Roll out a language

The steps to bring a new language and country to a customer, in order. Applies to iDempiere 11 and later. Checked in October 2026.

In short

1. Keep English as base language.
2. Activate the language, import the pack, reset the cache.
3. Set the Tenant and Business Partner languages.
4. Print a test document.

Decide first

• Base language: keep en_US. Core migration scripts write English texts into the base tables, so with another base language you must re-translate them after each upgrade. If no user should see English, use a language that is not a login language as base (discussion). See Base Language Flexible.
• Multi Lingual Documents (Tenant window): turn it on if the customer works or sends documents in more than one language. See When rows are updated.
• Language pack: check Languages and coverage.

Install the language

1. Language window: select System Language and Login Locale. Check the date and number formats.
2. Run Language Maintenance with Add.
3. Import the pack with the Translation Import/Export process, for the "System" Tenant. See Ship translations.
4. Run Synchronize Terminology, then Cache Reset.

Set up the Tenant

1. Tenant window: set Language and Multi Lingual Documents.
2. Translate the business data printed on documents. See Translate documents and printouts.
3. Set Language on foreign Business Partners.

Test before go-live

1. Log in with the language and work through the main windows.
2. Print and email a document for a foreign Business Partner.

After each upgrade

New core texts arrive in English, and changed English texts do not flag their translations. Import the updated pack and review.

Localization checklist

Area	Core provides	You set up
Chart of accounts	US example (AccountingUS.csv)	The country chart, in Initial Tenant Setup
Taxes	Tax rates and the tax provider extension point	Country rates and rules
Addresses	Address layout and validation per country	Check the country, load regions and cities
Formats	Date, time and decimal format per language	Set them in the Language window
Documents	Print formats, document types	Legal texts and numbering

Examples of country localizations (the list is not complete): Brazil, Colombia.