Summary

Windows splits language into four separate settings, and picking the wrong one is why people change their whole system language when all they wanted was dates written the other way round. This article shows you which setting does what, how to change each of them, and why Microsoft 365 needs changing on its own.

Before You Start

• Windows 11 or Windows 10.
• An internet connection — language packs download from Microsoft.
• No admin rights needed on a personal device. On a managed work device the language list can be restricted; Step 3 covers what to ask for.

Instructions

1. Work Out Which Setting You Actually Need

All four live on the same Settings page, and they do genuinely different things.

• Menus, buttons, and system messages are in the wrong language — that is the Windows display language. Go to Step 3.
• Dates come out as 07/29/2026 when you want 29/07/2026, or a decimal shows a point where you expect a comma — that is Regional format. Go to Step 2. This is the one most people actually need.
• The Microsoft Store shows the wrong catalogue, or news and weather are for the wrong place — that is Country or region. Go to Step 4.
• Word, Excel, or Outlook menus are in the wrong language while Windows is correct — Office keeps its own setting. Go to Step 5.
• The letters and symbols on screen do not match the keys you press — that is the keyboard layout, covered in How to Fix Your Keyboard Typing the Wrong Characters.

2. Change the Regional Format (Dates, Times, and Numbers)

This changes how dates, times, currency, and numbers are written, and it leaves every menu in the language it is in now.

1. Press Windows + I to open Settings.
2. Select Time & language in the left sidebar, then click Language & region.
3. Scroll to the Region section, roughly halfway down the page.
4. Open the Regional format dropdown. It lists entries such as English (United Kingdom) and English (United States), with Recommended marked beside the one matching your Country or region.
5. Select the format you want. The row expands to show what you are getting: Calendar, First day of week, Short date, Long date, Short time, and Long time.
6. To override one of those on its own, click Change formats and set the individual dropdowns. This is how you get day-month-year dates while keeping a 12-hour clock, for example.
7. Close Settings.

Verification: Look at the clock in the bottom-right corner of the taskbar. Hover it — the date tooltip uses your new short date format immediately.

Note: Applications read this setting when they start, so anything already open keeps the old format. Close and reopen Excel, Outlook, or whichever app was showing the wrong dates.

Note: Excel takes its date order straight from Regional format. If a spreadsheet reads 03-05 as 3 May on your machine and 5 March on a colleague's, this setting is the difference — not anything inside the workbook. See How to Stop Excel Changing Numbers into Dates for the entry-level fixes that go with it.

3. Add a Language and Set the Windows Display Language

This changes the text of Start, Settings, File Explorer, dialogs, and the sign-in experience.

1. In Settings > Time & language > Language & region, find the Language section at the top of the page.
2. Click Add a language to the right of Preferred languages. The Choose a language to install window opens with a search box at the top.
3. Type the language name, select it in the list, and click Next.
4. The Install language features page opens with a set of tick boxes: Install language pack, Set as my Windows display language, and optional extras including Text-to-speech, Speech recognition, and Handwriting.
5. Tick Install language pack and Set as my Windows display language.
6. Click Install. A progress bar appears beneath the language in Preferred languages. The download runs to a few hundred megabytes and takes a few minutes on a normal office connection.
7. When it completes, a message appears at the top of the page reading Will be display language after next sign-in, with a Sign out button beside it.
8. Save and close everything you have open, then click Sign out.
9. Sign back in. Start, Settings, File Explorer, and the taskbar are now in the new language.

Note: The display language applies to your account only. Anyone else who signs in to the same computer keeps their own.

Note: Not every language ships a full pack. Some install partial coverage, which leaves a handful of older dialogs in the previous language. That is the coverage Microsoft published for that language rather than a fault on your device.

Managed work device: If the Windows display language dropdown is greyed out, or the language you want is missing from Add a language, your device policy controls the language list. Raise a ticket with this wording: "Please install the German language pack on my device and allow me to set it as my Windows display language." Name the language you need in place of German.

4. Change Your Country or Region

This one is narrower than people expect, which is why changing it rarely fixes a formatting problem.

1. In Settings > Time & language > Language & region, go to the Region section.
2. Open the Country or region dropdown and select yours.
3. Close Settings.

What it controls: the Microsoft Store catalogue and which apps are offered to you, the local content in Widgets, news, and weather, and the Recommended marker beside entries in the Regional format list.

What it does not control: the language of any menu (Step 3), or the way dates and numbers are written (Step 2).

Note: This setting is separate from the country on your Microsoft account, which governs billing and is changed in your account profile at account.microsoft.com. Changing one does not change the other.

5. Change the Microsoft 365 Display Language Separately

Windows and Office are independent. Changing one leaves the other exactly as it was.

Desktop apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, classic Outlook)

1. Open Word and click File in the top-left corner, then Options at the bottom of the left sidebar.
2. Select Language in the list down the left side of the Word Options dialog.
3. The pane shows two sections: Office authoring languages and proofing at the top and Office display language below it.
4. Under Office display language, select the language you want and click Set as Preferred. It moves to the top of the list and is marked as the preferred language.
5. If the language is not listed, click Install additional display languages from Office.com. A Microsoft download page opens for the Office Language Accessory Pack — download the pack for your language and run it.
6. Click OK, then close and reopen every Office application. Ribbon tabs, menus, and dialogs are now in the new language.

Note: Office display language and Office authoring languages and proofing are different settings. The second one drives spell-check and grammar. Leaving it on the wrong language puts red underlines beneath perfectly correct words while the menus look fine.

Outlook on the web and new Outlook for Windows

7. Click the gear icon (Settings) in the top-right corner of the window.
8. Select General in the left column of the Settings pane, then Language and time.
9. Set the Language dropdown, and set Date format and Time format underneath it — Outlook on the web does not read the Windows Regional format.
10. Click Save. The page reloads in the new language.

Tip: For the rest of Microsoft 365 on the web, sign in at myaccount.microsoft.com, open Settings & Privacy, and set Language and region there. That covers the web versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

6. Remove a Language or an Unwanted Keyboard Layout

Adding a language also adds its keyboard layout, which is the usual reason symbols move around after a language change.

1. In Settings > Time & language > Language & region, find the language under Preferred languages.
2. Click the three dots (⋯) to the right of the language name. The menu offers Move up, Language options, and Remove.
3. Click Remove to delete the language and its pack. Windows will not let you remove the language currently set as the display language — set a different one and sign out first.
4. To keep the language but drop its keyboard, click Language options instead, scroll to the Keyboards section, click the three dots beside the layout, and choose Remove.

Verification: Look at the bottom-right of the taskbar, next to the clock. A two- or three-letter language code such as ENG appears there whenever more than one keyboard layout is installed. Once you are down to a single layout, that indicator disappears.

Note: With two layouts installed, Windows + Space cycles between them, and it is far too close to other shortcuts to press by accident. If quotation marks or the @ sign have moved, press Windows + Space until the indicator shows your usual layout.

Troubleshooting

WARNING

Setting a new Windows display language signs you out of your session. Save and close your work before clicking Sign out — anything unsaved in an open application is lost, exactly as with any other sign-out.

Symptom / Error	Potential Cause	Solution
Windows display language dropdown is greyed out	Device policy restricts the language list	Raise a ticket asking IT to install the language pack you need and permit the display language change on your device — name the language in the request.
Menus changed but the sign-in screen is still in the old language	The sign-in screen reads a separate copy of these settings	Copying them across needs admin rights. Raise a ticket asking IT to open Control Panel > Region > Administrative > Copy settings and tick Welcome screen and system accounts.
Dates are still wrong in Excel after changing Regional format	The app was open when the setting changed	Close Excel completely and reopen it. Applications read the format once, at startup.
Some dialogs stayed in the previous language	The language installed a partial pack	Expected for languages Microsoft ships partial coverage for. The main interface is translated; a few legacy dialogs are not.
Office menus are in a different language from Windows	Office keeps its own display language	Set it in File > Options > Language using Step 5, then restart all Office apps.
Keyboard types the wrong characters after the change	The new language added its own layout	Press Windows + Space to switch back, or remove the extra layout using Step 6. See How to Fix Your Keyboard Typing the Wrong Characters.

Related Articles

• How to Stop Excel Changing Numbers into Dates
• How to Fix Your Keyboard Typing the Wrong Characters
• How to Fix Your Computer Clock Showing the Wrong Time
• How to Use Voice Typing (Dictation) on Windows
• How to Make Text and Icons Bigger on Windows 11

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