Field Editor: Change the Formatting Language (LANGUAGE)

In the Field Editor, under Other Operations, you click Change the Formatting Language to add an instruction field containing a LANGUAGE instruction. The LANGUAGE instruction tells HotDocs which language to use to format dates and numbers when processing this template from this point forward.

When editing any field in a template where you did not set the Default Language for New Templates property, HotDocs assumes a setting of "en-US".

Common Task

The Field Type element of the HotDocs Field Editor declares whether the currently selected HotDocs Field is a placeholder field or an instruction field.

Element	What it Does
Language	Enables you to select the language you want HotDocs to use when it formats the dates and numbers in the template.
Thousands separator	Enables you to specify how you want HotDocs to separate thousands when it formats numbers. This setting overrides the assembly formatting language in the template's properties and the default format for the specified language.
Decimal separator	Enables you to specify how you want HotDocs to denote the decimal point when it formats numbers. This setting overrides the assembly formatting language in the template's properties and the default format for the specified language.

Select the Advanced Properties expander to see further options for the field:

Property	What it Does
Preserve empty paragraph	Enables you to force HotDocs to keep an empty paragraph left behind when HotDocs removes a HotDocs field when assembling a document.
Comment	You can use this to add notes about the field. A field with a comment attached displays a grey C next to the field name on the template.

At the bottom of the HotDocs Field Editor, you have access to the following actions:

Buttons	What it Does
Add Field	Adds the placeholder field to the template in the selected location.
Navigation	When a placeholder field is selected, navigation buttons show. Use < and > to navigate to the next HotDocs field. When a conditional instruction is selected, such as ELSE IF, navigation buttons help you to match the corresponding instructions, such as END IF.
Delete Field Button [X]	Selecting anywhere in a HotDocs field causes the Delete field button to appear. If you select outside a HotDocs field, or include anything besides a single HotDocs field, the button disappears (if it was previously visible), or else does not appear. Clicking the Delete field button removes the selected field completely. Clicking Microsoft Word's Undo button restores the field completely. The Delete field button exists to solve a particular problem: In Microsoft Word, you can delete a HotDocs field by clicking in the field, then clicking the field's handle, and then pressing the DELETE key on the keyboard. However, if you select the field using only the keyboard, Word does not easily enable you to delete the field. You can do so by deleting all the content of the field and then pressing the DELETE key again, or if your cursor is just to the right of the field, you can press the Backspace button once to select the field's content, a second time to delete the content, then a third time removes the field. HotDocs provides the Delete field button to simplify this process.