# Language & localization

Use Oleafly's desktop interface in English or Simplified Chinese without changing the language of your manuscript.

Oleafly's desktop interface is available in **English** and **Simplified Chinese (简体中文)**. Change it while the app is open; menus, settings, tools, messages, and workspace controls update without a restart.

## Choose an interface language

1. Open **Settings → General**.
2. Find **Language**.
3. Choose **System**, **English**, or **简体中文**.

**System** follows your operating system. Choose a specific language when the computer's language and the interface you want are different, or when a shared computer should keep Oleafly in one language.

## What the setting changes

The language choice changes Oleafly's own interface, including the Library, editor controls, Settings, Oleafly Tools, warnings, and recovery actions.

It does not translate:

- your `.tex`, `.typ`, `.md`, or `.bib` files;
- the compiled PDF;
- proofreading language or English dialect;
- replies from an AI assistant;
- compiler logs, package names, or metadata returned by outside services.

That separation is useful. You can write an English paper in a Chinese interface, edit a Chinese document in an English interface, or ask an assistant to reply in a language that differs from both.

## Set writing and proofreading languages separately

For English spelling and grammar, open **Settings → General** and choose the **Spelling dictionary** and **English dialect** you need. These settings are independent from the interface language. See [Spelling, grammar & academic style](/docs/spellcheck-grammar/).

For an assistant, state the output language in your request or save it in [Custom instructions](/docs/ai-instructions/). The interface language does not rewrite your prompt or force the model's reply language.

:::note[More languages]
Simplified Chinese is the first localized desktop interface alongside English. More interface languages are planned, but they are not available in the desktop app yet.
:::

If one screen does not update after a language change, leave that screen and open it again. If a label remains untranslated, include the screen name and app version in an [issue report](/docs/settings/help/#write-a-useful-report).