Joomla! Documentation™

Description

In the Installed Languages list you can set the default Languages independently for the Site and Administrator interfaces.

How to Access

• Select System → Manage Panel → Languages from the Administrator menu.

Screenshot

Column Headers

Click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

• Radio Buttons. Select a radio button to make the selected language the Default Site and/or Administrator language.
• Title. The name of the language in English.
• Native Title. The name of the language in that language.
• Language Tag. Language Tag of the Installed Language.
• Default. The default language of the site, marked with a yellow graphical asterisk in this column. Note: to every user a language can be assigned (see "User Management"), user from groups "Administrator" and "Super Administrator" can select their preferred language themselves at login.
• Version. The version number of the installed language.
• Date. The creation date of the language.
• Author. The name of the language translator is displayed in this column.
• Author Email. The email address of the translator.

• ID. This is a unique identification number for this item assigned automatically by Joomla. It is used to identify the item internally, and you cannot change this number. When creating a new item, this field displays "0" until you save the new entry, at which point a new ID is assigned to it.

List Filters

Filter by Site or Administrator

• Site. Shows the installed Languages for the Frontend part. Here you can set the default language for the Frontend of your Joomla website.
• Administrator. Shows the installed Languages for the Backend part. Here you can set the default language for the Backend of your Joomla website.

Search bar. Near the top of the page you will see the search bar shown in the Screenshot above.

• Search by Text. Enter part of the search term and click the Search icon. Hover to see a Tooltip indicating which fields will be searched.
  To 'Search by ID' enter "id:x", where "x" is the ID number (for example, "id:19").
• Filter Options. Click to display the additional filters.
• Clear. Click to clear the Filter field and restore the list to its unfiltered state.
• Ordering. Shows the current list ordering field. 2 ways to change the order:
  • Select from the dropdown list. Ordering may be in ascending or descending order.
  • Click a column heading. The column heading toggles between ascending and descending order.
• Number to Display. Shows the number of items in a list. Select from the dropdown list to change the number displayed.
  The default for a site is '20' but this may be changed in the Global Configuration.

Filter Options. This screen has no Filter Options

Page Controls. When the number of items is more than one page, you will see a page control bar near the bottom of the page shown in the Screenshot above. The current page number being viewed has a dark colour background.

• Start. Click to go to the first page.
• Prev. Click to go to the previous page.
• Page numbers. Click to go to the desired page.
• Next. Click to go to the next page.
• End. Click to go to the last page.

Toolbar

At the top of the page you will see the toolbar shown in the Screenshot above. The functions are:

• Default: Makes the selected item the default item. The default star symbol () will show in the Default column, indicating that this is now the default item.
• Switch Languages. In the Administrator screen only, select a language radio button and then this button. The Administrator language will change and there will be a message such as Message La langue de l'administration a été changée en "French (France)".

• Install Languages. Links to the Install Languages Screen.

• Close. Closes the current screen and returns to the previous screen without saving any modifications you may have made. This toolbar icon is not shown if you are creating a new item.

• Options. Opens the Options window where settings such as default parameters can be edited.

• Help. Opens this help screen.

Quick Tips

• Users can use any Language from the list of installed Languages, either by having it assigned in the Users list or by filling out a Menu Item list - New/Edit - User Form Layout at the Frontend. This will cause the Joomla! system prompts to be generated in this Language just for this User. For example, if a User chooses Spanish as their language, then the Search Module will show with prompts in Spanish.
• This User's choice is not affected by the Default Language set for the Frontend.

• Changing a User's Language or the Default Language does not affect the website's Articles and other content.

• Important: Do not delete the default language files (for example, with FTP). This will create errors on both the Frontend and Backend.
• Additional Languages can be added using the Install Languages Screen.
• If desired, you can show the Frontend site in one Language and show the Backend administration pages in a different Language. Also, individual articles can be configured to use a different language in the Advanced Parameter pane when editing the Article.

Related Information

• To install more Languages: Install Languages Screen.
• To uninstall a Language: Extensions - Manage
• To change the Language for a User: Users - New/Edit
• To set the Language of an Article: Articles - New/Edit - Parameters - Advanced