As the adoption of Microsoft 365 has continued to grow across the world, what our users expect from the platform has constantly evolved. Over the past years, we have focused on meeting the growing demand for capabilities - adding buttons, menus, controls, and other aspects of the display. However, we have also supported these display controls in a variety of different languages without consistency across products. As users increasingly work across more apps and multiple platforms, the result has been an inconsistent and confusing experience for users and IT admins.
Over the calendar year, we will be updating our product display to provide greater consistency in supported display languages. It's important to note that while the applications' display will be available in the supported languages going forward, users will still be able to write and consume information in other languages without any impact from this change.
We've taken a data-driven approach, with the dual goal of enabling greater consistency and minimizing impact on users. For nearly two years, our team has conducted tremendous data analysis and evaluated product adoption, performance, customer feedback, market growth, and other considerations. We found that while many of the display languages are used by tens or even hundreds of millions of users each month, a few were used by less than 0.00063% of all users and is declining. We also saw clear demand for expanded language support to fill in gaps in the user experience or to align with the needs of growing markets.
Windows 11, Office for Windows, and Office for the web
Over the next year, the following apps will be supported on a standard set of 86 languages that account for >99.99% of current usage. Below is a list of some of the products. Check out the full list of available languages in Windows, Office for Windows Desktop, Office Online, and Edge.
| Category | Products |
| Windows | Windows 11 |
| Office for Windows and Office Online | Excel, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, Word |
| Edge | Edge on Windows |
Office Apps on Android Devices
Over the next year, we will expand from 49 to 66 supported languages in the product display for Android apps. Check out the full list of available languages in Office for Android here.
| Category | Products |
| Android | Edge, Excel, Microsoft Launcher, Office App, Office Lens, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, Word |
Office Apps on macOS and iOS
Over the next year, the product display for Office apps on macOS and iOS will be aligned with the manufacturer's language offering (macOS and iOS). Check out the full list of available languages in Office for macOS and iOS.
| Category | Products |
| macOS and iOS | Edge, Excel, Microsoft Launcher, Office App, Office Lens, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook [1], PowerPoint, Teams [1], Word |
[1] Due to usage exceptions, Outlook and Teams for iOS will support the 37-language standard, plus 10 additional languages.
Commercial-Focused Applications
Over the next year, the product display for the Microsoft 365 admin center and our commercial-focused applications will be supported on a standard set of 37 languages that account for 99.99% of the current and projected usage on these commercial-focused apps. Below is a list of some of the products, to learn more check out this support article.
| Category | Products |
| Commercial-focused applications | Access, Microsoft 365 admin center, Bookings, Delve, MyAnalytics, Planner (Web/Android), Project, Publisher, SharePoint (Android), Stream, Visio, Yammer (Web/Android) |
Timeline
Going forward, the display for all new products and applications will align with this plan. Updates to existing products will begin rolling out over the calendar year 2022. As we previously mentioned, this update will only impact the product's display; users will still be able to write and consume information in other languages without impact.
macOS Note: We're working on the timeline to add languages for this operating system. We will keep you updated as soon as we have a defined time frame.
After the rollout, unsupported display languages will automatically be set to the user's next language configured in their "Language Preferences." Users can change their preferred display language at any time.
Helpful Resources
- What languages is Office available in? - Detailed information about Microsoft 365 display language support.
- Change the language Office uses in its menus and proofing tools - To change the display language for Microsoft 365 applications.
- Manage the input and display language settings in Windows - To change the display language in Windows.
- Language packs in Configuration Manager - IT admins can identify the Windows language packs installed on a computer that runs the Configuration Manager client.
Give Us Your Feedback!
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