When businesses embrace digital collaboration platforms like SharePoint, one crucial requirement often overlooked is multilingual support. Ensuring seamless communication across diverse languages is essential as organizations become more globalized. However, many businesses are misled by misconceptions surrounding SharePoint multilingual features, resulting in frustration and inefficiencies. Fortunately, tools like PointFire are here to bridge the gap and provide the robust multilingual capabilities enterprises need.
This blog explores the most common misconceptions about SharePoint’s multilingual features and highlights how PointFire resolves these challenges effectively.
1. SharePoint Is Fully Multilingual Out of the Box
One of the most prevalent myths is that SharePoint provides comprehensive multilingual capabilities by default. While SharePoint offers features like the Multilingual User Interface (MUI) for switching interface language, it cannot fully localize site content. For instance, users might assume that creating content in one language automatically translates it into others, but this is false.
How PointFire Solves This: PointFire introduces true SharePoint multilingual support by automating content translation and allowing users to toggle between languages easily. This ensures that the interface and content are fully localized, providing a seamless experience for global users.
2. Manual Translations Are the Only Option
Many organizations believe that the only way to manage multilingual content in SharePoint is through manual translation and the creation of duplicate pages or libraries. This increases administrative overhead and leaves room for inconsistencies in the content across languages.
How PointFire Solves This: PointFire eliminates the need for manual duplication by enabling automatic content translation, including lists, libraries, and pages. Its machine translation capabilities are accurate and customizable, saving time while ensuring consistency across all languages.
3. Permissions Are the Same for All Languages
Another common misconception is that permissions in one language apply universally across all languages in SharePoint. This can lead to confusion and potential security risks, as sensitive information might inadvertently become accessible in multilingual setups.
How PointFire Solves This: PointFire’s advanced permissions management ensures that multilingual content respects the original permissions structure. Users only see content in their preferred language without compromising the security or integrity of other versions.
4. Multilingual Features Slow Down Site Performance
Some organizations avoid enabling multilingual features out of fear that it will slow down their SharePoint site. They worry that managing translations and switching between languages will create lags or reduce productivity.
How PointFire Solves This: PointFire is designed to optimize performance. Its lightweight architecture ensures that enabling SharePoint multilingual capabilities does not hinder site speed or functionality. PointFire works seamlessly with existing SharePoint infrastructure, ensuring smooth operations regardless of the number of languages supported.
5. Multilingual Capabilities Do Not Extend to Modern SharePoint
A lingering misconception is that SharePoint’s multilingual features are only effective in classic SharePoint, leaving modern SharePoint users without viable solutions for multilingual content.
How PointFire Solves This: PointFire365 is fully compatible with modern SharePoint, enabling users to leverage advanced multilingual capabilities on modern sites. This includes support for modern pages, libraries, and hubs, ensuring every aspect of a modern SharePoint site is multilingual-ready.
Navigating the complexities of SharePoint multilingual support can be challenging, especially when misconceptions cloud decision-making. Tools like PointFire empower organizations to unlock SharePoint’s full potential by simplifying multilingual management and ensuring consistent, accurate translations across all platforms. Whether managing a small team or a global enterprise, PointFire is the key to breaking language barriers and fostering effective communication.
