Are you working on a document with people from all over the world? LibreOffice is a great tool for working with different localizations. One of its coolest features is the ability to switch between languages smoothly. This is super helpful when you’re working with multiple languages.
Our article will walk you through the steps of changing the language of your document in LibreOffice. You’ll be able to make sure your documents are error-free and multilingual in no time.
Table of Contents
Why Change the Document Language?
There might be various reasons for changing document language. Here are a few of them.
- Proofreading and editing
- Localizations for targeting international markets
- Collaborating with multilingual teams
Steps to Change Document Language in LibreOffice
- Begin by opening the document you want to change the language for. LibreOffice supports various file formats, including .odt (OpenDocument Text), .docx, and more.
- In the menu, click on
Tools > Options. - On the left pane, click on the
Language Settings > Languages. - Select the language you want from the
"Default language for documents"dropdown. - If you want the change to be done only to the current document, then select the option
"For current documents only". - Press OK.
With this change, you can now start checking the spelling and grammar of your documents. Also, when you change the language document, you should see it reflected at the bottom of the LibreOffice work area. So, if you need to refer back to the document language, you can look at it and make the changes accordingly.
Reviewing your document after making language changes is always a good practice. Ensure that the text appears correctly in the chosen language and that there are no formatting issues.
Note: Changing the default language does not mean that the existing text of your document will be translated into the document language. It means that the spell check module will use the document language and give you hints such as red underlines to the incorrect words in the changed languages.
Conclusion
Changing the document language in LibreOffice is a simple yet powerful feature that enhances collaboration, ensures accuracy, and facilitates international communication. Whether you’re working on a multinational project or want to polish your documents in multiple languages, LibreOffice has you covered. Following the easy steps outlined in this guide, you can seamlessly switch between languages and create error-free, multilingual documents.
Actually LO is much easier and more powerful than that, you don’t need to change document language all the time. Just write your document normally, then go in menu to Tools -> Language and change language for whatever you want: a selection, a paragraph or the entire document. Even simpler: select your text and click the language in the status bar. This way you can have multiple languages in the same document and language tools (spelling, grammar) will work with all of them as long as you have the dictionaries installed.