Always open Microsoft docs in en-us instead of local language

Jun 12, 2021 · 2 min read  · azure · documentation ·
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Always open Microsoft docs in en-us instead of local language

The issue

When you open a page on docs.microsoft.com through a Google search, and you are outside of the United States, you often get the localized version of the page. In my case, I am being served with the Dutch nl-nl version of the website.

Yes, there is a switch on the docs page to view the page in English. But I just want to open the en-us version of docs.microsoft.com.

The solution

I use a browser extenstion called ModHeader. It allows me to configure a redirect rule. Everytime I hit the URL https://docs.microsoft.com/nl-nl/* it will automatically redirect me to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/*

ModHeader is available for Google Chrome and most other Chromium based browsers, like Brave and Microsoft Edge. As long as the browser can install extensions from the Google web store.

Setting up the extension

  1. In your browser, go to the Google web store.
  2. Search for ModHeader and open it.
  3. Click "Add to Chrome" to install the extension. In case you're using a different browser, the button might be called "Add to Edge" or something similar.
  4. Click on the ModHeader icon in the extensions section of the browser.
    Note, in Google Chrome the extension icon may be hidden at first. You can open it through the extension menu.
  5. In ModeHeader, click the + symbol, and choose URL redirect.
  6. A new redirection rule is being presented. Click the two arrows.
  7. Fill in your localized Microsoft docs URL in the Original URLs field. Fill in the en-us URL in the Redirect URLs field. Press Done to complete.

Conclusion

With this simple trick your browser will always redirect to the en-us version of the Microsoft Docs website.