This article explains how to define the active languages for your instance and the preferred language, and how SMARTFENSE determines the language in which content is displayed to each user when an exact version is not available.
Language settings
The configuration is located at Settings > Organization > Languages.
From this section you can:
- Select the active languages for your instance: only languages marked as active will be available when customizing content, notifications, and other multilingual sections.
- Set the preferred language among the active languages: it acts as a fallback when content is not available in the user's language or in a similar language.
By unchecking a language, its flags will stop appearing when customizing content. Already loaded translations are not deleted: they remain hidden and will reappear if you reactivate the language.
The platform requires at least one active language. The preferred language must always be one of the active languages.
Click Save to apply your changes.
How SMARTFENSE determines the language for content
When content is not available in the user's exact language, the platform does not show an error but looks for an alternative language following this order of priority:
- Similar language — the system will attempt to display the content in an active variant of the same language. Only variants that are active in this instance are considered. For example: if the user's language is Spanish (Spain) and that language is not active, the platform may use Spanish (Latin America) or Spanish (Mexico) if either is active.
- Preferred language — if there is no active variant of the same language with the content available, the platform will use the Preferred Language configured for this instance.
- Default language — if the content is also not available in the preferred language, as a last resort the system's Default Language will be used, which is Spanish (Latin America).
Content without translation in active languages: if content has no translation in any active language, the platform will display it as a last resort in one of the inactive languages where it is translated, so as not to impede access. To avoid this, translate that content into one of the active languages.
Similar languages
The platform applies the same similarity logic for any language it supports. Some examples:
- Spanish: Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), Basque (Basque Country), etc.
- English: English (United States), English (United Kingdom), etc.
- Portuguese: Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), etc.
Behavior with unrecognized or inactive languages
All this logic also applies if users are imported or created with languages that are not included in the platform. In those cases, to avoid displaying content in an unexpected language, the platform will skip the first step and go directly to the Preferred Language (or the default language, if necessary).
The language set in each user's profile is not modified when a language is deactivated in this instance. If a user already had a language configured that is now inactive, that value is preserved in their profile, but the communications they receive will be sent in the organization's Preferred Language until the language becomes active again or the administrator manually adjusts the user's language (individually, by CSV import, or from the identity provider like Microsoft Entra ID or Google).
Frequently asked questions
Can the end user choose any language in their profile? The dropdown in the end user's profile is restricted to the active languages of the instance. If the user had a language set that is no longer active, it remains visible as the current value, but when editing, they can only switch to one of the active languages.
What happens if an import brings in a non-active language? The language the user arrived with is respected; the import is not affected. The interface and system notifications will come in that language. If the translatable content sent to them has no translation in their language, the organization's preferred language is used.
What happens with the contents created from a shared template? Only the translations corresponding to the active languages in the instance are copied. The translations the template has for non-active languages are not replicated in the new content. If you later reactivate a language, you will need to manually translate the content into that language.
Do reports and historical audits retain all languages? Yes. Historical reports continue to show the languages used at the time, even if they are currently deactivated. Historical information is not lost.
What happens if I try to deactivate all languages? It is not possible. The platform requires at least one active language, and the preferred language must always be among the active ones.
💡 Best practices
- Activate only the languages used by the organization to keep content customization tidy and free of unnecessary flags.
- Set as the preferred language the one spoken by most users, to ensure consistency when no specific version of the content exists.
- When creating customized content, include it in the most widely used active languages to avoid fallbacks to alternative languages.
- If you reactivate a language, review existing content to add the missing translations, as the platform does not generate them automatically.
- Check the languages assigned to users and groups after making changes to the active language settings, to avoid communications being sent in an unexpected language.