Icelandic texts, translations and email templates

This page helps when text in Odoo, in emails or on documents shows in English or in poor Icelandic, and when you want to change the text of email templates in Icelandic and English. For each case you see what you can check and fix, and when and how to contact Exigo.

Text in Odoo is in English or in poor Icelandic

Buttons, fields, menus, messages or headings on documents show in English, or the Icelandic wording is wrong or unclear. This can also apply to a whole app or to the text on receipts in the point of sale.

What could cause this

• The text is a fixed part of Odoo, and its Icelandic translation is missing or poor. Fixed texts are, for example, the names of fields and buttons, messages, and headings on quotations and invoices. They cannot be changed from Odoo's ordinary screens.
• The text is part of your own data, for example the name of an app or a menu, a product name or the text of an email template. Users with the right access can change such text.

What you can check

1. Take a screenshot that shows the text, and note where it appears, with the menu path.
2. If the text is the name of an app or a menu, an administrator can change it. Activate developer mode, go to Settings ‣ Technical ‣ User Interface ‣ Menu Items, open the menu, change the name and save. You change the name in other languages with the language button in the field, as described in the section Product names or terms show in English on documents.
3. If the text is a product name, text in an email or text on the website, read the matching section below.
4. If the text is a fixed part of Odoo, send it to Exigo as described below.

When to contact Exigo

Contact Exigo when a fixed text is in English or poorly translated, or when a whole app has no Icelandic translation. If there are many texts, send them all in one list. Email hjalp@exigo.is with the following:

• a screenshot of the text,
• where the text appears, for example the menu path, the name of the document or a receipt in the point of sale,
• the text as it is now,
• the text as it should be.

Odoo shows in English, or new translations do not appear

Menus and screens show in English even though you chose Icelandic, or you still see the old text after a translation was changed.

What could cause this

• The language in your user settings is English, or a change to it has not yet taken effect in the browser.
• The browser keeps the translations. Odoo first shows the translations the browser has kept and fetches the new ones in the meantime. New text therefore does not appear until the page is loaded the next time.

What you can check

1. Click your user picture at the top right and choose My Preferences. Check that Icelandic is selected in the Language field on the Preferences tab. If you change the field, click Update Preferences.
2. Reload the page twice with F5. The first load fetches the new translations and the second one shows them.
3. If the old text still shows, change Language to English, click Update Preferences, then change it back to Icelandic.
4. Open Odoo in a private window. If Odoo shows in Icelandic there, the problem is in data the browser has kept. Clear the browser cache or try another browser.
5. To change another user's language: go to Settings ‣ Users & Companies ‣ Users, open the user and choose the language in the Language field on the Preferences tab. This needs administrator rights.

When to contact Exigo

Contact Exigo if Odoo shows in English for all users, or if new text does not appear after these steps. Email hjalp@exigo.is with the following:

• a screenshot of the screen that shows in English,
• which user and which browser are affected,
• which of the steps above you tried.

An email or document goes out in English

A customer or vendor receives an email, quotation, invoice or order in English when they should get it in Icelandic. Or the other way round: a foreign customer receives Icelandic text.

What could cause this

• The contact's language is wrong. Odoo sends emails and prints documents in the language of the contact selected on the document.
• The document is addressed to a contact person at the company, for example someone working for a vendor, and that contact person has a different language from the company. When you change a company's language, the language of contact persons already registered under it does not change.
• The Icelandic version is missing from the email template or from the text of the document. The customer then gets the English text even though their language is right.

What you can check

1. Open the contact in Contacts and check the Language field. The field only shows when more than one language is active in the system.
2. Check who the document is addressed to. If it shows a company name, a comma and the name of a person, the document is addressed to that contact person. Open them and check their language as well.
3. Correct the language and send or print the document again. The email and the printout follow the contact's language as it is when you send or print.
4. The descriptions on the lines of a quotation or invoice are taken in the customer's language when the product is added to the line. Lines added before you changed the language do not change. Fix the text on the line, or delete the line and add the product again.
5. An invoice that has already been sent goes out again with the same PDF when you send it once more.
6. If the contact's language is right but the email still comes in English, open the email template as described in the next section and check the Language field on the Settings tab. That tab only shows in developer mode. If the field is empty, Odoo uses the contact's language.

When to contact Exigo

Contact Exigo if the contact's language is right but the email or document still comes in English, or if an invoice has to be sent again in a different language from the first sending. Email hjalp@exigo.is with the following:

• the document number,
• the contact it was sent to,
• a screenshot or the PDF itself,
• which text is in the wrong language.

Text in emails from Odoo is wrong or poorly translated

You want to change the wording of an email that Odoo sends, for example with an invoice or an order confirmation, or translate a template that only exists in English.

What could cause this

• Emails are made from email templates. Each template has one version for each language. When you change the text of a template, only the version in your own language changes, and the other versions stay as they were.
• The template has never been translated. All recipients then get the English text.

What you can check

1. Activate developer mode and go to Settings ‣ Technical ‣ Email ‣ Email Templates. Open the template.
2. Change the Subject field and the text on the Body tab, and save. If you work in Icelandic, this changes the Icelandic version.
3. To change the English version: choose My Preferences, change Language to English and click Update Preferences. Open the template, change the text and save. Then change your language back to Icelandic.
4. You can also change the subject line in another language with the language button in the Subject field. On the Body tab the language button shows the text as HTML code, so there it is simpler to switch language as in the previous step.
5. Change only ordinary text. Do not delete or type over what Odoo fills in each time, for example the customer's name, the document number or the amount.
6. Click Preview to view the email. Choose an example record and a language in the Force a Language field, and check both the Icelandic and the English version before the template is used.
7. You change the text of SMS templates in Settings ‣ Technical ‣ Phone / SMS ‣ SMS Templates. There you change other languages directly with the language button in the Body field.

[Screenshot: an email template open, with the Subject field, the Body tab and the Preview button marked]

When to contact Exigo

Contact Exigo if you want a new template or a new link or button in the email, for example a payment link, or if you do not know which template sends the email. Email hjalp@exigo.is with the following:

• the name of the template, or the document the email was sent from,
• the text as it should be, in Icelandic and in English,
• a screenshot of the email as it is now.

An email template shows wrongly or empty

After a change to a template, the email arrives empty, with code or with odd text, or only one language version is wrong.

What could cause this

• A change to the template damaged the code that fills in the email. This can affect only one of the language versions.

What you can check

1. Open the template and click Preview. View the email in each language with Force a Language to see which version is wrong.
2. If the template is a standard Odoo template, the Reset Template button shows at the top of the template. It brings back the original text in all languages.
3. Then add your changes back one at a time, and check Preview after each one.

When to contact Exigo

Contact Exigo if the Reset Template button does not show, if the email is still wrong after the template was reset, or if you want to keep text you added to the template. Email hjalp@exigo.is with the following:

• the name of the template,
• a screenshot from Preview that shows the error,
• which language is wrong, or both,
• when the template was last changed.

Product names or terms show in English on documents

Product names, product descriptions or terms show in English on quotations and invoices to Icelandic customers, or in Icelandic to foreign customers.

What could cause this

• Text you enter, such as product names, sales descriptions and terms, is stored in one version for each language. If the text has not been entered in the customer's language, the English version shows.
• The description on a line of a quotation or invoice is taken when the product is added to the line. Changing the product after that does not change lines that already exist.
• Default terms are added to quotations and invoices in the customer's language when the customer is selected on the document.

What you can check

1. Open the product and click the language button in the product name, under Product at the top of the form. The button shows the code of your language, for example IS. The window that opens shows the text in each active language. Change the text and click Save. The same applies to the sales description and other fields that have a language button.
2. Long formatted text, such as Default Terms & Conditions in Accounting ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings under Customer Invoices, is simplest to translate this way: change your language in My Preferences, change the text and save, then change your language back.
3. If the language button does not show in the product name, only one language is active in the system. An administrator can see the active languages in developer mode under Settings ‣ Translations ‣ Languages, and add a language as described in the guide Change languages.
4. On existing documents, fix the text directly on the line. New lines get the new text.

[Screenshot: a product open, with the IS language button in the product name and the window showing the text in Icelandic and English]

When to contact Exigo

Contact Exigo if many product names or other texts need to be translated at once. Email hjalp@exigo.is with the following:

• which products or texts are involved,
• the text in each language, for example in a spreadsheet.

English text in the Icelandic webshop

Customers see English text on the website or in the webshop, for example on product pages or in the cart, even though the website is in Icelandic.

What could cause this

• The Icelandic version of the text is missing, for example of a product name, a product description or text on a page.
• The text comes from Odoo itself or from the website theme, for example in the cart and the checkout.

What you can check

1. Open the page in the Website app and click Edit. In the website's default language, for example when the website is only in Icelandic, you change the text directly and click Save.
2. To fix text in another language of the website: switch to that language with the website's language selector, click Edit and choose Translate. The Translate option only appears in a language other than the website's default language. A yellow background marks text that is not translated.
3. You can also change product names and product descriptions on the product in Odoo with the language button, as described in the section Product names or terms show in English on documents.
4. If you cannot select the text and change it after clicking Edit, it comes from Odoo or from the website theme.

[Screenshot: a website page in Odoo with the Edit drop-down open and the Translate option marked]

When to contact Exigo

Contact Exigo if the English text does not change in Edit or Translate. Email hjalp@exigo.is with the following:

• the address of the page,
• a screenshot with the text marked,
• how the text should read in Icelandic.