--- title: Manage website languages slug: cms-12/docs/manage-website-languages docTags: createdAt: 2026-08-10T15:55:59.000Z --- :::hint{type="info"} **Note** This topic is for Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) administrators, and developers with administration access rights. ::: Editors can create content in a particular language after you add and activate the language and set an access level for a language. This prevents unauthorized editors from creating or editing pages in that language. When an editor copies a page, language versions are copied regardless of the editor's language rights. This means that if an editor with access rights to English only copies a page that exists in English and French and pastes that somewhere, both language versions are copied. :::hint{type="info"} **Note** The [Optimizely CMS user interface](docId\:YIZnzc-8Cwpn-sWPBCasn) is available in 12 different languages. To set the desired user interface language for CMS, click your user profile name. Select **My Settings** > **Display Options** tab. At the **Personal Language** drop-down list, select the language of your choice, and click **Save**. ::: ## Language overview Go to **Settings** > **Manage Website Languages**. The installed website languages display. You can see which languages are turned on for active editing in edit view, and the order in which languages are available. You can adjust the order of the languages using the arrows to the left of the language. To change a language's settings, click its name. ![Manage website languages](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/rNpJFL_Hu2B9Jz3gqeH6C-20260720-145544.png) ## Add and turn on languages Before an editor can edit content in different languages, you need to add and turn on the languages in the admin view and then turn them on for editing in the CMS edit view. ### 1. Add and edit languages 1. Go to **Settings** > **Manage Website Languages**. 2. Click **Add Language** to add a language. ![Add languages](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/zbJOGwyR2ia5d7HEQJy6C-20260720-145544.png) 3. Click a language to edit its settings. A list of available language codes displays. Select a language code by clicking the name. ![Edit languages settings](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/8iWNh7W8oFYOyC12Tf1Dj-20260720-145544.png) - In **Name**, enter a name for that language to be shown in the edit view. The field contains the name of the language encoding, but you can change this if you want. - In the **Template icon** field, enter the relative path to an icon symbolizing the language. Several flags are zipped in *modules\\\\\_protected\\\CMS.zip\\\App\_Themes\\\Default\\\Images* folder. If you want to make your own icons, make them 15x15 pixels, so they fit properly in the edit view. - In the **Web address prefix** field, you can provide a specific prefix to show the content of the relevant language. If you do not provide a prefix, the language code is used, such as [www.company.com/nl](http://www.company.com/nl). - Select **Enabled** if you want to turn on the language to be active for editing in edit view. This option also affects whether the language is available to website visitors. A disabled language is not visible in the edit view. Existing content in that language is still accessible but cannot be edited. - Click **Add Users/Groups** to define which editor groups have access to create and edit content in this language (see below). When you add a language, it is available for the **Everyone** group by default. Only users with access rights for a language have it available on the **Sites** tab and can create and edit content in that language. An editor's create and edit access rights to content *and* language determine which actions the editor can perform on the content. This means that an editor must have edit access for a specific language and a specific item to edit the content in that language. When a language has **Everyone** as access rights, access rights for an item apply to all languages. This also means that an editor with delete access rights for content can delete an entire node with content in all languages, including content in languages to which the editor does not have access. :::hint{type="info"} **Note** Removing the **Everyone** group in a certain language may cause some editors to lose their access rights to create and edit content in that language. ::: 4. Click **Save**. ### 2. Turn on a language on a website (if not already done) 1. Go to **Settings** > **Manage Website Languages**. 2. Click the desired language in the list. 3. Select **Enabled** and click **Save**. ### 3. Turn on a language for editing in CMS This step makes the language available for content creation by editors. A language can be made available for the entire site structure or parts of it. By default, subpages inherit language settings from their parent page. 1. Select the root page for the branch you want to turn on the language in the CMS page tree. In this example, you want to make "French" available for the entire site, so the start page defines the language setting. 2. Open the page in **All Properties** editing. 3. Select **Tools** and **Language Settings** in the header. 4. Deselect **Inherit settings from the parent page** to allow changes. 5. Under **Available Languages**, select **Change**. 6. Select the language you want to turn on, click **Save**, and close the dialog box. 7. For a correct display, the website start page must also be available in the new language. To do this, switch to the newly activated language, go to the start page, select **Translate**, and then publish it. ![Translate button](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/u9Y1_owA_5exZzRHW3EW--20260720-145544.png "Translate button") When the language is turned on, as described above, it is available for [content translation](docId\:c0Dlt6GiGyPFGT0O_lUpD). ## Delete an existing language Remove a language from the website by opening the language for editing and clearing the **Enabled** option.