# Windows locale formatting and fonts

To switch application languages, you may need set up Windows locale formatting and fonts.

## Locale formatting

Windows locale formatting determines how the application shows time, date, and floating point values at design time and run time.

It is strongly recommended that you do not edit the default locale settings for the following reasons:

- You can only modify the formatting for the current user locale. The formatting for all other locales is set to their default values. For example, if you select English (United States) as the current user locale, modify its formats, and then select another locale, the modifications will be lost.
- You can only modify settings for the current user. If more than one user will be logged in, they will all have to make the same modifications.
- You can only modify locale settings for languages that are installed.

  Tip: | Locale formatting is supported on PanelView Plus 7 and PanelView Plus 6 terminals, but is not supported on PanelView Plus or PanelView Plus CE terminals. When the application language is switched, the default locale settings for the new language are used even if that language is not installed.

## Fonts

Windows font support features allow an application to show characters that are not supported by the application's original font. If the application text strings are exported and translated into Chinese, for example, and then re-imported, the translated text will show in the Chinese font without the necessity of changing the font selection in every instance in the application.

Font support is enabled automatically when you install a language or language group. Once you install the East Asian language group, for example, fonts for these languages, including Chinese, are supported. If font support is disabled, any characters that the font cannot show will appear as undefined "?" characters.

Tip: | On Windows 7 SP1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2016 operating systems, some raster fonts, those with a .fon extension, and fonts with a symbol script, (for example, Wingdings), do not show characters from other fonts.

FactoryTalk View Machine Edition Station supports font linking for PanelView Plus 7, PanelView Plus 6, PanelView Plus, and PanelView Plus CE terminals. Use the Font Linking menu in FactoryTalk View ME Station Terminal Settings options to select a base font and to link another font to the base font. The base font and the linked font must be loaded on the terminal.

If your runtime application uses fonts that are not installed with FactoryTalk View ME Station, you will need to either copy the fonts manually to the internal card of the terminals, or, if the font is too large for the terminal's memory, (as is, for example, the Simsun font), you can copy the font onto an external Compact Flash card. If an external Flash card is used, it will need to be plugged into the terminal at all times while the application is running.

## See also

Language switching

Prepare an application for language switching

Export text strings

Import text strings