Question

More generally how do you rename Sphinx default elements (e.g. Quick Search to Search)? Can you?

Answer 1

Here is how you could change “Quick search” to something else by overriding a template:

1. Create a folder called templates in the Sphinx project directory.

2. Copy <Sphinx install dir>/themes/basic/searchbox.html to templates.

3. In conf.py, add

   templates_path = ["templates"]
   

4. Rename ‘Quick search’ to whatever you want in the copy of searchbox.html.

But I would not do it this way.

A more flexible approach is to create a gettext MO file and set up the configuration as described in the documentation for locale_dirs. Like this:

1. The template file <Sphinx install dir>/locale/sphinx.pot contains all the strings that can be translated. Copy that file to a local sphinx.po file.

2. Add your changes to sphinx.po.

3. Use msgfmt.py to compile sphinx.po into sphinx.mo.

4. Put sphinx.mo in the proper directory (<your_locale_dir>/en/LC_MESSAGES for English).

See also http://docs.python.org/library/gettext.html#internationalizing-your-programs-and-modules.