# Language Types

Each document that you want to index into IDOL Server has a language and an encoding. In IDOL Server, the combination of the language and encoding is the Language Type.

All indexed documents have a language type.

- When you index a document, you can:

- Specify the language type that IDOL Server must use.

- Configure IDOL Server to automatically detect the language type.

## Specify the Language Type

When you create documents, you can add a field to the document that contains the language type. You can then configure IDOL Server to read the value of this field and use it to define the language type.

Alternatively, when you send an document to IDOL Server for indexing, you can provide the language type in an action parameter. IDOL Server applies this language type to all the documents included in the index action.

## Automatic Language Detection

When you turn on Automatic Language Detection, IDOL Server automatically finds the language and encoding of a document, and assigns it to the appropriate language type.

With Automatic Language Detection, you can also configure the language type that IDOL must use if:

- it cannot detect the language of a document, or the language is not configured (General Language Type).

- it cannot detect the encoding of a document (Default Language Type)

See the main topic on Automatic Language Detection.

Related Topics

- Supported Languages

- Available Encodings

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