Change default mailbox language

How to change default mailbox language for a single user or multiple users? There are users in the organization that have a different mailbox language, and they want to change that. You can send them instructions explaining how to set the default mailbox folders to another language. But, it’s better to change that for them with PowerShell. This article will show how to change the default mailbox language and their default folders.

Default mailbox folders greyed out

A couple of users have mailbox folders in the English language. They want to set the default mailbox language to another language. But they can’t edit the folders with a right-click and give them another name. That’s because they are default mailbox folders.

Note: The default mailbox folders are greyed out, and you can’t rename them from Outlook.

How do you convert the mailbox default folders to another language? Let’s look at how to set the default mailbox folder settings to another language.

In this example, we like to change the English language to the Nederlands language.

Note: It’s safe to change the default mailbox language, and the emails in the default folders will not be deleted and remain in the same folder. The only difference is that the default mailbox folders will have the name of the language you set it to.

Change default mailbox language in Outlook on the web (OWA)

To let the users change the mailbox language in Outlook on the web, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Outlook on the web
2. Click on the three dots in the menu
3. Select Settings

4. Click on View all Outlook settings

5. Click on General
6. Click on Language and time
7. Select the language from the dropdown menu
8. Check the box Rename default folders so their names match the specified language
9. Click on Save

Change default mailbox language with PowerShell

To change the mailbox language for the users with PowerShell, follow the steps below.

The commands work for Exchange Online and Exchange on-premises. However, you must connect with the proper tools before running the commands:

• Exchange on-premises: Run Exchange Management Shell as administrator.

• Exchange Online (Microsoft 365/Office 365): Run PowerShell as administrator and connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

Get default mailbox language

Get the default mailbox language settings with the Get-MailboxRegionalConfiguration cmdlet.

PS C:\> Get-MailboxRegionalConfiguration "Anne.Green@exoip.com"

Identity             Language        DateFormat TimeFormat TimeZone
--------             --------        ---------- ---------- --------
Anne.Green           en-US           yyyy-MM-dd h:mm tt    Pacific Standard Time

Change default mailbox language

Change default mailbox language with the Set-MailboxRegionalConfiguration PowerShell.

Get-Mailbox "Anne.Green@exoip.com" | Set-MailboxRegionalConfiguration -Language "nl-NL" -LocalizeDefaultFolderName -DateFormat "d-M-yyyy" -TimeFormat "HH:mm"

Change default mailbox language for all users

Get all the mailboxes in the organization and change the language.

PS C:\> Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Set-MailboxRegionalConfiguration -Language "nl-NL" -LocalizeDefaultFolderName -DateFormat "d-M-yyyy" -TimeFormat "HH:mm"

Verify default mailbox language

It’s good to verify that the language is set.

PS C:\> Get-MailboxRegionalConfiguration "Anne.Green@exoip.com"

Identity             Language        DateFormat TimeFormat TimeZone
--------             --------        ---------- ---------- --------
Anne.Green           nl-NL           d-M-yyyy   HH:mm      Pacific Standard Time

The user does not have to restart Outlook, and it will immediately change the language. If that doesn’t work, they can restart Outlook.

That’s it!

Read more: Show week number in Outlook calendar »

Conclusion

You learned how to change the default mailbox language. There are two options. You can tell the user to change the language in Outlook on the web (OWA) or do it for them with PowerShell. If you have more than one user to change the default language mailbox settings for, it’s better to use PowerShell.

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