Changing the Language of the User Interface

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NeoOffice uses the top-most language specified in your Mac OS X System Preferences (International pane, Language tab) as the user interface language, provided 1) there is a user interface available in that language and 2) the appropriate language pack has been installed, if applicable.

In order to use NeoOffice in your preferred language, simply set that language as the top-most language in the list in the Language tab of the International pane of the Mac OS X System Preferences application, and the launch NeoOffice.

Using NeoOffice in a different language from the system language

Many non-English users prefer to run Mac OS X in English but still desire to use their application software in their native language. Also, there have been some reports that setting as the default language a language for which there is not a complete Mac OS X localization may cause problems with Software Update and certain other Apple applications, so it may be desireable in those instances to continue to run "Mac OS X" in English or another language with a full Mac OS X localization but to run NeoOffice in your preferred language.

Since NeoOffice integrates with the settings in the International pane of the Mac OS X System Preferences this is possible, but it requires a somewhat convoluted procedure to set up, particularly under Mac OS X 10.4.

Configuring NeoOffice to use a different language from the system language

In the examples in these steps, English is the desired Mac OS X system language and French is the desired NeoOffice interface language.

  1. If your preferred language is not one of the 12 languages which ship with the standard NeoOffice install, install the appropriate language pack before beginning.
  2. In the Language tab of the International pane of the Mac OS X System Preferences, set your preferred language for NeoOffice (French) to be the topmost in the Languages: list.
  3. Launch NeoOffice and then quit it after it has completely launched.
    The two preceding steps are necessary to activate the writing tools for your preferred language; see Activating Dictionaries for more info.
  4. In the Finder, select the NeoOffice application and "Get Info" on it (Cmd-I or Get Info from the File menu).
  5. In the "NeoOffice Info" window, click on the triangle to the left of Languages: to expand that section.
  6. Uncheck the language that you want to set as the default system language (English); then close the "NeoOffice Info" window.
    You must be a user with administrative rights in order to uncheck these boxes.
  7. Return to the Language tab of the International pane of the System Preferences; this time, set your other preferred Mac OS X system language (English) to be topmost, and then set your preferred language for NeoOffice (French) to be in the second position. Close the System Preferences.
  8. Launch NeoOffice and continue the setup of the writing tools for your language as described in Selecting the Dictionary to be Used in a Document or Section, as well as setting up your other preferences.

Note that unlike activating writing tools, which affects only the account in which the procedure is done, this procedure will have some impact on all accounts, since the enabled languages (the checkboxes) in the NeoOffice application apply to all users on a given Macintosh.

Special Note about Norwegian and Mac OS X 10.3.x

Due to bugs in Apple's language codes in versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.4, NeoOffice's UI used to appear in the wrong language even if Norwegian (Norsk) was set as the topmost language in the System Preferences in those versions of Mac OS X. However, beginning in NeoOffice 1.2 Alpha, this bug was partially worked-around.

If "Norsk" is the top-most language in your System Preferences, NeoOffice 1.2 Alpha and newer will use the Bokmål UI. You can use the Nynorsk UI by following steps 4 and 5 above and then unselecting all of the other languages in step 6.

N.B. For users running Mac OS X 10.2.x and NeoOffice/J 1.1, follow the steps outlined in the Norwegian and Mac OS X 10.3.x section of the Activating Dictionaries article to activate the Norwegian dictionaries and set the UI language of NeoOffice/J 1.1 to Nynorsk or Bokmål.

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