Localization

Where: Settings > Localization Who: owner or admin

Localization settings control how Made with Pepper displays dates, numbers and interface text. They also set the company language for documents and emails.

Settings

Initial timezone

The installer defaults to UTC. The timezone you select becomes the application timezone, the company timezone, and your owner account’s initial display timezone. This applies to fresh installations; it does not change timezone settings or document dates in an existing installation.

An interrupted fresh installation keeps the selected timezone when you retry with the same setup target and owner. A personal display-timezone change after installation does not rewrite invoice issue or due dates.

How locale affects the app

• UI text: menu labels, button text, system messages and validation errors display in the selected language. A validation error names the field in that language
• Names in lists: country, currency and language names in the select lists use the selected language
• Date formatting: all date fields and PDF dates use the configured format. Formats such as Jun 3, 2026 include translated month or weekday names. The 12-hour clock also translates AM/PM. On screen, these use the interface language. PDFs, emails and the public quote page use the document language
• CSV imports: the item and customer imports accept the words for yes, no, Active, Business and Individual in your interface language, besides the English words. See Import customers from CSV
• Number formatting: amounts on screen and in PDFs use the configured separators
• Number entry: prices, discounts, quantities, tax rates and payment amounts are typed in the same format. With 1.234,56 selected, type 1.234,56 or 1234,56; with 1,234.56 selected, type 1,234.56 or 1234.56. A value in the other format is refused, and the form keeps what you typed so you can correct it
• Login page: a language selector in the bottom-right corner lets users switch the interface language before logging in

Currency decimals

Each currency has a fixed number of decimals: none for JPY, three for BHD and two for the other supported currencies, including IDR. Made with Pepper saves the currency and its decimals with every document, recurring template, payment and catalog price. The number format setting changes only the separators, not the number of decimals.

An amount with more decimals than its currency has is refused: 10,5 on a JPY invoice, or 1,2345 on a BHD invoice. Quantities take up to four decimals in the selected decimal separator, without grouping, from 0,0001 to 99999999. Percentages take up to two decimals.

Document language

Each document has its own language. The PDF and the emails of the document use it. The interface language of the person who works on the document does not change it.

1. On the customer form, set the Document language. Leave it empty to use the Company language, which is the Application language above.
2. A new draft or recurring schedule takes the customer's language. Under Language, Customer's language keeps that choice. Select another language to override it.
3. When you finalize the document, Made with Pepper freezes its language. It also freezes the number and date formats. A later change to these settings applies to new documents only.

Example: Northwind Studio in Utrecht works in Dutch. Its customer Globex GmbH has Document language German, and Pine Street Bakery in Portland has English. Globex gets a German PDF for its €4,840.00 invoice. Pine Street gets an English PDF for its $2,598.00 invoice. Both PDFs use the number format saved at issue.

Email templates exist per language. See Email templates.

PDF languages

All three PDF templates print in the 13 languages. Every label is in the document language, including the tax label and the country names.

• Arabic: the PDF is mirrored. Columns, totals and alignment read from right to left, and Arabic letters are joined.
• Mixed text: each typed field takes the direction of its first letter. An Arabic customer name in an English invoice reads correctly.
• Japanese and Chinese: Made with Pepper uses the bundled Droid Sans Fallback font. Long text without spaces wraps inside its column.

Limits:

• Kanji use Chinese-style glyph shapes. The font has no bold weight, so Japanese and Chinese text prints in regular weight.
• Brackets in Arabic text are not mirrored.
• A Japanese PDF needs about 90 MB of PHP memory for a moment. A memory_limit of 128M is enough.
• The first Japanese or Chinese PDF copies the font into storage/fonts. The storage/ directory must be writable, as for every installation.

Languages

Made with Pepper has 13 interface languages: English, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish. Portuguese is European Portuguese. Spanish uses the tax terms of Spain. Brazilian Portuguese is not available.

Each person can select a language on the login page. The password reset email uses the language that is selected on that page. An invitation email uses the interface language of the person who sends the invitation.

Known limits

• Tax rate names: the installer names the zero rate and the reverse-charge rate in the language you install in. A later change of the language does not rename them. To change a name, go to Settings > Tax rates and edit the rate.
• Reminder stage names: the four default names follow the interface language. Custom stage names stay as entered.
• Sample content: the optional sample customers, items and documents are English.

What locale does not affect

• Your content: you enter line item descriptions, notes and customer names. Made with Pepper does not translate them
• Email template content: Made with Pepper stores the text you enter for each language. It does not translate your changes to other languages
• Issued documents: a change to the Application language or a customer's Document language does not change a finalized document

Related pages

• Company settings
• Settings reference