How to Change the Default Text Strings in Drupal 8

Drupal 8.5 is available now, and we covered some of the key new features.

However, some smaller, but very useful features arrived with 8.5. For example, it's now much easier to translate the default text.

A few years ago, we explained how to translate the default text in Drupal 7. The process was painful! Let me show you how much easier it is in Drupal 8.5.

First, go to the "Extend" tab and enable the "Interface Translation" and "Language" module:

• Next, go to "Configuration", then "Languages".
• Click "Edit" next to "English" (or whatever your site's default language is).
• Select the box, "Enable interface translation to English".
• Click "Save language".

• Next, go to "Configuration", then "User interface translation".
• You can search for and translate language strings directly from this screen. In this example, I'm changing "Weight" to "Gravity".
• Click "Save translations".

That's really all there is to the process. It's much, much easier than in Drupal 7. Here is my translated text live on the site:

About the author

Steve is the founder of OSTraining. Originally from the UK, he now lives in Sarasota in the USA. Steve's work straddles the line between teaching and web development.