Set QCDS Administrator and Frontend Language Defaults

QCDS keeps separate installation defaults for the administrator interface and the frontend/signing experience. Set both under Components > QC Digital Signature > Settings > Language & localization.

The frontend value is a fallback rather than a forced language for every signer: workspaces and Contacts can supply more specific language choices.

Set the Installation Defaults

  1. Go to Components > QC Digital Signature > Settings.
  2. Find Language & localization.
  3. Choose the Default backend language for QCDS administrator/localized backend surfaces.
  4. Choose the Default frontend language used when a workspace has not saved its own frontend language.
  5. Select Save Settings.

QCDS validates the selected values against its supported language set before saving them.

How the Initial Defaults Are Chosen

During installation or upgrade provisioning, QCDS initializes a blank global frontend language from Joomla's Site Language and a blank global backend language from Joomla's Administrator Language. It does this only when the corresponding QCDS value is missing or blank.

That means an explicitly saved QCDS language is not silently replaced just because Joomla or QCDS is later updated.

Workspace Frontend Language Overrides

Each frontend workspace can save its own frontend language. If a workspace already has a nonblank language, the QCDS installer does not overwrite it during a later extension update. A workspace with no saved locale falls back to the global QCDS frontend default.

Signer and Contact Language Precedence

For participant-facing language, QCDS resolves the most specific current choice first. The current 2.0.7 runtime order is:

  1. the linked Contact's current preferred language, when available;
  2. the current workspace/frontend language;
  3. the global QCDS Default frontend language;
  4. en-GB as the final fallback.

This is why changing the installation default does not necessarily change a signer who already has a more specific Contact or workspace language.

Verify the Result

  1. Reload the QCDS administrator and confirm the selected backend default remains saved.
  2. Open the frontend workspace and verify a workspace without its own override uses the expected frontend language.
  3. If a Contact has a preferred language, verify that participant-facing pages/messages use that more specific choice.

Common Sources of Confusion

  • Joomla language vs. QCDS default: Joomla seeds blank QCDS values, but a saved QCDS value becomes the QCDS installation default.
  • Global vs. workspace: the global frontend default is a fallback, not a command to overwrite every workspace.
  • Workspace vs. Contact: a Contact preference can be more specific than the workspace default for that signer.

Community Discussion

Want to compare workflows, share practical tips, or discuss how you use this QCDS feature? Visit the QC Digital Signature Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific issues, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.