# Manage language variants of an asset

**Category:** [Digital Assets](https://help.totalctrl.app/hc/totalctrl/totalctrl-help-center/en-US/categories/assets-1)
**Updated:** 2026-08-19

## Why language variants

If you maintain the same asset in several languages — a flyer, a video, a help image — you can group those files together so the right version is delivered automatically based on the viewer's language.
## Enabling languages

First, open **Settings > Languages** and enable the languages your account uses. You can pick from the built-in catalog or add a fully **custom language** with its own name and locale code. You can also set a primary and secondary languages for the app. Disabling a catalog language is a soft action and never affects existing assets; only custom languages can be permanently deleted.
## Building a language group

From an asset's detail page you can:

- **Add a variant** by uploading a new file and choosing its language. The original asset becomes the group's primary, and the new file joins as a variant.
- **Link** an existing asset as a variant by its UID and language.
- **Set primary** to promote any variant to be the group's default.
- **Unlink** a variant to remove it from the group without deleting the file.

Each language can appear only once per group.
## How delivery picks a language

When a share link is requested with a `?lang=` query parameter (or an `X-Asset-Language` header), the system serves the matching variant in the group if one exists and hasn't expired; otherwise it serves the requested asset. See [Control asset access and share links](control-asset-access-and-share-links) for how delivery works.

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## Related Articles

- [Track rights, metadata, and versions](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/track-rights-metadata-and-versions)
- [Asset analytics: views & downloads](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/assets-analytics)
- [Upload and organize assets](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/upload-and-organize-assets)
- [AI Auto-Tag: automatic tagging for your assets](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/assets-ai-auto-tag)
- [Smart search: find assets by meaning](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/assets-smart-search)

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