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Starting from version β0.4.11.61 the language file support for IrfanPaint is finally complete and working. For the end user the only thing to do is to put the language file in the Languages folder, with the IrfanView language file; IrfanPaint will automatically use the language file of the same language the user selected in IrfanView.

You can get the right language files from the release announcement page of each IrfanPaint release (see download section); keep in mind that the IrfanPaint language files for the versions bundled with IrfanView are already included in the IrfanView language packs.

Information for translators

If the language file for your language is missing, you have some spare time and you can translate well, you can translate IrfanPaint also in your language.

  1. Download the template file of the last stable IrfanPaint version on your computer.
  2. Rename it so that it has the same name of the IrfanView language dll of that language with an "IP_" prefix and a .lng extension; for example, if the IrfanView language file is called Italian.dll the IrfanPaint language file will be called IP_Italian.lng. Then put it in the Languages subdirectory of the IrfanView folder.
  3. Open the file with an unformatted text editor (the good old Notepad will be fine, avoid WYSIWYG editors like MS Word unless in the end you save the document as plain text), fill in the [FileInfo] section and translate the strings; refer to the instructions reported at the beginning of the file for more information.
  4. When you've finished open IrfanPaint and check your work; check very carefully if your text is too long for the controls, if the accelerators are OK, etc.
When you finally decide that your work is good:
  1. Remove all the comments (the rows that begin with a semicolon) from the file; no one is going to read them and they make the file bigger.
  2. Zip the file, so no mailserver or e-mail client will attempt to change the charset or "correct" the line end characters; I use IZArc to read the compressed archives, so I can read almost any type of archive, but the good old .zip file is always preferred.
  3. Send the zipped file to me; I will check it, upload it on this site and, if it is for the IrfanPaint version bundled with the current version of IrfanView, I will send it to Irfan Skiljan, who will include it in the IrfanView language packs.

Important: if you are going to use Unicode characters you must save the file in UTF-16 Little-Endian; this is also recommended if you are going to use characters included in the charset used in your nation but not in the standard ANSI charset. Many text editors can save in that format, even Notepad.