powerpoint set presentation language

How-To Geek

How to change language in microsoft powerpoint.

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Quick Links

How to change text language in powerpoint, change default text and interface language in powerpoint, key takeaways.

Select text, and then click the "Review" tab and select Language > Set Proofing Language to choose the language of any selected text. To change PowerPoint's default language used for its interface as well as any text you insert, head to Options > Language.

Creating a PowerPoint presentation in a different language? You can change the text language (used for spelling corrections) or the interface language (used for menus). Here's how.

The instructions below will work for all recent versions of Microsoft PowerPoint. This includes the version of PowerPoint included with a Microsoft 365 subscription .

By default, PowerPoint will use the same language to check your presentation's text and grammar as your Office installation's default language. However, you can customize the text language used for any text you insert into PowerPoint.

To do this, open your PowerPoint presentation and select any text you've inserted. Next, press Review > Language > Set Proofing Language on the ribbon bar.

In the "Language" box, select a language from the list provided and press "OK" to save your choice.

The text you've selected will now use this language to check for spelling and grammatical errors. If you want to change back at any point, repeat these steps and select your usual language instead.

Related: How to Turn Off Spell Check as You Type in Microsoft Office

PowerPoint uses your default locale language (such as U.S. English) to choose the text for menus and buttons. It also uses this language to set the default proofing language for any text you insert.

If you're in a locale with multiple languages, however, you may want to switch between them. For example, if you're based in the United States, you may wish to use Spanish as your default proofing language for presentations.

This will mean that any text you insert uses this language---you won't need to change it manually. Likewise, you may want to change your interface language to match.

You can change both of these options to use an alternative language in PowerPoint's settings menu. To start, open PowerPoint and select File > Options.

In the "PowerPoint Options" window, select "Language" on the left.

On the right, choose a new language in the "Office Display Language" section and press the "Set As Preferred" option.

This will determine the language used for menus and buttons.

Next, choose a new proofing language in the "Office Authoring Languages And Proofing" section. Press "Set As Preferred" to make it the default proofing language for PowerPoint in the future.

Adding a New Language Pack

If you don't see a language you want to use as your interface or proofing language, you'll need to install the language pack for it first.

To do this, press File > Options > Language in PowerPoint and select either of the "Add A Language" buttons.

Next, select the language you want to use from the pop-up list and press the "Install" button.

Microsoft Office will take a few minutes to download the new language pack. If you're prompted to, press "OK" to confirm and begin the installation.

Once the language pack is installed, select it from your list in the "Office Display Language" or "Office Authoring Languages And Proofing" sections. You'll need to press "Set As Preferred" to make it your default interface or proofing language.

When you're ready, click "OK" to save your choice. PowerPoint will exit and relaunch to display the new language.

Related: How to Change the Language in Microsoft Word

• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft PowerPoint

Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Change Language in PowerPoint

How to Change Language in PowerPoint

People who require juggling multiple languages to suit their professional needs can often find a single language inadequate for their PPT and the interface. This might mean switching between the proofing language to check spelling and grammar, as well as the interface language to adjust it to editing needs. Below are instructions on how to change language in PowerPoint.

If you are a Google Slides user looking for this solution, please refer to our article on how to change language in Google Slides .

Should I change Proofing Language or Interface Language?

PowerPoint enables using multiple languages that you can switch between to match your presentation needs. Most commonly, users require to change the proofing language in PowerPoint, which means changing the grammar checker assigned language. 

In case you are working at a remote location with a borrowed computer, you may be required to change the interface language of PowerPoint, as it would feel uncomfortable to locate menus or specific tools.

Check below for the instructions to change both the language interface and proofing language in PowerPoint.

How to Change PPT Language Interface in PowerPoint

To change the language of the PowerPoint interface on a PC, go to Review > Language > Language Preferences .

Note: Follow the following instructions for other devices:

• Mac: If you are using Mac, you can change the interface language via the Apple menu from System Preferences > Language & Region . 
• iPhone/iPad/Android: iOS and Android users, by default, will see the language set for their device as the default language in PowerPoint.
• PowerPoint for the Web: If you are using PowerPoint for the Web, it uses the same language as the host app of your documents, such as OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox, etc.

The Language Preferences option provides a menu from which you can choose the language you intend to use from the Office display language menu. The menu allows adding the new and preferred language and the one to be used if the text is unavailable for the primary language. To remove a specific language from the list, select it from the Office authoring languages and proofing menu at the bottom and click Remove .

If you are installing a new language, it will take a few minutes before it is installed and ready for use.

You can switch between languages anytime by following the same steps and managing your preferred list for the interface.

The selected language will become available for PowerPoint and other Office apps such as Word and Excel. The default preferences you set will also be applied across your Office apps.

How to Change Proofing Language in PowerPoint

Whether you’re using PowerPoint on a PC or an Android or iOS device, you might have multiple keyboards installed to type in various languages when creating PPTs for different audiences. To set and change the proofing language, go to Review > Language > Set Proofing Language on a PC or Tools > Language on Mac. If you’re using PowerPoint for the Web, go to Review > Spelling & Grammar > Set Proofing Language .

In the dialog box, select the language for checking spelling and grammar. When selecting a proofing language, you can also set a default language.

Once selected, PowerPoint will check the spelling and grammar in your desired proofing language. PowerPoint provides the utility to choose between specific languages and the version of the language preferred by the user (e.g., European or Latin American versions of Spanish). Also, check our article about how to check spelling in PowerPoint .

Like this article? Please share

Presentation Tips, Presentations Filed under PowerPoint Tutorials

Related Articles

Filed under Design • October 22nd, 2024

The Rules of PowerPoint Presentations: Creating Effective Slides

Create powerful slide decks by mastering the rules of PowerPoint presentations. Must-known tips, guidance, and examples.

Filed under Google Slides Tutorials • October 16th, 2024

How to Add Voice Memos to Google Slides

Make your slides more interesting by learning how to add voice memos to Google Slides presentations. Step-by-step instructions here.

Filed under Business • October 8th, 2024

Data-Driven Decision Making: Presenting the Process Behind Informed Choices

Discover how to harness data for informed decision-making and create impactful presentations. A detailed guide + templates on DDDM presentation slides.

Leave a Reply

PowerPoint Top Contributors: John Korchok  -  Steve Rindsberg  ✅

October 14, 2024

PowerPoint Top Contributors:

John Korchok  -  Steve Rindsberg  ✅

• Search the community and support articles
• Microsoft 365 and Office
• Search Community member

Ask a new question

Setting language for entire presentation all at once / Selecting all slides and all objects on all slides at once

Report abuse.

Reported content has been submitted​

Try the following steps:- Step 1:- By using Macro we can change the language in powerpoint for all slides. Create a new macro: 1. Go to Tools, Macro, and Visual Basic Editor. 2. Insert a new empty module by selecting Insert, Module. 3. Paste this code on the right panel and save the macro: Option Explicit   Public Sub ChangeSpellCheckingLanguage()       Dim j As Integer, k As Integer, scount As Integer, fcount As Integer     scount = ActivePresentation.Slides.Count     For j = 1 To scount         fcount = ActivePresentation.Slides(j).Shapes.Count         For k = 1 To fcount             If ActivePresentation.Slides(j).Shapes(k).HasTextFrame Then                 ActivePresentation.Slides(j).Shapes(k) _                 .TextFrame.TextRange.LanguageID = msoLanguageIDEnglishAUS             End If         Next k     Next j End Sub

Step 2:- This "msoLanguageIDEnglishAUS" which is used in the above macro can be replaced by any desired language. The full list of languages can be found in this article http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa432635.aspx Step 3:- Execute the macro (by pressing F5 within the editor, or by selecting Tools, Macro, Macros, ChangeSpellCheckingLanguage, and clicking Run). After that all text elements within the presentation will have the new spelling language.

117 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful? Yes No

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

Thanks for your feedback.

I want to change the language for spell checking after translating. I don't want to click each slide and then use Select All to select all objects on the slide and then set the language. There has to be a better way but I've never found it. Basically seems like a problem of not being able to select every object in a presentation at once (would have same problem setting one font for an entire presentation). -Things I've tried: 1. Setting the language without previously selecting anything. (Doesn't change the language of any text.) 2. Using Select All in Outline view and then setting the language. (No change.) 3. Using Select All in Slide view and then setting the language ( Select All selects all objects on that slide.) -I have to be missing something because this seems like basic functionality. I haven't been able to figure this out in earlier versions either.

6 people found this reply helpful

Replies (99) 

Question info.

• Norsk Bokmål
• Ελληνικά
• Русский
• עברית
• العربية
• ไทย
• 한국어
• 中文(简体)
• 中文(繁體)
• 日本語

• Slide Library
• Slide Library for PowerPoint
• Downloadable slides and shapes
• Slide Library search
• Search Library via shortcut keys
• Slide Library update alerts
• Rename or delete objects
• Share Slide Library
• Save slides or shapes to Slide Library
• Save presentation to Slide Library
• Manage Templates
• View all templates and set default
• Agenda Wizard
• Create Agenda Slides
• Update Agenda Slides
• Agenda Slide Numbering
• Navigate via Agenda
• Table of Contents
• Import Agenda Items
• Save Agenda Format
• Manage Colors
• Color Palette Toolbar
• Customize Color Toolbar
• Apply fill with outline color
• Recolor Charts
• View RGB color values & names
• Theme Color Tints and Shades
• Share Color Palette with team
• Insert Shapes
• Standard PowerPoint shapes
• Callouts / Speech Bubbles
• Hand Drawn Circles
• Harvey Balls
• Create Mini Slides
• Move to Multiple Slides
• Right Facing Centered Triangle
• Status Indicators
• Arrange and Align Shapes
• Select same color or size
• Select shapes by attribute
• Align shapes
• Align to first selected shape
• Choose Align anchor point
• Align using shortcut keys
• Copy paste position multiple shapes
• Straighten Lines
• Swap positions
• Distribute evenly
• Set Horizontal Gaps
• Set Vertical Gaps
• Squeeze or expand gaps
• Remove gaps
• Group Objects by Row
• Group Objects by Column
• Send to back, bring to front
• Send backward, bring forward
• Flip or rotate
• Group, ungroup and regroup
• Edit Shapes
• Same height, same width
• Copy paste position, size
• Resize shapes
• Slice shapes
• Multiply shapes
• Stretch shapes and fill gaps
• Toggle line weight and style
• Change margins toggle
• Chevrons same angle
• Paragraph Styles
• Save Paragraph Styles
• Apply Paragraph Styles
• Use PowerPoint Indent Increase/ Decrease to apply bullet styles
• Reset Paragraph Styles
• Ticks and Crosses bullets
• Paint Formatting
• Advanced Format Painter
• Position & Size Painter
• Table Format Painter
• Style Painter
• Text Format Painter
• Change Shape Painter
• Chart Format Painter
• Angles & Curves Painter
• Animation Painter
• Cycle Accent Colors
• Format Text
• Fit text to textboxes
• Wrap Text Toggle
• Merge Textboxes
• Split Textboxes
• Increase/ Decrease Font size
• Change Text Case
• Color Bold Text
• Delete Text or Replace
• Insert Superscript text
• Format Tables
• Create table from text boxes
• Convert table to text boxes
• Convert text to table
• Insert columns and rows
• Paste Excel data without source formatting
• Paste Excel data into text box tables
• Export Table or Box Table Data to Excel
• Set cell margins
• Express Table layout
• Table stripes
• Autofit columns
• Evenly space columns
• Align shapes over tables
• Harvey Balls for Tables
• Status Indicators for Tables
• Sort Table data
• Customizable PowerPoint Shortcut Keys
• Extra PowerPoint shortcuts
• Add PowerPoint shortcuts
• Search shortcut keys
• Reassign PowerPoint shortcuts
• Reset PowerPoint shortcuts
• McKinsey PowerPoint shortcuts
• F4 or Ctrl+Y redo or repeat
• Printable PowerPoint Shortcuts PDF
• How to Print a Custom Shortcuts list
• Search Shortcut Keys
• Searchable PowerPoint Shortcuts list
• Format Toolbar Overview
• Format Toolbar Layout Options
• Lock or Unlock Objects
• Lock objects
• Lock objects to the Slide Master
• Unlock objects
• Proofing Tools
• Fix Lines & Outlines
• Fix Layout, Transitions, Animations
• Fix Punctuation & Language
• Fix Margins, Bullets, Indents
• Check for Confidential items
• Reduce File Size
• Check Slide Master
• Sync Template Settings
• Set Proofing Language
• Change set language for PowerPoint presentations
• Flip PowerPoint Slides
• Flip Slides for Translation
• Slide Numbering
• Manage Slide Numbering
• Slide Numbers with totals
• Add words to Slide Numbers
• Change Starting Slide Number
• Skip Slide Numbers on Hidden Slides
• Slide Navigator
• Footers & Footnotes
• Filename Footer
• Enlarge Footnotes
• Refine Slides
• Add summary slide
• Format slide title
• Display No Fly Zone
• Send slide to appendix
• Camouflage mode
• Format Painter
• Set Grayscale
• Format Images
• Compress file size
• Format Charts
• Charts Toolbar
• Config Options
• Customize Settings
• Dark Mode Display
• Review Slides
• Customizable Status Stamps
• Sticky Notes
• Tag slides with filename and page number
• Share Slides
• Email selected slides in PPT or PDF format
• Print selected slides
• Save selected slides
• Slide Library for Teams
• Team Slide Library
• Create multiple Team Slide Libraries
• Synchronize Team Slide Libraries
• Synchronize Team Slide Library to your company Dropbox/ Box/ OneDrive folder
• Updating your Team Slide Library
• Import entire presentation to the Slide Library
• Share Slide Library with a colleague
• Share Custom Settings
• Share Custom Settings with Team
• Getting Started
• Getting started with PPT Productivity add-in for PowerPoint
• Downloadable PowerPoint Elements for Slide Library
• Tutorial - How to Create Custom Paragraph Styles for PowerPoint
• Can I use PPT Productivity on a Mac?
• PPT Productivity Basic Tools Tutorial
• PPT Productivity Plus Tools Tutorial
• New Features
• August 2023 update: Color Toolbar enhancement, new icons and more
• February 2023 update: New Slide Libraries available to download!
• January 2023 Update: Agenda Wizard, Format Painters + More
• How to copy and paste formatting in PowerPoint
• PowerPoint How To
• What are the most popular PowerPoint shortcuts?
• Where are PPT templates stored? Finding templates in PowerPoint
• Pasting data into a PowerPoint table without source formatting?
• Consulting Toolkit
• How to create effective consulting slides using Minto Principles
• Missing the McKinsey PowerPoint Shortcuts?
• Missing the Accenture QPT for PowerPoint?
• Missing the BCG PowerPoint Tools?
• Missing the Bain Toolbox for PowerPoint?

How to add Stamps or Stickers to PowerPoint slides?

• Looking for a Consulting PowerPoint Toolbar?
• Top 10 PowerPoint Hacks / Shortcuts used by strategy consultants
• PowerPoint Tips

Set PowerPoint Proofing Language for all slides or a selection

• June 15, 2020
• Last updated: September 11, 2024

Easily set all your existing slides to the same language in PowerPoint using PPT Productivity add-in , including shapes or objects on slides and the notes pages! This feature is especially useful for anyone working in countries like Canada or Switzerland where multiple official languages are used, or for companies where teams are collaborating from different countries. But it's also useful to ensure a consistent type of English is used throughout your presentation (eg UK English vs US English).

Set Proofing Language in PowerPoint determines the dictionary for spell checking that is used - this is what determines whether words appear with a red squiggly line beneath them. Standard PowerPoint does not include an option to change the language easily for an entire presentation to make proofing or reviewing easier. If you try to update the set language in Standard PowerPoint, you need to apply it for each textbox. But PPT Productivity add-in for PowerPoint solves this problem and gives you a feature to change the set proofing language for all slides in PowerPoint . Or for selected slides or shapes - you have options!

Standard PowerPoint Change Language for all slides

In standard PowerPoint, to change language for all slides you need to:

• Select all slides by pressing CTRL+A (from the Thumbnail pane in Normal view or from the Slide Sorter view)
• Navigate to the Review tab on the ribbon and Click the Language button
• Click the Set Proofing Language menu option
• Select the language you would like to use as the proofing language

This standard PowerPoint option will update the language for titles and textboxes as defined in the slide layouts. But the standard PowerPoint feature will not include text boxes added to your slides, shapes added to your slides with wording, or the text in handout notes for each slide . This is why we created the change set language feature in PPT Productivity for PowerPoint .

How to change language in PowerPoint for spell check review for entire presentation?

With PPT Productivity you can set the proofing language for the entire presentation , a specific slide, or individual shapes. Using the PPT Productivity Proofing Language drop-down menu you can change the language in PowerPoint. You can:

• Set the Default Proofing language for your presentation
• Select the shapes/ slides to update language - all text-boxes in the selection, including any text-boxes in Grouped shapes, will be set to the Default Language of your presentation
• Convert all shapes in all PowerPoint slides to your Default Language
• Change language for all slides or a selection of slides or shapes
• When you change language for the entire PowerPoint presentation or selected slides, the set language for notes in these slides will also be updated

To do this, you simply select either the Set all slides language or Set selected slides/ shapes language features from the PPT Productivity Ribbon. Watch a brief demonstration of the Set proofing language features for PowerPoint in the video below.

Take a look and let us know what you think.

Head to our home page to download a free trial now!

See our tools at work

Book a personal demo with our PPT professionals

Start 30 Day Free Trial

Start your 30 day free trial - Microsoft Office for Windows

Download and Install

Existing customers download to install on a new computer

Related productivity tips

Looking for PowerPoint stamps and stickers? Perhaps you’ve come out of one of the top tier ...

Need a Beautifying/ Proofing tool for PowerPoint?

PPT Productivity's new Beautifying/ Proofing tools are now available in Beta release. The new ...

Can I lock a shape, image or object in PowerPoint? Yes!

With PPT Productivity add-in for PowerPoint you can now lock shapes, images or other objects in ...