Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2008-06-18

Localization is the process of adapting a document or a product for use in a locale other than the country of origin. There are three Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 client applications or features that are localized to include support for many languages: Unified Messaging, Office Outlook Web Access, and Outlook. This topic discusses the language support for these client features.

Unified Messaging

Unified Messaging (UM) is one of the new features in Exchange 2007. Unified Messaging lets users receive voice and fax messages into their Inbox and access their Exchange 2007 mailbox from a telephone by using Outlook Voice Access. When users use Outlook Voice Access from a telephone, they can interact with the system by using touchtone (also known as DTMF) or speech recognition. 

Unified Messaging relies on the Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), for which functionality is provided through the Microsoft Speech Server service. The TTS engine and the pre-recorded prompts for a given language for Unified Messaging are packaged as "language packs". The Unified Messaging language packs are offered in 16 different languages and all 16 language packs are included on the product DVD. However, not all the UM language packs contain support for ASR.

By default, Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging includes Automatic Speech Recognition support only for U.S. English. There are plans to include ASR support in the UM language packs for other languages after Exchange 2007 is released. After you download and install the appropriate language pack and install the language pack that includes ASR support for non-U.S. English languages, users can use the language that has been installed to interact with the Unified Messaging system by using speech-enabled input. For more information about the languages that are supported in Unified Messaging, see Exchange 2007 Language Support.

By default, when you install either the U.S. English version of Exchange 2007 or a localized version of Exchange 2007, the U.S. English language is installed. It cannot be removed unless you remove the Unified Messaging server role from the computer. You can however, add or remove other language packs for Unified Messaging by using the Setup.com /AddUMLanguagePack or Setup.com /RemoveUMLanguagePack commands. There is no Exchange Management Shell cmdlet that enables you to add or remove language packs from Unified Messaging servers.

For more information about how to add and remove languages from Unified Messaging servers and UM dial plans, see How to Add a Unified Messaging Language to a Unified Messaging Server or How to Remove a Unified Messaging Language Pack from a Unified Messaging Server.

Caution:
You cannot use an .msi file to install Unified Messaging language packs.

Outlook Web Access

Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access is offered in significantly more languages than earlier versions of Microsoft Exchange. The Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access user interface is available in 47 languages.

For more information about the languages that are supported in Outlook Web Access, see Exchange 2007 Language Support.

Outlook Web Access and the .NET Framework

Before you add new languages to Outlook Web Access, you must have version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework installed on the client computer. All the Outlook Web Access languages that are listed in Exchange 2007 Language Support are supported through .NET Framework 2.0.

Because the user interface text for an Outlook Web Access client is generated by the server, the .NET Framework 2.0 must be installed on the Exchange 2007 server to fully support all 47 Outlook Web Access client languages.

Note:
The .NET Framework 2.0 is required to install Exchange Server 2007.

Language and Locale

Although the user is prompted to select a language when they first log on to Outlook Web Access, the locale setting in the user’s Internet browser can also be set to use a specific language. For example, if a user’s locale setting is "es-MX (Spanish– Mexico)", Exchange Server 2007 will select a version of Spanish that is not associated with any specific culture where Spanish is spoken, for example, Spain. Other culture-specific locales will also use appropriate neutral versions of languages and display the user interface for the appropriate neutral language. However, Exchange 2007 includes three culture-specific languages: Chinese (Hong Kong), Portuguese (Brazil), and Serbian (Latin).

Multilanguage Support with Outlook Web Access

Outlook Web Access lets users select the language that they want to use to interact with the user interface (UI). The language that a user selects determines the locale setting. Outlook Web Access uses the same language to sort Active Directory search results, such as the address book. The address book function does not work when the Outlook Web Access client and the domain controller that is based in Windows Server 2003 do not have the same locale setting. For information about how to support multiple languages in the Exchange 2007 version of Outlook Web Access when the address book function is broken, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 919166, The address book function in Exchange 2007 is broken when an Exchange OWA client and a Windows Server 2003-based domain controller do not have the same locale setting.

Outlook Web Access Spelling Checker

In Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access, users can check spelling in 16 languages. Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access uses the same spelling checker engines that are used by Microsoft Office. However, the spelling checker engines included with Microsoft Office have been customized to be used in a multi-thread processing environment on servers. The languages available in the spelling checkers in Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access are the same spelling checker languages that are supported in the version of Outlook Web Access that are included with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

Outlook Client Access

The number of languages that Microsoft Outlook users can use to access their Microsoft Exchange mailbox has increased to 49 in Exchange 2007. When users access their mailboxes by using Outlook and other client applications and both the client application and Exchange 2007 support the language the user has specified, the user will see all messages and Exchange-generated mailbox components, for example the Inbox, in a fully localized user interface. When a user accesses an Exchange 2007 mailbox by using an e-mail client application, and the client application does contain support for the language, the user will be presented with a user interface in the chosen language.

For more information about the languages that are supported in the Office Outlook 2007 client, see Exchange 2007 Language Support.

Multilanguage Support with Outlook

There are several steps that you must follow to enable multiple language support for Outlook with Exchange 2007 and Windows Server 2003 domain controllers and global catalog servers. To enable multilanguage support for Outlook clients with Exchange 2007 and Windows Server 2003 domain controllers, perform the following tasks:

  1. Install the language group for each Outlook client language that you want to support on the Active Directory global catalog servers and on the Exchange 2007 servers in each site that contains Outlook client computers. A language group is a collection or grouping of similar languages that provides all keyboard layouts, Input Methods Editors (IMEs), TrueType fonts, font links, language packs, bitmap fonts, and code page translation tables that are required by the system for a group of languages. For more information about which languages are included in a specific language group, see Configuring and Using International Features of Windows.

  2. Add the appropriate registry key to enable international sorting. For information about how to add the registry key to enable international sorting, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 325622, Plan and configure multiple language support in Exchange 2000.

Note:
By default, non-English Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domain controllers do not build English indexes. Also by default, when a non-English query is completed in Exchange 2007 and the language is not supported or installed, Exchange 2007 will fall back and use English.

For More Information

For more information about the language support that is available for system administrators in Exchange 2007, see Language Support for Administrators.