You can change which language is the primary language in your multi-language email at any time after creation. This is helpful when your translation workflow changes or when a different language needs to be the source of truth for your campaign.
Prerequisites
- Multi-language email feature enabled in your ContactMonkey account
- An existing multi-language email with at least two languages
- Edit permissions for the email
How to Change the Primary Language
- Click Emails at the top of your ContactMonkey dashboard
- Click Actions beside your desired multi-language email
- Click Edit Settings
- In the Languages order and shortcuts section, drag the new primary language to the top
- If the new primary language is not already listed, you can add it in the Email languages section
- Click Continue in the confirmation modal
- Click Save changes
Your email now uses the selected language as the primary language. All existing translations and language options remain intact.

Note: You must save your multi-language email before you can rearrange languages. If you attempt to rearrange languages before the first save, you'll see a warning prompting you to save and reopen the template first.
What Happens When You Change the Primary Language
When you set a new primary language:
- The new primary language becomes the source of truth for your email content
- All existing translations are preserved in their original languages
- The order of non-primary languages stays the same unless you manually rearrange them
- Preview and fallback settings align with the new primary language
Your recipients are not affected by this change unless you modify the actual content of the email.
Important Consideration
DeepL translation limitation: If you created a non-multi-language email in one language (such as English), converted it to a multi-language email, and then changed the primary language to a different language, DeepL translation will not be able to translate the original email content automatically.