# Change the diagram language

You choose a language when you create a text diagram, and you can change it afterwards. Changing it does not translate the source; it changes how the source is interpreted.

That sounds obvious and still catches people, because a Mermaid flowchart set to Graphviz produces a confusing error rather than an obvious one.

![image-20260907-090311.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/2546affe-bbd8-418a-ad65-d8eb5e7eeb76.webp)

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## What this is for

* Creating a text diagram.
* Fixing a diagram detected as the wrong language.
* Converting a diagram by rewriting it in a different language.

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## How it works

| **Action**           | **How**                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| At creation          | Pick from the language list when you insert the diagram.                                                                                                                                |
| Afterwards           | Change it from the editor toolbar.                                                                                                                                                      |
| What changes         | How the source is interpreted, and which renderer draws it.                                                                                                                             |
| What does not change | The source itself. Nothing is translated.                                                                                                                                               |
| Missing languages    | An administrator may have turned some off. See [Administration](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/administration.html). |

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## A few things that catch people out

* Changing the language does not convert the source. Rewrite it, or change the language back.
* A confusing parse error is often the wrong language rather than a bad line.
* Mermaid is the fallback, so unrecognised source ends up there.

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## Related

[Code editor themes and wrappingMaking long source readable.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/code-editor-themes-and-wrapping.html)

[Find and replace in diagram codeRenaming twenty nodes at once.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/find-and-replace-in-diagram-code.html)

[Text editorBack to the editor overview.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/text-editor.html)

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_The source is right there. Read it._