PowerPoint: Change Proofing Language for entire Presentation

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PowerPoint: Change Proofing Language for entire Presentation

Changing the proofing language of the entire presentation, i.e. the editing language used by the built-in spell checker, is not a straight forward task in Microsoft PowerPoint. It is quite strange why Microsoft has not made this common task more accessible to the user. If a presentation that should be in English is originally set to French, you must manually alter each and every text frame on every slide. The “Change Language” add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint, however, provides an easy way to change the proofing language of an entire presentation with just a few clicks.

“Change Language” add-in

Get the add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint now.

How to use the proofing language add-in?

When the add-in has been installed and activated, the new button can be found on the Review tab. The Change Language button is located in a new group called “Coragi Language Tools”, which is to the right of the general language settings.

Change Proofing Language button on the Review menu tab.
“Change Language” button on the Review menu tab.

When the “Change Language” button is pressed, the following dialog is displayed:

Change Proffing Language dialog with options.
Change Language dialog with options.

The “Editing Languages” section lists all the installed editing languages available for Microsoft PowerPoint. It is possible to install additional editing languages if the default languages don’t fit your needs. We will come back to how you can do this later in this article. The editing languages are sorted in ascending order, and the currently active language for the presentation has been selected.

The “Range” section gives you the option to change the editing language for the “Entire Presentation” or the “Active Slide”. Usually, it is recommended to change the language for the entire presentation, since it will set the default language as well. It means that any new textboxes or shapes will use this default editing language.

When you have selected the desired editing language and the range, press the OK button. Depending on the number of slides and shapes in your presentation, setting the language can take a few seconds. The dialog is closed when the update has been completed. Now, let us show you how to get started with the “Change Language” add-in.

Prerequisites

In order to use the add-in your computer needs to satisfy the following system requirements:

  1. Microsoft Windows 10 or later.
  2. Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 or later.

Please notice that the add-in does not run on Mac (macOS). Only Microsoft Windows operating system is currently supported.

The web version, PowerPoint Online for Office 365, is not supported. The add-in only works with the installed client software.

Both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows operating systems are supported.

How to install the proofing language PowerPoint add-in?

This section describes how to download, enable, and use the Change Language add-in which allows you to apply a specific proofing language to all slides in a PowerPoint presentation.

“Change Language” add-in

Get the add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint now.


In order to download, install and activate the add-in, please do the following:

Step 1: Download

Press the Download button above to get the PowerPoint add-in file.

Add-ins for Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and later use the .ppam file extension, i.e. “PowerPoint Add-in Macro”. The file contains components that add additional functionality, including extra commands, custom macros, and new tools for extending default PowerPoint functions. This type of add-in file was first introduced in 2007 with the release of Microsoft Office 2007.

Step 2: Install

When the add-in file has been downloaded to your computer, open the File Explorer  program on your computer, and copy the “Coragi Change Language Add-in.ppam” file to the following folder:

C:\Users\[your user name]\App Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Addins\

To find the File Explorer program , look for the program on your Start Menu (i.e. press the Windows button , or the Windows key on your keyboard), or search for “File Explorer”.

[Your user name] should be replaced with your user name that was specified during login.

You can easily get access to the above “Addins” folder by typing the following shortcut path in the top text box in the File Explorer and then press the Enter key:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\AddIns
Shortcut to the Addins folder in File Explorer. Enter the path and press the Enter key.
Shortcut to the Addins folder in File Explorer. Enter the path and press the Enter key.

You will then automatically be directed to the correct folder.

You can also find your user name by either by looking in the “C:\Users\” folder, or running the following command in a Command Prompt Command Prompt:

echo %username%

Please be aware that the “…\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\AddIns” folder is hidden, and the full path must be entered manually. It is not possible to open the “Users” folder in File Explorer and then browse to the folder path (unless you have enabled the option to show hidden files and folders).

Step 3: Activate

To open and activate the add-in file please do the following:

  1. Open Microsoft PowerPoint
  2. Select File > Options to display the options dialog. The “Options” button is found all the way down at the bottom in the left menu.


  3. When the Options dialog is displayed, press Add-ins in the left menu. Select “PowerPoint Add-ins” in the “Manage” drop-down list. Then press the “Go…” button to view all the enabled PowerPoint add-ins.

    Options dialog in Microsoft PowerPoint
  4. The Add-ins dialog is displayed. If you haven’t enabled any add-ins, the list will be empty. To enable the “Change Language” add-in press the “Add New…” button, and browse for the .ppam file.

    PowerPoint add-in dialog
    When you have located and selected the file, press the “Open” button. Make sure that the newly added add-in has a check mark to the left of the name before you press the “Close” button in the Add-ins dialog.
  5. Now the Change Language add-in has been enabled in PowerPoint. In case you get any security warnings (“Enable Macros”), you need to press “Enable Content”. As mentioned in the beginning of this article, you can find the “Change Language” button on the Review tab. Press the button to change the proofing language.

How to add new editing and proofing languages?

You can enable additional proofing languages by doing the following:

You need to restart PowerPoint for the language changes to take effect.

  1. On the main ribbon/toolbar, to to Files > Options
  2. Go to the section called “Office authoring languages and proofing”

  3. Press the button call “Add a Language…” to add additional proofing languages. Select the new language to add. In our example we have selected “English (United Kingdom)”. Press the Add button when done.


  4. When done, select the preferred proofing language, and press the “Set as Preferred” button.

You would have to restart PowerPoint for the language changes to take effect.

How to manually change the spell-check language of a presentation?

Using the Change Language add-in is the most time-saving way to change the proofing language of the active slide or the entire presentation. You can of course go also through the manual process of changing the spell check language for each and every slide, textbox and shape. We will now show you how to do it.

  1. Select all shapes on each slide. You can press Ctrl+A on your keyboard to select all shapes on the current slide.
  2. On the Review ribbon, click on the button called “Language“, and then the dropdown menu item “Set proofing language
  3. Select your proofing language, and press “OK”.
Manually selecting the text shapes and setting the Proofing Language on each slide.
Manually selecting the text shapes and setting the Proofing Language on each slide.

This process has to be repeated for every slide in your presentation. This also has to be repeated for any slide masters that your presentation uses.

Our recommendation is to use the Change Language add-in to save time.

Supported proofing languages in PowerPoint

Microsoft offers a long list of spell cheking languages for Microsoft PowerPoint. If the language is currently not available on your computer, you need to install it as described earlier in this article.

LanguageLanguageID
AfrikaansmsoLanguageIDAfrikaans
AlbanianmsoLanguageIDAlbanian
AmharicmsoLanguageIDAmharic
ArabicmsoLanguageIDArabic
Arabic in AlgeriamsoLanguageIDArabicAlgeria
Arabic in BahrainmsoLanguageIDArabicBahrain
Arabic in EgyptmsoLanguageIDArabicEgypt
Arabic in IraqmsoLanguageIDArabicIraq
Arabic in JordanmsoLanguageIDArabicJordan
Arabic in KuwaitmsoLanguageIDArabicKuwait
Arabic in LebanonmsoLanguageIDArabicLebanon
Arabic in LibyamsoLanguageIDArabicLibya
Arabic in MoroccomsoLanguageIDArabicMorocco
Arabic in OmanmsoLanguageIDArabicOman
Arabic in QatarmsoLanguageIDArabicQatar
Arabic in SyriamsoLanguageIDArabicSyria
Arabic in the United Arab EmiratesmsoLanguageIDArabicUAE
Arabic in TunisiamsoLanguageIDArabicTunisia
Arabic in YemenmsoLanguageIDArabicYemen
ArmenianmsoLanguageIDArmenian
AssamesemsoLanguageIDAssamese
Azeri-CyrillicmsoLanguageIDAzeriCyrillic
Azeri-LatinmsoLanguageIDAzeriLatin
Basque (Basque)msoLanguageIDBasque
BelarusianmsoLanguageIDByelorussian
Belgian DutchmsoLanguageIDBelgianDutch
Belgian FrenchmsoLanguageIDBelgianFrench
BengalimsoLanguageIDBengali
Bokmål in NorwaymsoLanguageIDNorwegianBokmol
BosnianmsoLanguageIDBosnian
Bosnian Bosnia Herzegovina Cyrillic languagemsoLanguageIDBosnianBosniaHerzegovinaCyrillic
Bosnian Bosnia Herzegovina Latin languagemsoLanguageIDBosnianBosniaHerzegovinaLatin
Brazilian PortuguesemsoLanguageIDBrazilianPortuguese
BulgarianmsoLanguageIDBulgarian
BurmesemsoLanguageIDBurmese
CatalanmsoLanguageIDCatalan
CherokeemsoLanguageIDCherokee
Chinese in Hong Kong SARmsoLanguageIDChineseHongKongSAR
Chinese in Macao SARmsoLanguageIDChineseMacaoSAR
Chinese in SingaporemsoLanguageIDChineseSingapore
CroatianmsoLanguageIDCroatian
CzechmsoLanguageIDCzech
DanishmsoLanguageIDDanish
DivehimsoLanguageIDDivehi
DutchmsoLanguageIDDutch
Dzongkha in BhutanmsoLanguageIDDzongkhaBhutan
EdomsoLanguageIDEdo
English in AustraliamsoLanguageIDEnglishAUS
English in BelizemsoLanguageIDEnglishBelize
English in CanadamsoLanguageIDEnglishCanadian
English in IndonesiamsoLanguageIDEnglishIndonesia
English in IrelandmsoLanguageIDEnglishIreland
English in JamaicamsoLanguageIDEnglishJamaica
English in New ZealandmsoLanguageIDEnglishNewZealand
English in South AfricamsoLanguageIDEnglishSouthAfrica
English in the CaribbeanmsoLanguageIDEnglishCaribbean
English in the PhilippinesmsoLanguageIDEnglishPhilippines
English in the United KingdommsoLanguageIDEnglishUK
English in the United StatesmsoLanguageIDEnglishUS
English in Trinidad and TobagomsoLanguageIDEnglishTrinidadTobago
English in ZimbabwemsoLanguageIDEnglishZimbabwe
EstonianmsoLanguageIDEstonian
FaeroesemsoLanguageIDFaeroese
FarsimsoLanguageIDFarsi
FilipinamsoLanguageIDFilipino
FinnishmsoLanguageIDFinnish
FrenchmsoLanguageIDFrench
French in CameroonmsoLanguageIDFrenchCameroon
French in CanadamsoLanguageIDFrenchCanadian
French Congo DRC languagemsoLanguageIDFrenchCongoDRC
French in Cote d’IvoiremsoLanguageIDFrenchCotedIvoire
French in French Reunion IslandmsoLanguageIDFrenchReunion
French in HaitimsoLanguageIDFrenchHaiti
French in LuxembourgmsoLanguageIDFrenchLuxembourg
French in MalimsoLanguageIDFrenchMali
French in MonacomsoLanguageIDFrenchMonaco
French in MoroccomsoLanguageIDFrenchMorocco
French in SenegalmsoLanguageIDFrenchSenegal
French in SwitzerlandmsoLanguageIDSwissFrench
French in the NetherlandsmsoLanguageIDFrisianNetherlands
French in the West IndiesmsoLanguageIDFrenchWestIndies
French in ZairemsoLanguageIDFrenchZaire
FulfuldemsoLanguageIDFulfulde
Gaelic in IrelandmsoLanguageIDGaelicIreland
Gaelic in ScotlandmsoLanguageIDGaelicScotland
GalicianmsoLanguageIDGalician
GeorgianmsoLanguageIDGeorgian
GermanmsoLanguageIDGerman
German in AustriamsoLanguageIDGermanAustria
German in LiechtensteinmsoLanguageIDGermanLiechtenstein
German in LuxembourgmsoLanguageIDGermanLuxembourg
Germanin SwitzerlandmsoLanguageIDSwissGerman
GreekmsoLanguageIDGreek
GuaranimsoLanguageIDGuarani
GujaratimsoLanguageIDGujarati
HausamsoLanguageIDHausa
HawaiianmsoLanguageIDHawaiian
HebrewmsoLanguageIDHebrew
HindimsoLanguageIDHindi
HungarianmsoLanguageIDHungarian
IbibiomsoLanguageIDIbibio
IcelandicmsoLanguageIDIcelandic
IgbomsoLanguageIDIgbo
IndonesianmsoLanguageIDIndonesian
InuktitutmsoLanguageIDInuktitut
ItalianmsoLanguageIDItalian
Italian in SwitzerlandmsoLanguageIDSwissItalian
JapanesemsoLanguageIDJapanese
KannadamsoLanguageIDKannada
KanurimsoLanguageIDKanuri
KashmirimsoLanguageIDKashmiri
Kashmiri in Devanagari scriptmsoLanguageIDKashmiriDevanagari
KazakhmsoLanguageIDKazakh
KhmermsoLanguageIDKhmer
KirghizmsoLanguageIDKirghiz
KonkanimsoLanguageIDKonkani
KoreanmsoLanguageIDKorean
KyrgyzmsoLanguageIDKyrgyz
LaomsoLanguageIDLao
LatinmsoLanguageIDLatin
LatvianmsoLanguageIDLatvian
LithuanianmsoLanguageIDLithuanian
MacedonianmsoLanguageIDMacedonian
Macedonian FYROM languagemsoLanguageIDMacedonianFYROM
Malay in Brunei DarussalammsoLanguageIDMalayBruneiDarussalam
MalayalammsoLanguageIDMalayalam
MalaysianmsoLanguageIDMalaysian
MaltesemsoLanguageIDMaltese
ManipurimsoLanguageIDManipuri
MaorimsoLanguageIDMaori
MarathimsoLanguageIDMarathi
MongolianmsoLanguageIDMongolian
NepalimsoLanguageIDNepali
Nynorsk in NorwaymsoLanguageIDNorwegianNynorsk
OriyamsoLanguageIDOriya
OromomsoLanguageIDOromo
PashtomsoLanguageIDPashto
PolishmsoLanguageIDPolish
PortuguesemsoLanguageIDPortuguese
PunjabimsoLanguageIDPunjabi
Quechua in BoliviamsoLanguageIDQuechuaBolivia
Quechua in EcuadormsoLanguageIDQuechuaEcuador
Quechua in PerumsoLanguageIDQuechuaPeru
Rhaeto-RomanicmsoLanguageIDRhaetoRomanic
RomanianmsoLanguageIDRomanian
Romanian in MoldovamsoLanguageIDRomanianMoldova
RussianmsoLanguageIDRussian
Russian in MoldovamsoLanguageIDRussianMoldova
Sami/LappishmsoLanguageIDSamiLappish
SanskritmsoLanguageIDSanskrit
SepedimsoLanguageIDSepedi
Serbian/CyrillicmsoLanguageIDSerbianCyrillic
Serbian/LatinmsoLanguageIDSerbianLatin
SesothomsoLanguageIDSesotho
Simplified ChinesemsoLanguageIDSimplifiedChinese
SindhimsoLanguageIDSindhi
Sindhi in PakistanmsoLanguageIDSindhiPakistan
SinhalesemsoLanguageIDSinhalese
SlovakmsoLanguageIDSlovak
SlovenianmsoLanguageIDSlovenian
SomalimsoLanguageIDSomali
SorbianmsoLanguageIDSorbian
SpanishmsoLanguageIDSpanish
Spanish (Modern Sort)msoLanguageIDSpanishModernSort
Spanish in ArgentinamsoLanguageIDSpanishArgentina
Spanish in BoliviamsoLanguageIDSpanishBolivia
Spanish in ChilemsoLanguageIDSpanishChile
Spanish in ColombiamsoLanguageIDSpanishColombia
Spanish in Costa RicamsoLanguageIDSpanishCostaRica
Spanish in EcuadormsoLanguageIDSpanishEcuador
Spanish in El SalvadormsoLanguageIDSpanishElSalvador
Spanish in GuatemalamsoLanguageIDSpanishGuatemala
Spanish in HondurasmsoLanguageIDSpanishHonduras
Spanish in MexicomsoLanguageIDMexicanSpanish
Spanish in NicaraguamsoLanguageIDSpanishNicaragua
Spanish in PanamamsoLanguageIDSpanishPanama
Spanish in ParaguaymsoLanguageIDSpanishParaguay
Spanish in PerumsoLanguageIDSpanishPeru
Spanish in Puerto RicomsoLanguageIDSpanishPuertoRico
Spanish in the Dominican RepublicmsoLanguageIDSpanishDominicanRepublic
Spanish in UruguaymsoLanguageIDSpanishUruguay
Spanish in VenezuelamsoLanguageIDSpanishVenezuela
SutumsoLanguageIDSutu
SwahilimsoLanguageIDSwahili
SwedishmsoLanguageIDSwedish
Swedish in FinlandmsoLanguageIDSwedishFinland
SyriacmsoLanguageIDSyriac
TajikmsoLanguageIDTajik
TamazightmsoLanguageIDTamazight
Tamazight (Latin)msoLanguageIDTamazightLatin
TamilmsoLanguageIDTamil
TatarmsoLanguageIDTatar
TelugumsoLanguageIDTelugu
ThaimsoLanguageIDThai
Serbian Bosnia Herzegovina Cyrillic languagemsoLanguageIDSerbianBosniaHerzegovinaCyrillic
Serbian Bosnia Herzegovina Latin languagemsoLanguageIDSerbianBosniaHerzegovinaLatin
TibetanmsoLanguageIDTibetan
Tigrigna in EritreamsoLanguageIDTigrignaEritrea
Tigrigna in EthiopiamsoLanguageIDTigrignaEthiopic
Traditional ChinesemsoLanguageIDTraditionalChinese
TsongamsoLanguageIDTsonga
TswanamsoLanguageIDTswana
TurkishmsoLanguageIDTurkish
TurkmenmsoLanguageIDTurkmen
UkrainianmsoLanguageIDUkrainian
UrdumsoLanguageIDUrdu
Uzbek (Cyrillic)msoLanguageIDUzbekCyrillic
Uzbek (Latin)msoLanguageIDUzbekLatin
VendamsoLanguageIDVenda
VietnamesemsoLanguageIDVietnamese
WelshmsoLanguageIDWelsh
XhosamsoLanguageIDXhosa
YimsoLanguageIDYi
YiddishmsoLanguageIDYiddish
YorubamsoLanguageIDYoruba
ZulumsoLanguageIDZulu
Ulf Emsoy has long working experience in project management, software development and supply chain management.

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