Organizational Unit Languages limits the languages offered when someone creates a project for one Organizational Unit (the department, team, or client division whose project defaults you manage in wxrks). Use it when an Organizational Unit only ever works in a few languages and you want its project creation dropdowns to show only those, while the other Organizational Units in the same account keep the full list.
Who is this for? Account Admins, who can set both the account-wide list and each Organizational Unit's list, and Project Managers who have Organizational Unit Update and maintain Organizational Units. See All about wxrks roles for what each role can do.
Permissions:
Organizational Unit Update shows the settings on an Organizational Unit's Project tab, including Organizational Unit Languages, and lets you save them. Without it, the tab opens empty.
Organizational Unit List shows Organizations > Organizational Units in the menu, so you can open the Organizational Unit in the first place.
Only Account Admins can change Custom Account Languages, the account-wide list.
Account Admins grant these on the user's Permissions page, under People > Users > [User] > Permissions. See the wxrks Permissions Reference for what each permission controls.
Table of contents
How account and Organizational Unit languages work together
wxrks can limit languages at two levels, and the Organizational Unit level always sits inside the account level:
Level | Setting | Where | What it does |
Account | Custom Account Languages | Settings > Account Settings > Usage | Limits languages across the whole account. When it's off, the account offers every language wxrks supports. |
Organizational Unit | Organizational Unit Languages | Organizations > Organizational Units > [Unit] > Project | Narrows the account's list further for one Organizational Unit. When it's off, the Organizational Unit inherits the whole account list. |
An Organizational Unit can only pick from languages the account already allows, never add new ones. A language is offered in the Organizational Unit's projects only if it's on both lists.
Example: your account's Custom Account Languages allows English (United States), French (France), German (Germany), Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Latin America). Your Marketing EMEA Organizational Unit only translates from English into French and German, so you turn on Organizational Unit Languages for it and select English (United States), French (France), and German (Germany). Projects created for Marketing EMEA now offer only those three languages, while every other Organizational Unit still sees all five.
💡 Tip: Include the source language in the selection, not just the target languages. The same list feeds both the Source Language and Target Languages dropdowns, so an Organizational Unit restricted to French and German can't pick English as its source.
Restrict an Organizational Unit's languages
Go to Organizations > Organizational Units and open the Organizational Unit.
Click the Project tab. Organizational Unit Languages is near the top of Default Project Configuration, between Contact Person/Project Manager and the default Source Language/Target Languages.
While the toggle is off, its label tells you what the Organizational Unit inherits, for example Inheriting all 5 languages available in the account. If the account has no Custom Account Languages list, it reads This organizational unit inherits all languages available for the account.
Turn on Organizational Unit Languages. The label changes to Only the languages selected below are available in this organizational unit, and a language picker opens below it.
Select the languages this Organizational Unit should offer. The picker only lists languages the account allows.
Optionally, set the default Source Language and Target Languages below. These are pre-selected when a project is created for this Organizational Unit, so pick them from the languages you just selected.
Scroll to the bottom of the tab and click Save. wxrks confirms with Organizational Unit saved successfully.
ℹ️ Note: Save stores the whole Project tab at once, including Organizational Unit Languages. If you leave the tab without saving, nothing changes.
ℹ️ Note: You must select at least one language. If you turn the toggle on and save with the picker empty, wxrks blocks the save, outlines the picker in red, and shows Select at least one language when Organizational Unit Languages is enabled. None of the tab's changes are saved until you fix it.
What changes when you create a project
Once saved, the restriction applies whenever someone creates a project for that Organizational Unit:
In project creation, the Source Language and Target Languages dropdowns, and each file's own target languages, offer only the Organizational Unit's languages.
When you configure a multiproject (one request split into projects for several Organizational Units), each Organizational Unit's target languages are limited to its own list.
The restriction is not retroactive and has a limited reach:
Existing projects keep their languages. It only applies to projects created after you save.
Translation Memory, Glossary, and connector language pickers are not filtered. They keep offering the account's languages, even when they're scoped to this Organizational Unit.
ℹ️ Note: If a default Source Language or Target Languages on the Project tab is outside the Organizational Unit's selection, the Project tab still shows it, but project creation doesn't pre-select it. Update the defaults so they match the selection.
Changing the account list later
The account list always wins. If an Account Admin removes a language from Custom Account Languages, every Organizational Unit that had selected it stops offering it right away, even though the Organizational Unit's own selection still lists it. Adding the language back to the account brings it back.
⚠️ Warning: If the account stops allowing every language an Organizational Unit had selected, that Organizational Unit offers no languages at all, and nobody can create a project for it. Before you shorten Custom Account Languages, check which Organizational Units restrict their languages, and update or turn off Organizational Unit Languages on any that would be left empty.
Custom Account Languages saves as soon as you change it, without a Save button. To change it, go to Settings > Account Settings > Usage, expand Custom Account Languages, and edit Choose available languages. For the other settings on that page, see All about Settings.
Turn the restriction off
Go to Organizations > Organizational Units, open the Organizational Unit, and click the Project tab.
Turn off Organizational Unit Languages and click Save.
The Organizational Unit goes back to inheriting the full account list. As with turning it on, projects that already exist keep their languages.
Troubleshooting
Project creation still shows every account language. Check that you clicked Save at the bottom of the Project tab and that the project is being created for the restricted Organizational Unit. The dropdowns follow the Organizational Unit selected in project creation, so switching it changes the list.
A language I need isn't in the Organizational Unit Languages picker. The account doesn't allow it. An Account Admin needs to add it to Custom Account Languages first.
An Organizational Unit offers no languages at all. The account no longer allows any of its selected languages (see Changing the account list later). Open its Project tab and select languages the account allows, or turn Organizational Unit Languages off.
The Project tab won't save. If the message says Select at least one language when Organizational Unit Languages is enabled, select a language or turn the toggle off.
The Project tab is empty. You don't have Organizational Unit Update. Ask an Account Admin to grant it.