Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing software application produced by Adobe Systems. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines.

Changing the language of InDesign’s menus, dialog boxes, and panels has been important for thousands of users around the world for years — after all, if you need to use the English version of InDesign but you’re Swedish, you’re probably going to use it more efficiently if it’s in your native language! Unfortunately, Adobe has not made it easy to change the UI language. There have been some, but they stopped working in CS6. But there is a way, it appears to work in both the CS6 and CC versions of InDesign, and it doesn’t even require a script.

To change the UI language, you need to first find the Presets folder, inside the application folder. In other words, on the Mac, open Applications >Adobe InDesign >Presets. Inside this folder is another folder called InDesign Shortcut Sets. Open that, and you’ll find a folder with a cryptic name. Because I use an American version of InDesign, the folder in there is called en_US. Okay, ready for the trick?

Change the name of that folder, then restart InDesign. You’ll immediately see the language change.

(You’ll also see some other problems, but I’ll tell you how to fix that in a moment.) But what name should you give that folder? Here’s a list of a few I’ve tried (see note at end of blog post for the ones with an * ): • Arabic, use ar_AE* • Chinese, use zh_CN • Czech, use cs_CZ • Danish, use da_DK • Dutch, use nl_NL • German, use de_DE • Greek, use el_GR* • Finnish, use fi_FI • French, use fr_FR • Hebrew, use he_IL* • Italian, use it_IT • Japanese, use ja_JP • Korean, use ko_KR • Norwegian, use nb_NO • Polish, use pl_PL • Portuguese, use pt_BR • Russian, use ru_RU • Spanish, use es_ES • Swedish, use sv_SE Minor Menu Problems You’ll see two problems when changing the UI language. First, some menu items aren’t translated at all.

For example, here’s my Window menu, after changing to Chinese: Almost all the menu items are translated, but some aren’t. Little Fighter 2.5 Postacie. There’s really nothing you can do about that. (By the way, the Resources Panel feature you see here is a project I’m working on with some brilliant friends. More on that at InDesignSecrets before too long, I hope!) Major Workspace Problems (and an easy fix) The bigger problem you’ll notice is that your workspace pretty much disappears no panels, no dock it’s a very clean “zen-like” workspace, but it’s not very helpful to work in! Fortunately, there’s a relatively easy solution: Change the name of another folder! Back in the application folder, look inside that Presets folder for another folder called InDesign Workspaces.

Inside that, you’ll find another folder. Change it to the same language code, and re-launch InDesign: Now you’ll be able to choose a workspace from the little Workspace pop-up menu in the tiny Control panel: Notice that the workspace names are all in English on my system, and they are not translated above. But when I choose one, I get to see all the panels and features I’m used to! Changing the UI for InDesign is incredibly useful for many people. I’m glad that it’s not too difficult to do now!

Note, however, that changing the UI does not necessarily give you any additional features. For example, if you change it to Japanese, you don’t get the additional CJK features (for typesetting vertically, etc.); if you change it to Hebrew or Arabic, you don’t get the right-to-left (RTL) features. Check out for that.