How to change XWiki's default language and make the wiki multilingual

10 Nov 2020 5 min read

Written by

Silvia Macovei

, Head of Cloud Business

Article last updated on July 22nd, 2024.

One of the questions we get frequently asked is whether XWiki is available in multiple languages. Being used on thousands the projects worldwide, XWiki has translations in 40 languages

In this short post, we'll be looking at how you can set up XWiki to support one or multiple languages. We'll cover:

Changing the default language

You can find the language settings in the XWiki Administration. To update the default language, start by clicking on the drawer on the top right, then click on Administer Wiki.

XWikiAdminWiki.png

In the XWiki Administration, go to Content > Localization and change the Default Language as needed. In the example below, we are switching it to Deutsch.

XWikiLocalization.png

After you click Save, the interface will be displayed in your chosen language, in our example German.

XWikiGerman.png

Making the wiki multilingual

If your wiki has content in multiple languages, you might consider making the wiki multilingual. This will allow users to translate the wiki pages and view the interface in their preferred language.

To enable this feature please select Yes from the Multilingual drop-down. Then choose the languages that will be made available from Supported languages.

XWikiMultilingual.png

Switching between languages

On each page, you can click the drawer on the top right to switch between the different language translations that exist for that page.

XWikiSwitchLanguage.png

To find out more about internationalization and translating pages, you can visit the XWiki.org user guide.

If you wish to help with improving translations, you can also check out the translation platform.

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Best practices

Run your on-prem wiki instance like a pro with Admin Tools Application (Pro)

XWiki SAS has released the Admin Tools Application (Pro) v1.0, one of the many business-ready Pro Apps, available in the XWiki SAS store. Through this app, you can optimize your XWiki on-prem installation, maintenance, and resources allocation — all from one central dashboard. Read the full article here.