# Customizing Lightroom through TranslatedStrings.txt



## Mark Sirota (Apr 29, 2011)

One of the several ways Lightroom can be customized is by editing/creating a file called TranslatedStrings.txt.

*What it is*

Ordinarily, this file is used by Lightroom to generate text suitable for the chosen language.  It's how Lightroom knows that "Library" is "Catálogo" in Spanish, "カタログ" in Japanese, etc.

If you look inside your Lightroom application, you can find these files.  There's a folder for each language, and in each there's a file called TranslatedStrings.txt.

For Spanish, es.lproj/TranslatedStrings.txt contains the line
	
	



```
"$$$/AgLibrary/Menu/Panels/Library=&Catálogo"
```
For Japanese, ja.lproj/TranslatedStrings.txt contains the line
	
	



```
"$$$/AgLibrary/Menu/Panels/Library=カタログ(&T)"
```
Almost any text that you see in Lightroom is passed through this mechanism in order to be displayed in the correct language, so just about any text in Lightroom can be customized.  There are several thousand customizable strings.

*Examples of customization*

For example, I use this mechanism to customize the way image dimensions and apertures are displayed anywhere in Lightroom, such as the Loupe overlay:
​
Rather than "ƒ / 2.8", I use "ƒ⁄2.8" -- I've eliminated the spaces and used the unicode division slash rather than a standard slash.
Rather than "4256 x 2832, I use 4256×2832 -- I've eliminated the spaces and used the unicode multiplication sign rather than a lower-case letter x.
The main value of these two changes is the elimination of the spaces to makes things fit better in the Metadata panel, but I also think it just looks better throughout the application.

*How to do it*

To make customizations like these, create or edit a file called TranslatedStrings.txt embedded in the Lightroom application (see below for locations by operating system).  To make the changes above, it would include:
	
	



```
"$$$/AgLibrary/Exif/DimensionsTemplate=^1^U+00D7^2"
"$$$/AgLibrary/Exif/FStopTemplate=^U+0192^U+2044^0"
```
The defaults for those two are:
	
	



```
"$$$/AgLibrary/Exif/DimensionsTemplate=^1 x ^2"
"$$$/AgLibrary/Exif/FStopTemplate=^U+0192 / ^0"
```
The location of TranslatedStrings.txt varies by operating system:


Mac: /Applications/Adobe Lightroom 3.app/Contents/Resources
Windows: \Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3\Resources\
Put your custom TranslatedStrings.txt in the folder containing the language-specific folders.  This parent file will override the settings in the language-specific files.  (There is some evidence that putting the file in the parent folder is sometimes ineffective. In that case, create an "en" folder under Resources and put the file in there.)

*Note*

This file will be overwritten with each new Lightroom upgrade.  Keep a copy separately somewhere so that you can re-install it each time you upgrade Lightroom.

*Disclaimer*

The TranslatedStrings.txt mechanism is  not fully supported by Adobe. They probably won't answer you if you ask  them for help on it. This may not work in future versions of Lightroom.  The file may be overwritten by updates, so save a copy elsewhere. Use of  this trick may increase your risk of getting head lice or smelly feet.


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## Mark Sirota (Apr 29, 2011)

*Changing the naming scheme for Virtual Copies*

Suppose you want to change the default naming scheme for virtual copies from "Copy 1", "Copy 2", ... to "VC1", "VC2", etc.  You'd add this line to TranslatedStrings.txt:

```
"$$$/AgLibraryImages/DefaultCopyName=VC^1"
```


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