How to change your language settings in Microsoft PowerPoint in 3 different ways

You can change the language in PowerPoint in three different ways to help with editing or translating, or to set your display settings in another language.
To change the language settings in PowerPoint for editing purposes, you'll need to access the "Language..." option in the "Tools" tab.
To translate text, you can launch the Translator tool instead.
If you're looking to change the display language, you'll have to change your operating system settings.
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If you want to change the language in PowerPoint, the presentation program offers you three different options depending on what you need.

You can change the editing language, which tells PowerPoint how to edit text as you type in your preferred language. This may prove particularly helpful if you've been sent a slideshow to edit that's written in another language.

You can also select "Translate…" to use the Translator tool on text in real-time, though Microsoft Office notes that this feature is only available for users with an Office 365 subscription, Office 2019 for Mac or Windows. This feature allows you to highlight entire text boxes or individual words and transform your presentation text any of the languages PowerPoint offers.

Lastly, you change the display language on PowerPoint by altering your operating system's language setting. On a Mac, depending on the language, you may be asked to add input sources.

None of these options affects the others, so you can have different languages for edits, slide text, and display. Here's how to change all three language settings in PowerPoint.

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How to change the PowerPoint editing language

1. Open PowerPoint on your Mac or PC.

2. Click the "Tools" tab on the top menu.

3. Select "Language…" from the dropdown menu.

4. In the pop-up window that appears, scroll and select a language from the list.

5. Check the box for "Do not check spelling or grammar" if you don't want PowerPoint to use the language for proofreading.

6. Click the "Set As Default" button if applicable.

7. Click the "Yes" button to proceed.

Powerpoint language 2

How to use the PowerPoint Translator Tool for text

1. Open PowerPoint and click "Tools."

2. Choose "Translate..." from the dropdown menu.

3. The "Translator" window on the right side of your presentation screen will open.

PowerPoint language 5

4. Click a text box that you'd like to translate. The text will appear in the white box in the Translator window.

5. Select a language from the "To:" dropdown menu. The translated text will appear in the blue box below.

6. Click "Insert" to insert that translated text in a new text box on the slide. You can then move the text box and resize it as needed.

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7. You can also highlight individual words or sentences with different translations appearing below the blue box, depending on the context. Click the three dots to view a sample sentence.

8. Choose "Insert" when you're ready to substitute.

PowerPoint language 7