![](https://help.apple.com/assets/65E6150B6FF3556065071CF8/65E6150C60D78F13600351D8/en_AU/61e57fb81071150c7da08e52bb0d3db6.png)
Format a spreadsheet for another language in Numbers on iPhone
A spreadsheet’s language and region determine the formatting conventions of the text — for example, whether commas or periods are used as decimal points, which currency symbol is used, where to hyphenate words at line breaks and how dates are presented (day/month/year or month/day/year).
You can create a spreadsheet that uses the formatting of a different language as long as you have more than one language in your device’s preferred languages list. To use another language in your spreadsheet, you need to add an input source for that language (for example a second keyboard), in Settings .
Tip: In iOS 15 or later, you can translate text in your spreadsheet to another language, then choose if you want to copy the translation, replace the text with the translation and more. Select the text you want to translate, then tap Translate. To learn more about the Translate feature, see the iPhone User Guide.
Set up a keyboard or other input source for another language
To use another language in your spreadsheet, first set up an input source (for example a language-specific keyboard or character palette), for that language. When you add a language-specific keyboard to your device that language is also added to your device’s preferred language list.
On the Home screen, tap Settings, then tap General.
Tap Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard, then tap the keyboard you want to use.
To learn about using different languages and keyboards, see the user guide for your device.
If Numbers is open, quit Numbers and reopen it so that it recognises the source.
To switch to the other input source, press and hold
at the bottom of the keyboard, then choose the one you want.
If you switch to a language written in a direction different from the current language, the insertion point moves to the side of the spreadsheet used by the new language. For example, if you switch the input source from English to Hebrew, the insertion point moves to the right side of the spreadsheet.
Create a spreadsheet with the formatting of a different language
When you create a new spreadsheet, you can automatically format numbers, dates, times and currency in tables and graphs using the formatting conventions of a specific language and region. You might want to do this if you plan to share the spreadsheet with someone in another region.
For example, some regions use commas instead of full stops to indicate decimal points, or they use different monetary symbols for currency, or they display text from right to left instead of left to right.
This language setting affects only the current spreadsheet.
With the spreadsheet manager in browse view, tap
at the top of the screen.
Tap
in the top-right corner of the template chooser, then choose another language (you may need to tap the current language to see other languages).
Tap Settings in the top-left corner of the language menu, tap Done, then tap the template you want to use.
When you choose a new language, the template titles and text and some formatting controls change to reflect that language.
When you view a spreadsheet that uses a language and formatting different from your device’s, a message near the bottom of the spreadsheet indicates which formatting is used. To see examples of the formatting differences, tap the language in the message.
![The notification of the different language and region settings, showing examples of formatting for that language and region.](https://help.apple.com/assets/65E6150B6FF3556065071CF8/65E6150C60D78F13600351D8/en_AU/6eb2ee2fe1df0465463101a1e18f508f.png)
Note: Spelling is checked according to the language of the keyboard you’re using, not the language of the document.
Change a spreadsheet’s language and formatting
After you create a spreadsheet, you can change its language setting while the spreadsheet is open.
Note: You can’t change this setting for a shared spreadsheet.
Open the spreadsheet, then tap
.
Tap Language & Region, then tap Language and choose a new language.
If you choose the first item in the Language pop-up menu (System - [language]), you reset the spreadsheet to the language and region of your device. If you subsequently change your device’s language setting or if you open the spreadsheet on a device with a different language setting, the spreadsheet’s language and region automatically change to match the device’s. But if you share the spreadsheet, all users see the spreadsheet in the language and region of your device.
Tap Region (if it’s active) and select a region.
Tap Done.
After you change the spreadsheet’s language and region, any new table and graph data you enter reflects the new language. For existing table and graph data, the language in dates (for example, month names) changes, but the punctuation in dates and the order of the day, month and year don’t change. The punctuation in numbers (for example, the decimal point and thousands separator), does change.