Technical data

Setting Up and Editing the Project
6.4 Using Foreign-Language Character Sets
Programming with STEP 7
Manual, 05/2010, A5E02789666-01 159
6.4 Using Foreign-Language Character Sets
As of STEP 7 V5.3 SP2, you can enter texts in foreign languages in projects and libraries even if
these languages do not match the language that has been set for STEP 7. To do this, the
corresponding Windows language must be set in the Control Panel of the operating system. This
makes it possible, for example, to operate STEP 7 in the STEP 7 language English on a
Chinese-language version of Windows but still allows Chinese text be entered.
In this case, the following types and options for language settings must be distinguished:
Windows Language Setting
This setting is made in the Windows Control Panel. Texts pertaining to the operating system are
displayed in the language selected, and you can enter texts in foreign-language character strings.
Project Language
The project language is the language that is set in the Window Control Panel when a project is first
created. Once chosen, this project language cannot be changed. However, with the
"language-neutral" setting it is still possible to open a project on computers with other language
settings in Windows. Before changing the project language to "language-neutral", make sure that
only characters from the English-language character set (ASCII characters 0x2a - 0x7f) were
previously used in the project when entering text.
To find out the project language for a project or a library, select the Edit > Object Properties menu
command. In the dialog box that is then displayed you can also select the "Can be opened under
any Windows language setting (language-neutral)" option.
If you copy a project by means of the Save As menu command and the project language is not the
same as the current Windows language setting, you can then change the project language in the
copied project to the language currently set in Windows. This will be useful in cases such as when
you want to create language-specific variants of a project. In this case, the master project should
contain only characters from the English-language character set (ASCII characters 0x2a - 0x7f).
This will ensure that data corruption will not occur when the language-specific project is edited
further in the respective language.
STEP 7 Language
The STEP 7 language is the one that you set in the SIMATIC Manager by using the Options >
Customize menu command. This language is the one use for interface elements, menu command,
dialog boxes and error messages in STEP 7.
If you are using another Windows language such as German, English, French, Italian or Spanish,
you can ensure that the STEP 7 interface is correctly displayed by selecting English as the
STEP 7 language.