Can't set language default

[ErikJan]

OK, thanks. That one is solved then ;-)

[Charles Kenyon]

Just in the note, no matter how convenient it may seem, when you have a new question, as you did here, it is best to create a new question. You will get the best and quickest answers that way.

[Jay Freedman]

When you click the option for new documents based on the template, I am unsure whether or not the change goes to the Normal template or the attached template. I expect the attached template. You can certainly try it and see.

So I tried it. I opened a document that's based on a template other than Normal.dotm. In the document, I modified the Body Text style by changing the font to something ridiculous (a font named Elephant, for good reason) and clicked the "New documents based on this template" option. When I saved the document, I was prompted whether to save changes in "the template" (unfortunately not naming the template) and I agreed. After closing Word, I looked at the Templates folder. The template on which the document was based had today's date, but the Normal.dotm template had its old date so it wasn't changed.

If I directly changed the font of some text in the document instead of modifying a style, and clicked the Set as Default button in the Font dialog, I was presented with this message box, which was much more specific about what the choices mean:

msg.png

[Charles Kenyon]

Thank you Jay.

[ErikJan]

Just in the note, no matter how convenient it may seem, when you have a new question, as you did here, it is best to create a new question. You will get the best and quickest answers that way.

Thanks Charles, you're right of course. I just did that.

[ErikJan]

I can confirm what Jay reported. I changed the font and clicked "Set as Default".

That gave me this dialog:

2024-04-23 20_59_05-Font.png

Seems the changes are saved in the active document and not in Normal.dotm

[Charles Kenyon]

Thank you for the followup.

[Charles Kenyon]

@snb

Have you tried your proposed solutions with a Windows proofing language other than the one you want as the default in Word?
Your solution ought to work, but it does not. IMO, this is a bug in the design of Office but it has been there for a long time.

In a different thread https://eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=40942 you commented on the cumbersome workaround I posted.
You are right, it is cumbersome. However, it does work.
To benefit future forum users, please bring those suggestions into this thread.

[snb]

You might replace this file (after renaming it to normal.dotm) instead of the normaltemplate.

[Charles Kenyon]

You might replace this file (after renaming it to normal.dotm) instead of the normaltemplate.

You cannot simply write your own Normal.dotm file without losing functionality. A fully functional Normal.dotm can contain macros and keyboard customizations as well as AutoCorrect and AutoText entries. Replacing it can lose those. Creating your own without starting with one created by Word will lose some functions.
Your Normal_snb.dotm file is 13KB. A blank one created by Word is 20KB.
Here is much of my writing about the Normal template: https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/t ... htm#Normal

I asked you earlier if you had tried your proposed solution with Windows language other than the one set in Word or in the normal template.
I have. It doesn't work. I also tried this with your proposed template, just to assure myself that you had not discovered something that I did not know (This is always a possibility.)
Neither does changing the proofing language of EVERY paragraph and character style in Word.
I've worked for years to figure this out.
Here is my article on the Microsoft site.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mso ... 9788821357

This is a basic and long-standing anomaly in the programming of Office. I would call it a bug or at least behavior contrary to documentation.

[Charles Kenyon]

Here is what happens if you set the proofing language in Word to be something other than that in the Operating System:
To do this you can do all of the following:

• Set the proofing language option to the different language.

• Modify the Normal style in the Normal.dotm template to the same different language or modify all paragraph and character styles in the Normal.dotm template to use the different language.

• Close all Office Programs including Word and restart Word with a new blank document based on the Normal template.

What happens if you simply start typing?
The proofing language applied to what you type will be the language of the Operating System.

• It will not apply the default or preferred proofing language set in Word settings.

• It will ignore language settings in styles in the document.

• If a character style with the different language setting is applied, that will work.

The admittedly cumbersome workaround discussed is the only one that I have found.

An alternative might be to save the language-set Content Control saved as AutoText in the Normal template and have an AutoNew macro insert that when creating a new document. That would have to assure that the attached template for the new document is the Normal template.

[snb]

Created by Word, adapted by snb, proofing language should be NL.

[ErikJan]

I tested this just now. If I start Word, the (any) text I type is flagged as English. So is the proofing language setting.

SNB, I recall you are using an older version of Word. What Charles (and I) have been using is the latest (MSO365) version.
If that is true, I believe that in your Word version, all what you state could be true. At the same time, I hope that you can believe that what Charles has been indicating and what I have been seeing is also true.

[Charles Kenyon]

Created by Word, adapted by snb, proofing language should be NL.

The key word is "should." It does not work even though it should work.

Please read my previous two posts.
This one tells you what happens.
https://eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php ... 08#p317108

The key is the situation reported by ErikJan. The Operating System language is different from the preferred Word language.
Please, test this yourself!

This is not just me, or ErikJan. We both wish there were something simpler than the cumbersome use of a different templates being used for a new document, but there is not.

This is not intuitive. It does not make sense, at least to me. I wrote that article on the Microsoft web site after much research and trial and after assisting many people with proofing language problems in Word. Please read it. Please test your solution with a different language setting in the OS.