Salesforce Dictionary - Free Salesforce GlossarySalesforce Dictionary
Full Language Settings entry
How-to guide

How to enable a language and translate content

Enabling a new display language and translating content are two tasks. Here is the order an admin follows in Setup to do both for a single org.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated Jun 16, 2026

Enabling a new display language and translating content are two tasks. Here is the order an admin follows in Setup to do both for a single org.

  1. Confirm the support level

    Check whether your target language is fully supported, end-user, or platform-only on the Supported Languages page. This tells you how much of the interface is already translated and how much you must translate yourself.

  2. Set or confirm the org default

    From Setup, open Company Information and edit the Default Language. This is the language new users inherit and the platform's fallback when a user has none of their own.

  3. Enable the display language

    Turn on the languages you want users to be able to choose. Once enabled, each language appears in the Language picklist on the User record so individuals can select it.

  4. Enable Translation Workbench

    From Setup, enable Translation Workbench, then under Translation Language Settings add each language you plan to translate and assign translators to it.

  5. Translate, then activate

    Let translators enter picklist, label, and custom label translations while the language stays Inactive. Mark it Active only when the translations are ready for users to see.

Default Languageremember

Org-wide setting in Company Information that new users inherit and that acts as the fallback display language.

User Languageremember

Per-user field on the User record that sets the interface display language for that one person, chosen from enabled languages.

Active statusremember

Per-language toggle in Translation Language Settings that exposes finished translations to end users; leave it off until translation is complete.

Translator assignmentremember

Users granted the View Setup and Configuration permission and assigned to specific languages so they can enter translations for those languages only.

Gotchas
  • Enabling a language widens the user menu but translates nothing on its own; content still needs the Translation Workbench.
  • End-user languages leave Setup, admin pages, and Help in English, so admins working in those screens still see English.
  • Changing the org Default Language later does not update the Language field on users who already exist.
  • Report data never auto-translates; only labels do, so multi-language reporting depends on your underlying data model.

See the full Language Settings entry

Language Settings includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.