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SharePoint linguistic search features

This post was most recently updated on March 28th, 2023.

5 min read.

I’ve been posting about different localization/globalization / multilingual options of SharePoint for quite some time. It’s a topic that’s kind of close to my heart, being a non-English speaker with a really difficult native language – one, that Microsoft always gets wrong even though it’s not for the lack of trying!

Weirdly enough, while Microsoft messes up the Finnish translation and localization all the time, they do detect and recognize the language surprisingly well.

Enough chitchat, though. In this post, I’m trying to present the languages SharePoint understands and can work with. I’ll do my best to keep the documentation up-to-date so that I can just refer to this page in the future whenever I need to.

Even on Modern sites, the language selection is still the good old (I'd love to say "Classic" but that would cause confusion) view we're all used to. And the list of supported "Alternate Languages" is pretty impressive!
Even on Modern sites, the language selection is still the good old (I’d love to say “Classic” but that would cause confusion) view we’re all used to. And the list of supported “Alternate Languages” is pretty impressive!

The styles on this page are going to be a bit weird since I had to find a way to fit this ridiculously wide table on the page somehow. Sorry about that!

DetectedLanguage example - it works perfectly with Bulgarian cyrillic letters!
DetectedLanguage example – it works perfectly with Bulgarian Cyrillic letters!

The massive table below (adapted from Microsoft’s documentation) describes all of the languages SharePoint understands well enough to use language detection for your documents.

While the original documentation is for SharePoint Server (2013, 2016 and 2019), it seems to be valid for SharePoint Online as well.

Which languages can SharePoint detect and work with automatically?

Language

Code

Document language detection

Word breaking

Stemming

Spelling variants

Spelling correction, static

Spelling correction, dynamic

Decompounding

Fuzzy name matching

Company name extraction

Afrikaans

af

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Albanian

sq

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Arabic

ar

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

Yes

Armenian

hy

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Azerbaijani

az

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Bangla

bn

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Basque (Basque)

eu

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Belarusian

be

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Bosnian

bs

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Breton

br

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Bulgarian

bg

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Catalan

ca

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Chinese Simplified

zh-cn

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Not applicable

No

No

Chinese Traditional

zh-tw

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Not applicable

No

No

Croatian

hr

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Czech

cs

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Danish

da

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Dutch

nl

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

English

en

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

Yes

Yes

Estonian

et

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Faeroese

fo

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Farsi

fa

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Filipino

tl

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Finnish

fi

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

French

fr

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

Yes

Yes

Frisian

fy

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Galician

gl

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Georgian

ka

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

German

de

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Greek

el

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Gujarati

gu

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Hausa

ha

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Hebrew

he

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Hindi

hi

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Hungarian

hu

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Icelandic

is

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Indonesian

id

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Irish Gaelic

ga

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Italian

it

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

Yes

Yes

Japanese

ja

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Not applicable

Yes

Yes

Kannada

kn

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Kazakh

kk

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Kirghiz

ky

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Korean

ko

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Not applicable

No

No

Kurdish

ku

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Latin

la

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Latvian

lv

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Lithuanian

lt

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Luxembourgish

lb

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Macedonian

mk

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Malay

ms

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Malayalam

ml

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Maltese

mt

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Maori

mi

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Marathi

mr

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Mongolian

mn

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Norwegian Bokmål

nb

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Norwegian Nynorsk

nn

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

Yes

Pashto

ps

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Polish

pl

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

Yes

No

Portuguese

pt

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

Yes

Yes

Punjabi

pa

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Romanian

ro

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Romansh

rm

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Russian

ru

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

Yes

Yes

Sami Nothern

se

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Serbian

sr

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Slovak

sk

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Slovenian

sl

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Sorbian

wen

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Spanish

es

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

Yes

Yes

Swahili

sw

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Swedish

sv

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Tamil

ta

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Telugu

te

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Thai

th

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Turkish

tr

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Ukrainian

uk

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Urdu

ur

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Uzbek

uz

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Vietnamese

vi

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Welsh

cy

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Yiddish

yi

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

Zulu

zu

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Not applicable

No

No

This content is from here: Microsoft’s documentation for primarily on-premises SharePoint linguistical capabilities – in this context, also applies to SharePoint Online!

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