Friday, September 12, 2008

Steps to Configure Multiple Languages in MOSS

Step 1: Install the language files on all WFE Operating Systems
This step is necessary to install the language specific files for the operating system like the Keyboard files and fonts etc. For this, go to the Regional and Language Options in the Control Panel , in the Languages tab, add the necessary supplemental language support which installs the necessary files needed

Step 2: Install Office SharePoint Server 2007
Install MOSS in the desired language and run the SharePoint Products and Technologies configuration wizard.

Step 3: Install Language Packs
Now you need to install the language pack of the desired language. Please note that language packs come in separate packages i.e. one language pack setup per installation, so if you need more than one language, multiple language packs need to be installed. Make sure the language pack is of the same language you need and you are installing the 'MOSS language pack' and not one of the 'WSS language packs'

Step 4: Rerun the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard
This should be done with the default options selected.
As soon as you successfully install a language pack in a particular language, a folder with the respective language ID is created in c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\template\
For example: If you are currently running the English version of MOSS then you 1033 under this folder

Step 5: Create the site with the new language
You should notice that the site creation wizard now includes another option to select the language to create the site in.

Step 6: Enable Site Variations
Go to Site Settings->Site Collection Administration
Click 'Variations' .Select '/' to create variations for the top level site
Leave all other options to default settings and Click 'OK'

Step 7: Configure Variation Labels
Go to Site Settings->Site Collection Administration
Click 'Variation Labels'
On the' Variation Labels' screen, click 'New Label' and create an English label

Step 8: Create Hierarchies
On the' Variation Labels' screen, click 'Create Hierarchies'
The wizard automatically creates hierarchies for sites and sub sites and pairs them as well.

Step 9: View the Variation Log
Go to Site Settings->Site Collection Administration
Click 'Variation Logs'
Look at the Variation Log Entries and find the pairing of sites

Step 10: Change the Browser Language and view the site in different languages
Now as the variation hierarchy is created, you can view the site in different languages (English and Arabic) in our case. For this, use the URLs you saw in the Variation Log .
One more thing to note is that if you use the default URL of the site, you will be redirected to the variation that corresponds to the default language of the browser. Try changing the browser language to Arabic and check. This shows that you can redirect different users to the same site in different languages based on user preferences.

Step 11: Edit the Page in source language and observe the results
You are now ready to go with multilingual sites created in MOSS. Try to add some content to the content editor web part by using the Edit Page option. After the change, don't forget to Publish.

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