Default language in Word

Question

By default any template I set up reverts to English (US), rather than my preference of English (UK). Even when I go through the Tools/Language/Set Language option and then re-open a template it still goes back to US version.Any ideas please?

abach · Answer

Do you have your correct Language set in Control Panel, Regional and Language settings? If so, while in Word, choose Language from the Tools menu, then select the correct language and click Default, answering Yes to accept the change. On my copy of Word, all new documents based on normal.dot are now the English (UK), as I have set that as my default in Control Panel and in Word.

You can then delete English (US) by using the language bar to the right of the task bar (Choose settings, highlight English(US) and delete.

Does this work for you?

Message Edited by abach on 10-26-2005 12:44 PM

esquire · Answer

I have given up trying to find a fix to this since Word 2000.

JMBrown · Answer

thanks. does that mean there is no solution? Also what do you mean by you comment about private messages?

esquire · Answer

@JMBrown wrote: thanks. does that mean there is no solution? Also what do you mean by you comment about private messages?   Sorry for the confusion about private messages.  That's just my signature.

esquire · Answer

@abach wrote:

Do you have your correct Language set in Control Panel, Regional and Language settings? If so, while in Word, choose Language from the Tools menu, then select the correct language and click Default, answering Yes to accept the change. On my copy of Word, all new documents based on normal.dot are now the English (UK), as I have set that as my default in Control Panel and in Word.

You can then delete English (US) by using the language bar to the right of the task bar (Choose settings, highlight English(US) and delete.

Does this work for you?

Message Edited by abach on 10-26-2005 12:44 PM

Thanks for the tip Allan. This may be worth a short, but to which language setting are you referring in Regional and Language Options in the Control Panel?

Is it the setting in Standards and formats under Regional Options?

abach · Answer

I just chose English (UK) to experiment. It was chosen from the Regional Options drop down under Standards and Formats. When I changed it and applied the default to Word, I closed, then reopened Word and the language was English(UK). When I changed it back to English(US), I had to use the Default button, exit Word, reopen Word, then use the Language Bar to delete the English(UK) language.

Hope this helps...

esquire · Answer

Unfortunately it hasn't worked for me.  I have changed the Standards and Formats to default to English (UK) as suggested, changed the installed version to the same using Microsoft Office XP Language Settings and removed English (US), set the Language Default to English (UK) in Word (again), change the language of the Custom Dictionary to English (UK).  Closed Word and it resaved Normal.dot.  Rebooted the computer just in case and reopened Word but it still defaulted to English (US).  Oh well.... I'll leave it as is for now.     I'll pass your suggestion on to our corporate IT dept to experiment further and see if they can figure something out - they have been speaking to Microsoft tech support about this problem on and off for about 3 years now, and even then MS was as baffled as they are now.  We've even tried setting to other English versions such as Canadian and Australian without success.     Message Edited by esquire on 10-27-2005 09:44 AM

abach · Answer

It seems the only difference is I am using Office 2003. I wonder if the original post was using Office XP.

esquire · Answer

May be.  We use Windows 2000 Pro and Office 2000 at work.  I use Windows XP (Pro and Home Edition) and Office 2000 and XP at home.

JMBrown · Answer

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I'll give them a go tonight. The OS is XP (Home).

abach · Answer

I posted this to the Microsoft Partners community and was told to follow the instructions < here >. Let me know if this helps.

abach · Answer

Guess your day is off to a good start. I know how frustrating a problem can be and how refreshing a solution is.

esquire · Answer

OMG!  It works!  We need multiple language input so our IT folks opt to try out Method 2.   Thanks Allan!

klbf · Answer

this is a major flaw in office and has existed since 2000 and probably before even 97 and probably will contintue to be a problem.... i got around it by setting up a seconadary lanaguage setting, eg New Zealand dictionary along with a custom dictionary which bypasses using the american spelling... occational it will revert to american spelling even though the region setting is set to new zealand lol make sure all the settings are correct too

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Default language in Word

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