multilanguage deployment of Click-to-Run-based Office installations.

In this article:

  • Overview

  • Before you begin

  • Deploy a default language version of Office

  • Specify which languages to install

  • Deploy different languages to different groups of users

  • Identify installed languages

  • Customize language settings

  • Customize and install the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit

Overview

By default, Setup automatically installs the language version that matches the Windows user locale that is set on each user's computer. Or, you can override this default behavior and manage the distribution of multiple language versions more precisely. For example, you can perform any of the following tasks:

  • Install more than one language on a single computer.

  • Specify which languages to install on users' computers, regardless of the language of the operating system, which is specified by user locale.

  • Specify custom settings once and then apply them to all language versions that you deploy in your organization.

  • Deploy different languages to different groups of users.

  • Deploy the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit for additional languages.

For more information, see Plan Setup in Plan for multilanguage deployment of Office 2013.

When a user starts an Office 2013 application for the first time, Setup applies default settings that match the language that is installed on the computer and the language that is specified by the Windows user locale setting. However, you configure language settings by using Group Policy, the Office Customization Tool (OCT), or the Language Settings tool. For more information, see Plan customizations in Plan for multilanguage deployment of Office 2013.

If users have to edit in a language or a companion proofing language that is not installed, you can customize and install the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit. For more information, see Plan for proofing tools in Plan for multilanguage deployment of Office 2013.

Before you begin

To determine which of the following procedures to use for your deployment and which customizations you might have to make, see Plan for multilanguage deployment of Office 2013.

Deploy a default language version of Office

If users in your organization work with Office files that are in the same language, or in a language that matches the language of their operating system, you can deploy a default language version of Office.

The following steps are the same as the standard steps for deploying Office 2013. They are included for testing. The only difference in the steps is that you must copy the language packs to the same network location as the installation files.

To deploy a default language version of Office to every client computer

  1. Create a network installation point for the primary Office 2013 product by copying all the files and folders from the source media to a shared network location.

  2. Copy all the files and folders from the source media for each language pack to the same network location. When you are prompted to overwrite duplicate files, choose No.

  3. Use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to configure the installation to match your organization's requirements.

    Because most of the customizations apply to the core product, you do not typically have to customize each language separately. Setup applies your customizations during the installation regardless of the language that you are installing. For information about how to customize language settings, see Customize language settings.

    Language packs that are obtained through a volume license agreement do not require a unique product key. Only one volume license key is required for the installation.

  4. On the Setup command line, specify the Config.xml file for the primary Office product that you are deploying.

    For example, the following command line installs Office Professional Plus 2013 in any language:

    \\server\share\Office15\Setup.exe /config \\server\share\Office15\ProPlus.WW\Config.xml

    where Office15 is the root of the network installation point.

  5. Run Setup from the root of the network installation point.

    Setup installs only the language-specific elements that are needed for the Office product that you are installing. Setup does not install the complete language pack unless you deploy the language pack as a separate product.

Specify which languages to install

If users in your organization work with Office files in more than one language, or if they want an Office language that does not match the language of their operating system, you can install all the languages they want at the same time.

The following steps are the same as the standard steps for deploying Office 2013. They are included for testing. The only difference in the steps is that you must copy the language packs to the same network location as your installation files and edit the Config.xml file to specify which languages to install.

To specify one or more languages to install on a client computer

  1. Create a network installation point for your primary Office 2013 product by copying all the files and folders from source media to a shared network location.

  2. Copy all the files and folders from the source media for each language pack to the same network location. When you are prompted to overwrite duplicate files, choose No.

  3. In the core product folder for the product that you are updating, locate the Config.xml file

    For example, if you are adding languages to an installation of Office Professional Plus 2013, find the Config.xml file in the Proplus.WW folder.

  4. Open the Config.xml file by using a text editor, such as Notepad.

  5. Add the <AddLanguage> element.

  6. Set the value of the Id attribute to the language tag that corresponds to the language that you want to install. You can specify more than one language by including additional <AddLanguage> elements and attributes.

  7. Specify which language to use for the Shell user interface (Shell UI) by setting the <ShellTransform> attribute of the <AddLanguage> element.

    For example, to specify that Setup install both English and French, with English as the default installation language, add the following elements:

    <AddLanguage Id="en-us" ShellTransform="yes"/> <AddLanguage Id="fr-fr" />

    If you want the default installation language and the Shell UI to match the operating system language, and you also want every user to have Office in both English and French, the code in the Config.xml file resembles the following example:

    <AddLanguage Id="match" ShellTransform="yes"/> 
<AddLanguage Id="en-us" />
<AddLanguage Id="fr-fr" />

    You are required to specify a value for the ShellTransform attribute when you add more than one <AddLanguage> element. Skipping this step causes the installation to fail.

  8. To specify that Setup also match the language of the user's Windows user locale, add another line in the Config.xml file:

    <AddLanguage Id="match" />

    In this case, Setup installs all specified languages plus the language that matches the user locale, if that language is different.

  9. Save the Config.xml file.

  10. Use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to configure the installation to match your organization's requirements.

    For information about how to customize language settings, see Customize language settings.

  11. Run Setup.exe and specify the path of your changed Config.xml file.

    Note that you must use a fully qualified path. For example: \\server\share\Office15\setup.exe /config \\server\share\Office15\ProPlus.WW\Config.xml where Office15 is the root of the network installation point.

Deploy different languages to different groups of users

You can give different groups of users different sets of Office languages. For example, a subsidiary that is based in Tokyo might have to work with Office 2013 documents in English and Japanese, whereas users in the European subsidiary want English, French, and German. In this scenario, you create a unique Config.xml file for each group of users.

The following steps are the same as the standard steps to deploy the Office 2013. They are included for testing. The only differences in the steps is that you must copy the language packs to the same network location as the installation files, create and edit the Config.xml file for each group to specify which languages to install, and then deploy the appropriate Config.xml file to the different groups.

To deploy different languages to different groups of users

  1. In the core product folder for the product that you are installing, locate the Config.xml file.

    For example, if you are installing Office Professional Plus 2013, find the Config.xml file in the ProPlus.WW folder.

  2. Open the Config.xml file by using a text editor, such as Notepad.

  3. Locate the <AddLanguage> element and specify the set of languages that you want to install for this user group, as described previously.

    Note

    You must also set the <Shell UI> attribute of the <AddLanguage> element, as described previously.

  4. Save the Config.xml file by using a unique file name.

  5. Repeat these steps for the next user group.

  6. Use the OCT to configure the installation to match your organization's requirements.

    For information about how to customize language settings, see Customize language settings.

  7. Deploy Office to each group of users separately, and in each case specify the correct Config.xml file on the Setup command line. For example:

    \\server\share\Office15\setup.exe /config \\server\share\Office15\ProPlus.WW\SubAConfig.xml, or

    \\server\share\Office15\setup.exe /config \\server\share\Office15\ProPlus.WW\SubBConfig.xml

    where Office15 is the root of the network installation point.

Identify installed languages

You can view a list of languages that are installed for Office 2013 either during the initial installation or during a separate installation of a language pack at the following registry key, which displays the LCID for each enabled language:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\LanguageResources\EnabledLanguages

You can view the user interface (UI) language and fallback languages at the following registry key:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\LanguageResources

Although all applications in the Office 2013 use a shared set of registry data to determine their UI language, they do not necessarily all appear in the same UI language. Applications in the Office 2013 usually appear with the UI language that is indicated in the UILanguage entry of this registry key. But there are circumstances where this might not be the case. For example, some deployments might have Word 2013 and Excel 2013 installed in French, but another Office application that is installed in a different language. In this case, the other application examines the UIFallback list in this registry key, and uses the first language that works with its installed configuration.

Customize language settings

Use Group Policy to enforce language settings

Group Policy settings can enforce default language settings that users in your organization cannot change. Policy settings are reapplied every time the user logs on. The following procedure provides high-level steps for configuring language preference-related policy settings.

Important

Before you can configure Office 2013 policy settings, you must load the Office 2013 Administrative Template files (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=257051). To load the Administrative Template files, download the files and follow the instructions for "Loading the ADMX templates" in Use Group Policy to enforce Office 2010 settings. Although the article is for Office 2010, the Administrative Templates information also applies to Office 2013.

To use Group Policy to manage language settings

  1. Open the Group Policy object (GPO) for which you want to set policy.

  2. In the navigation pane, expand (double-click) Computer Configuration or User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, and then expand Microsoft Office 2013\Language Preferences, which contains language-related policy settings.

  3. Under Language Preferences, choose either the Display Language or the Editing Language folder, depending on what you want to configure:

    • The Display Language folder contains policy settings that allow you to enable language preferences for UI items such as menu items and Help.

    • The Enable Language folder contains policy settings that allow you to choose and configure editing languages.

    Note

    Each policy setting provides a description of what it enforces.

  4. In the details pane, open (double-click) the policy setting that you want to configure, choose either Enable or Disable, and then specify any appropriate options that are provided.

  5. Save the GPO.

Use a Setup customization file to specify default language settings

You use the OCT to create a Setup customization file (.msp file) that Setup applies during the installation. Settings that are specified in the OCT are the default settings. Users can modify the settings after the installation.

To use the OCT to customize language settings

  1. Start the OCT by running Setup with the /admin command-line option.

  2. On the Modify User Settings page, expand the tree to Microsoft Office 2013\Language Settings.

  3. Open the folder that you want in the navigation pane. Open (double-click) the setting in the details pane, choose Enable, and then specify a value.

  4. Save the Setup customization file in the Updates folder at the root of the network installation point.

    Setup applies the file automatically when you install Office on users’ computers.

For more information about how to use the OCT, see Office Customization Tool (OCT) reference for Office 2013.

Use the Language Preferences tool to change language settings

If you are not enforcing language settings by policy, users who work in Office applications can use the Language Preferences tool to change their language preferences.

To change language preferences by using the Language Preferences tool

  1. Depending on your operating system, do one of the following:

    • If you are running Windows 8, open All Apps (right-click the desktop), and then under Microsoft Office 2013, choose Office 2013 Language Preferences. Or,

    • If you are running Windows 7, choose Start, choose All Programs, choose Microsoft Office, choose Microsoft Office 2010 Tools, and then choose Office 2013 Language Preferences.

  2. Under Choose Editing Languages, in the language list, choose the language that you want to be available for editing, and then choose Add. Repeat this step for each editing language that you want to add.

  3. Under Choose Editing Languages, choose the language that you most often use for Office applications and documents, and then choose Set as Default.

  4. Under Choose Display and Help Languages, and then under Display Language, choose the language that you want to use to view Office application buttons and tabs, and then choose Set as Default.

  5. Under Help Language, select the language that you want to use to view Office application Help, and then choose Set as Default.

    If you do not specify a language for Help, the online Help language uses the display language.

Note

You can enable functionality for working in languages that are not installed on the computer. For example, if you select Korean as an editing language, you enable Asian and Korean features in Word even if Korean proofing tools are not installed. You must enable support for that language in the operating system.

Customize and install the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit

This section covers how to customize and install Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit.

Note

If you only want specific proofing languages, the installation of one or two language packs might provide all the proofing tool languages that you have to have. Each language version of Office 2013 includes proofing tools for a set of companion languages. For more information, see Plan for proofing tools in Plan for multilanguage deployment of Office 2013 and Companion proofing languages for Office 2013.

Customize the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit

You can specify which proofing tool languages to install by editing the Config.xml file in the ProofKit.WW folder. For more information about OptionState attributes and IDs, see Plan for proofing tools in Plan for multilanguage deployment of Office 2013 and Language identifiers and OptionState Id values in Office 2013.

To customize Setup for proofing tools

  1. In the ProofKit.WW folder, locate the Config.xml file.

  2. Open the Config.xml file by using a text editor, such as Notepad.

  3. For each set of proofing tools that you do not want to install, in the OptionState element, set the State attribute to Absent. For example, if you do not want Catalan proofing tools installed, use this syntax:

    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1027" State="Absent" Children="force"/>

  4. Set the State attribute for each set of proofing tools that you want to deploy to Local (or Advertise, if preferred). For example, to deploy Basque (Basque) proofing tools, you can use this syntax:

    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1069" State="Local" Children="force"/>

  5. Save the Config.xml file.

  6. Run Setup.exe, and then specify the path of your changed Config.xml file.

    Note that you must use a fully qualified path. For example,: \\server\share\Office15\ProofKit.WW\setup.exe /config \\server\share\Office15\ProofKit.WW\Config.xml

    where Office15 is the root of the network installation point.

Installing the Office Proofing Tools Kit 2013 on a single computer

If you have only one or two users who want proofing tools, you can install proofing tools from the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit to individual computers.

To install the Office Proofing Tools Kit 2013 on a single computer

  1. On the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit CD, run Setup.exe.

  2. Read and accept the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then choose Continue.

  3. To install the proofing tools for all available languages, choose Install Now. The installation will begin. Otherwise, to install individual languages, choose Customize.

  4. If you selected Customize, choose the File Location and User Information tabs to change the information as necessary. On the Installation Options tab, choose the node (plus (+) sign) for the languages that you want to install, and then use the drop-down arrows to set the appropriate installation states.

  5. Choose Install.

Note

Beginning in Office 2013, free downloadable proofing tool packages in 52 languages are available to all customers who have purchased the on-premises (MSI-installed) version of Office 2013, whether or not they are volume license customers. You can download these proofing tool packages in 32-bit or 64-bit versions from Office Proofing Tools. For more information, see Downloadable proofing tool packages in Companion proofing languages for Office 2013.

See also

Plan for multilanguage deployment of Office 2013
Office Customization Tool (OCT) reference for Office 2013