Plan for multilanguage deployment of Office 2013

Applies to: Office 2013, Office 365 ProPlus

Summary: Plan for multilanguage setup, and customization and proofing tools for Office 2013.

Audience: IT Professionals

To deploy Office 2013 in multiple languages, you must plan carefully. This article discusses the planning considerations for Setup and the customizations that you can make when you install language packs or proofing tools.

In this article:

• Plan Setup

• Plan customizations

• Plan for proofing tools

Plan Setup

The language-neutral design of Office 2013 helps simplify the deployment of Office products in multiple languages. Instead of creating a series of installations, you enable Setup to coordinate a single installation of multiple language versions.

All language-specific components for a particular language are contained in an Office 2013 Language Pack. Each Office 2013 Language Pack includes language-specific folders for all Office 2013 products that are available in that language. Folders are identified by a language tag that is appended to the folder name. For a complete list of language tags, see Language identifiers and OptionState Id values in Office 2013.

Select all the Office 2013 Language Packs that you want and then copy them to a network installation point that contains at least one complete Office 2013 product. By default, Setup automatically installs the language version that matches the Windows user locale that is set on each user's computer. Or, you can override this default behavior and manage the distribution of multiple language versions manually. For example, you can performa any of the following tasks:

• Install more than one language on a single computer

• Specify which languages to install on users' computers, regardless of the language of the operating system that is specified by user locale

• Specify custom settings once and then apply them to all language versions that you deploy in your organization

• Deploy different languages to different groups of users

• Deploy the Microsoft Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit for additional languages

To identify which deployment solution is appropriate for your scenario, see the model poster Deploy Multilanguage Packs for Microsoft Office 2010.

To determine which companion proofing languages are included in an Office 2013 Language Pack, see Companion proofing languages for Office 2013.

Each Office 2013 Language Pack contains the proofing tools for one or more additional languages. For example, the Office 2013 Language Pack - Danish contains the proofing tools for English and German, in addition to Danish. All Office 2013 Language Packs contain the proofing tools for English. For more information about proofing tools, see Plan for proofing tools.

Before it installs a language version of an Office 2013 product, Setup determines whether the user has the required operating system support for that language. Setup stops the installation if there is no support. For example, if a user has not enabled support for East Asian languages, Setup does not install the Japanese version of Office 2013.

It is important to determine the languages that you want before you begin your deployment. There are special steps that you must take to include additional languages if you have to change users' configurations after the initial deployment. For more information, see Add or remove language packs after deployment of Office 2013.

Understanding the Setup logic for Shell UI language

Whenever you deploy the Office 2013 from a network installation point that contains more than one language version, Setup must determine which language to use for the Setup user interface. By default, Setup uses that same language for the Office 2013 installation language and for the Shell user interface (Shell UI). The Shell UI includes core elements of Office 2013 that register with the operating system, such file name extensions, Tool Tips, and right-click menu items.

If your objective is to install only one language version of Office 2013 on each client computer and if you do not specify any additional languages in the Config.xml file, Setup uses the following logic to determine which language to use:

• Setup matches the language of the user locale.

• If there is no match, Setup looks for a close match. If the user locale is set to English (Canada), for example, Setup might install Office 2013 in English (U.S).

• If there is no close match, Setup looks for a language in the following subkey in the Windows registry:

  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\LanguageResources

  If the InstallLanguage entry has not been added to the LanguageResources subkey and set to a particular language (LCID), Setup either prompts the user to select a language during an interactive installation, or it stops a silent installation.

If your objective is to install more than one language version of Office 2013 on each client computer, you should edit the Config.xml file and set the <AddLanguage> element for each language that you want to include. However, when you add more than one language in the Config.xml file, you must specify which of those languages Setup should use for the Shell UI. If the Shell UI language is not specified, the installation will fail.

You specify a language for the Shell UI by setting the ShellTransform attribute of the <AddLanguage> element. In this case, the language of the Setup user interface follows the logic described previously. However, the languages that are installed on the computer and the language of the Shell UI are determined by the entries in the Config.xml file.

Setup always installs Office 2013 in the language of the Shell UI, in addition to any other installation languages. For example, if the Shell UI is set to French, the user can select additional installation languages on the Languages tab. However, the user cannot remove French.

For specific steps on how to customize Setup for different scenarios, see applicable sections in Customize language setup and settings for Office 2013:

• Deploy a default language version of Office

• Specify which languages to install

• Deploy different languages to different groups of users

Plan customizations

When a user starts an Office 2013 application for the first time, Setup applies default settings that match the language that is installed on the computer and the language that is specified by the Windows user locale setting.

Four main language settings affect the way users work with Office 2013:

• Primary editing language   When more than one language version of Office 2013 is installed on the computer, this setting determines the language in which users work with Office applications and documents.

• Enabled editing languages   Users can specify more than one language for editing Office 2013 documents. Depending on the languages selected, this setting might require the user to install additional proofing tools.

• User interface language   This setting determines the language in which the user interface is displayed.

• Help language   This setting determines the language in which users view Help topics.

You can configure these language settings for users in advance. If you specify custom language settings when you install Office, by applying a Setup customization file (.msp file) or by setting policies, Office 2013 does not overwrite your settings with the default settings when users start the applications for the first time.

Methods of customizing language settings

You configure language settings by using one of the following methods:

• Group Policy   Group Policy settings enforce default language settings. Users in your organization cannot permanently change settings that are managed by Group Policy. The settings are reapplied every time that the user logs on.

  The following policy settings help you manage language settings in Office 2013:

  • Display menus and dialog boxes in   Located in the Display Language folder under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2013\Language Preferences\Display Language. This policy setting determines the language of the user interface.

  • Display help in   Located in the Display Language folder under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2013\Language Preferences\Display Language. This policy setting determines the language of online Help. If this policy setting is not configured, the Help language uses the user interface language.

  • Enabled Editing Languages   Located in the Editing Languages folder under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2013\Language Preferences\Editing Languages. This policy setting enables editing languages from the list of languages supported by Office.

  • Primary Editing Language   Located in the Editing Languages folder under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2013\Language Preferences\Editing Languages. This policy setting specifies the language in which users work with Office applications and documents when more than one language version is available on the computer.

• Office Customization Tool (OCT)   You use the OCT to create a Setup customization file (.msp file) that Setup applies during the installation. Settings specified in the OCT are the default settings. Users can change the settings after the installation.

• Language Settings tool   If you do not enforce language settings by policy, users who work in Office 2013 applications can use the Language Settings tool to change their language settings.

For specific steps on how to use these tools to customize Office 2013 for multiple language deployments, see Customize language setup and settings for Office 2013.

Enable users to view the new language settings on first open

Typically, after you configure language settings by using one of the methods that are described in this article, Setup applies default settings that match the language that is installed on the computer when a user starts an Office 2013 application for the first time. This means the new language settings will display the next (second) time that the user starts the Office 2013 application.

If you want users to view the new language settings the first time that they open an Office 2013 application, you can deploy the following registry settings to their computers when you deploy an initial Office 2013 installation, or before they have to use an Office 2013 application. You can deploy these registry settings by using a script or batch file, Group Policy, or the OCT. The registry settings to configure are the following DWORD values under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\LanguageResources key:

• UILanguage

• HelpLanguage

• FollowSystemUI

For each of these values, for Value name specify the LCID (locale identifier) that corresponds to the language that you want to use. For a list of LCIDs, see Language identifiers and OptionState Id values in Office 2013. LCIDs are decimal values. Therefore, you must also set the Base option to Decimal.

Customize language-specific settings that are related to user locale

In addition to using the Primary Editing Language setting, the Office 2013 also configures language-related settings, such as number format, to match the user locale of the operating system. This behavior is controlled by the LangTuneUp entry in the LanguageResources subkey in the Windows registry. If you do not want user locale to affect default settings, you can reset the value of LangTuneUp when you install Office 2013. If the LangTuneUp entry does not exist, Office 2013 creates the entry the first time that an application starts and sets the value to OfficeCompleted.

The LangTuneUp entry can have one of two values:

• OfficeCompleted   Settings based on user locale are not applied to Office 2013 as a whole. However, individual applications still check for new input method editors (IMEs) and language scripts, and still apply application settings that are specific to the user locale. For example, applications make sure that newly installed keyboards have the appropriate editing languages enabled, and Word uses fonts in Normal.dot, based on user locale.

• Prohibited   No settings related to user locale are changed by Office 2013 or by any individual Office 2013 application.

In some scenarios, ignoring the user locale setting can help maintain a standard configuration across a multilingual organization. Setting the LangTuneUp entry to Prohibited makes sure that language settings remain consistent and macros are more compatible internationally.

For example, if your organization is based in the United States and you want to standardize settings internationally, you can deploy Office 2013 with Primary Editing Language set to en-us (U.S. English) and LangTuneUp set to Prohibited. In this scenario, users receive the same default settings, regardless of their user locale.

Ignoring user locale is not always the best option. For example, users who read and enter Asian characters in Office 2013 documents might not always have the Asian fonts they must have to display characters correctly. If the installation language on the user’s computer does not match the language that was used in the document and LangTuneUp is set to Prohibited, Office 2013 does not display fonts in the non-default language. If your Office 2013 installations have to support multiple Asian language user locales, make sure LangTuneUp continues to be set to OfficeCompleted. To help make sure that users do not change the default value, set the corresponding policy.

Plan for proofing tools

Proofing tools let users edit documents in 52 languages. Depending on the language, these editing tools might include spelling and grammar checkers, thesauruses, and hyphenators. Proofing tools might also include language-specific editing features such as Language AutoDetect, AutoSummarize, and Intelligent AutoCorrect.

The Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit provides a single resource from which you can install any of the proofing tools. You can install proofing tools on a local computer or deploy tools to a group of users. You can also customize and install the tools for one user or all users in your organization.

Determining the method to deploy proofing tools

You can deploy additional proofing tools for users who have to edit documents in languages other than those that are already installed on their computers. You can deploy additional proofing tools from either of these sources:

• Office 2013 Language Pack   Use this option if users want both the user interface and the proofing tools for a specific language. Often, one language pack can provide all the proofing tool languages that you want. The companion proofing tool languages that are contained in a language pack mirror those of what’s contained in language versions of Office 2013.

  For a list of companion languages, see Companion proofing languages for Office 2013. If a language pack has all the proofing tool languages that you want, deploy a language pack by using the instructions that fit your scenario in Customize language setup and settings for Office 2013.

• Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit   This product contains the proofing tools for all languages that are available with Office 2013. Use this option if you have to have proofing tools that are not included in the set of companion languages for any languages that are installed or included in an additional language pack that you could install.

The Office 2013 Multilanguage Pack contains all of the Office 2013 Language Packs. Individual Office 2013 Language Packs, the Office 2013 Multilanguage Pack, and Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit are available through Microsoft Volume Licensing programs. You can also download Microsoft Office Proofing Tools 2013 from the Download Center.

The hard disk space requirement to install proofing tools is 1 gigabyte (GB). However, the overall disk space depends on whether you deploy proofing tools from a language pack or from the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit. As with most products in the Office 2013, the complete Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit package is cached to the local installation source (LIS).

Customizing Setup for Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit

To customize the Setup of the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit, modify the Config.xml file in the ProofKit.WW folder. For each set of proofing tools that you do not want to install, in the OptionState element, set the State attribute to Absent.

Syntax

<OptionState

   Id="optionID"

   State="Absent" | "Advertise" | "Local"

   [Children="force"]

/>

OptionState attributes

The following table shows OptionState attributes, values, and descriptions.

OptionState attributes and values

Example: Config.xml file for Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit

The following Config.xml file example shows every language that has the OptionState element State attribute set to Absent. If you decide to copy this example into the Config.xml file for the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit, set the State attribute for each set of proofing tools that you want to deploy to Local (or Advertise, if preferred).

<Configuration Product="ProofKit">
  <!-- <Display Level="full" CompletionNotice="yes" SuppressModal="no" AcceptEula="no" /> -->
  <!-- <Logging Type="standard" Path="%temp%" Template="Microsoft Office Proofing Tools Kit Setup(*).txt" /> -->
  <!-- <USERNAME Value="Customer" /> -->
  <!-- <COMPANYNAME Value="MyCompany" /> -->
  <!-- <INSTALLLOCATION Value="%programfiles%\Microsoft Office" /> -->
  <!-- <LIS CACHEACTION="CacheOnly" /> -->
  <!-- <LIS SOURCELIST ="\\server1\share\Office;\\server2\share\Office" /> -->
  <!-- <DistributionPoint Location="\\server\share\Office" /> -->
  <!-- <OptionState Id="OptionID" State="absent" Children="force" /> -->
    <OptionState Id="IMEMain_1028" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="IMEMain_1041" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="IMEMain_1042" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="IMEMain_2052" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1025" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1026" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1027" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1028" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1029" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1030" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1031" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1032" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1033" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1035" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1036" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1037" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1038" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1040" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1041" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1042" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1043" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1044" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1045" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1046" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1048" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1049" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1050" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1051" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1053" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1054" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1055" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1056" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1058" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1060" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1061" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1062" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1063" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1069" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1081" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1087" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1094" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1095" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1097" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1099" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1102" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1110" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_2052" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_2068" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_2070" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_2074" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_3076" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
    <OptionState Id="ProofingTools_3082" State="Absent" Children="force"/>
  <!-- <Setting Id="Setup_Reboot" Value="IfNeeded" /> -->
  <!-- <Command Path="%windir%\system32\msiexec.exe" Args="/i \\server\share\my.msi" QuietArg="/q" ChainPosition="after" Execute="install" /> -->
</Configuration>

For more information about how to customize Setup for the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit, see Customize and install the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit in Customize language setup and settings for Office 2013.

Precaching the local installation source for the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit

When you deploy the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit, Setup creates a local installation source on the user's computer — a copy of the compressed source files for the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit. After the files are copied to the user's computer, Setup completes the installation from the local installation source. You can minimize the load on the network by deploying the local installation source separately, before you deploy the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit. To precache the local installation source for the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit, see Precache the local installation source for Office 2010. Use the Setup.exe and Config.xml files from the ProofKit.WW folder on the Office 2013 Proofing Tools Kit CD.

See also

Language identifiers and OptionState Id values in Office 2013
Companion proofing languages for Office 2013
Customize language setup and settings for Office 2013
Add or remove language packs after deployment of Office 2013
Language in Office 2013
Office Customization Tool (OCT) reference for Office 2013

Precache the local installation source for Office 2010