Language won't stay on English on OneNote

Annette 0 Reputation points
2026-08-02T12:15:54.08+00:00

I am an international student, from Norway but studying in England. And it really annoys me that my OneNote, which I love using for my studies, can't be set to English as the main language for each notebook. It is set to Norwegian by a default, and I can't find another solution than to change the entire language on my Mac to English, but I have a Norwegian Keyboard and this would not be beneficial. Is there any way possible to get the default language on each new Notebook in OneNote to English, without changing my Mac settings? To clarify, this is on the OneNote app.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For education | MacOS
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  1. Hani-Ng 1,410 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-08-02T12:37:45.3466667+00:00

    Hi Annette

    On OneNote for Mac, the default proofing language is generally inherited from macOS language and keyboard settings. Unfortunately, OneNote does not currently provide a setting to permanently change the default language for all new notebooks independently of the system language.

    As a workaround, you can try:

    -Select the text in a page and go to Tools > Set Proofing Language, then choose English.

    -Add English as a preferred language in System Settings > General > Language & Region and place it higher in the preferred languages list.

    -If you use multiple keyboards, keep your Norwegian keyboard layout while setting English as the preferred editing language.

    However, if your organization manages your Mac through device management policies and language settings are being enforced, your IT administrator may be able to check whether any configuration profiles are affecting language preferences.

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