diff --git a/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/intl.js b/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/intl.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..16e750558a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/intl.js
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+/*
+	***** BEGIN LICENSE BLOCK *****
+	
+	Copyright © 2018 Center for History and New Media
+					George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
+					http://zotero.org
+	
+	This file is part of Zotero.
+	
+	Zotero is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+	it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+	the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+	(at your option) any later version.
+	
+	Zotero is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+	but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+	MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+	GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+
+	You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+	along with Zotero.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+	
+	***** END LICENSE BLOCK *****
+*/
+Zotero.intl = new function () {
+	let bundle;
+	let intlProps;
+	let pluralFormGet;
+	let pluralFormNumForms;
+
+	// Get settings from language pack (extracted by zotero-build/locale/merge_mozilla_files)
+	this.init = function () {
+		bundle = Services.strings.createBundle('chrome://zotero/locale/zotero.properties');
+		intlProps = Services.strings.createBundle('chrome://zotero/locale/mozilla/intl.properties');
+
+		[pluralFormGet, pluralFormNumForms] = PluralForm.makeGetter(parseInt(getIntlProp('pluralRule', 1)));
+		setOrClearIntlPref('intl.accept_languages', 'string');
+
+		Zotero.locale = getIntlProp('general.useragent.locale', 'en-US');
+
+		// Also load the brand as appName
+		Zotero.appName = Services.strings
+			.createBundle('chrome://branding/locale/brand.properties')
+			.GetStringFromName('brandShortName');
+		
+		// Set the locale direction to Zotero.dir
+		Zotero.dir = 'ltr';
+
+		// TODO: is there a better way to get the entity from JS?
+		if (!(Zotero.isNode || Zotero.isElectron)) {
+			let xmlhttp = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/xmlextras/xmlhttprequest;1"]
+						.createInstance();
+			xmlhttp.open('GET', 'chrome://global/locale/global.dtd', false);
+			xmlhttp.overrideMimeType('text/plain');
+			xmlhttp.send(null);
+			let matches = xmlhttp.responseText.match(/(ltr|rtl)/);
+			if (matches && matches[0] == 'rtl') {
+				Zotero.dir = 'rtl';
+			}
+		}
+
+		Zotero.rtl = (Zotero.dir === 'rtl');
+	};
+
+
+	function getIntlProp(name, fallback = null) {
+		try {
+			return intlProps.GetStringFromName(name);
+		}
+		catch (e) {
+			Zotero.logError(`Couldn't load ${name} from intl.properties`);
+			return fallback;
+		}
+	}
+
+	function setOrClearIntlPref(name, type) {
+		var val = getIntlProp(name);
+		if (val !== null) {
+			if (type == 'boolean') {
+				val = val == 'true';
+			}
+			Zotero.Prefs.set(name, val, true);
+		}
+		else {
+			Zotero.Prefs.clear(name, true);
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @param {String} name
+	 * @param {String[]} [params=[]] - Strings to substitute for placeholders
+	 * @param {Number} [num] - Number (also appearing in `params`) to use when determining which plural
+	 *     form of the string to use; localized strings should include all forms in the order specified
+	 *     in https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Localization/Localization_and_Plurals,
+	 *     separated by semicolons
+	 */
+	this.getString = function (name, params, num) {
+		try {
+			var l10n;
+			if (params != undefined) {
+				if (typeof params != 'object'){
+					params = [params];
+				}
+				l10n = bundle.formatStringFromName(name, params, params.length);
+			}
+			else {
+				l10n = bundle.GetStringFromName(name);
+			}
+			if (num !== undefined) {
+				let availableForms = l10n.split(/;/);
+				// If not enough available forms, use last one -- PluralForm.get() uses first by
+				// default, but it's more likely that a localizer will translate the two English
+				// strings with some plural form as the second one, so we might as well use that
+				if (availableForms.length < pluralFormNumForms()) {
+					l10n = availableForms[availableForms.length - 1];
+				}
+				else {
+					l10n = pluralFormGet(num, l10n);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		catch (e){
+			if (e.name == 'NS_ERROR_ILLEGAL_VALUE') {
+				Zotero.debug(params, 1);
+			}
+			else if (e.name != 'NS_ERROR_FAILURE') {
+				Zotero.logError(e);
+			}
+			throw new Error('Localized string not available for ' + name);
+		}
+		return l10n;
+	};
+};
diff --git a/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/zotero.js b/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/zotero.js
index ca31cf1cd9..d608da844d 100644
--- a/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/zotero.js
+++ b/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/zotero.js
@@ -225,59 +225,8 @@ Services.scriptloader.loadSubScript("resource://zotero/polyfill.js");
 		// Browser
 		Zotero.browser = "g";
 		
-		//
-		// Get settings from language pack (extracted by zotero-build/locale/merge_mozilla_files)
-		//
-		function getIntlProp(name, fallback = null) {
-			try {
-				return intlProps.GetStringFromName(name);
-			}
-			catch (e) {
-				Zotero.logError(`Couldn't load ${name} from intl.properties`);
-				return fallback;
-			}
-		}
-		function setOrClearIntlPref(name, type) {
-			var val = getIntlProp(name);
-			if (val !== null) {
-				if (type == 'boolean') {
-					val = val == 'true';
-				}
-				Zotero.Prefs.set(name, val, 1);
-			}
-			else {
-				Zotero.Prefs.clear(name, 1);
-			}
-		}
-		var intlProps = Services.strings.createBundle("chrome://zotero/locale/mozilla/intl.properties");
-		this.locale = getIntlProp('general.useragent.locale', 'en-US');
-		let [get, numForms] = PluralForm.makeGetter(parseInt(getIntlProp('pluralRule', 1)));
-		this.pluralFormGet = get;
-		this.pluralFormNumForms = numForms;
-		setOrClearIntlPref('intl.accept_languages', 'string');
-		
-		// Also load the brand as appName
-		var brandBundle = Services.strings.createBundle("chrome://branding/locale/brand.properties");
-		this.appName = brandBundle.GetStringFromName("brandShortName");
-		
-		_localizedStringBundle = Services.strings.createBundle("chrome://zotero/locale/zotero.properties");
-		
-		// Set the locale direction to Zotero.dir
-		// DEBUG: is there a better way to get the entity from JS?
-		var xmlhttp = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/xmlextras/xmlhttprequest;1"]
-						.createInstance();
-		xmlhttp.open('GET', 'chrome://global/locale/global.dtd', false);
-		xmlhttp.overrideMimeType('text/plain');
-		xmlhttp.send(null);
-		var matches = xmlhttp.responseText.match(/(ltr|rtl)/);
-		if (matches && matches[0] == 'rtl') {
-			Zotero.dir = 'rtl';
-		}
-		else {
-			Zotero.dir = 'ltr';
-		}
-		Zotero.rtl = Zotero.dir == 'rtl';
-		
+		Zotero.intl.init();
+
 		Zotero.Prefs.init();
 		Zotero.Debug.init(options && options.forceDebugLog);
 		
@@ -1412,47 +1361,9 @@ Services.scriptloader.loadSubScript("resource://zotero/polyfill.js");
 	 *     separated by semicolons
 	 */
 	this.getString = function (name, params, num) {
-		return this.getStringFromBundle(_localizedStringBundle, ...arguments);
+		return Zotero.intl.getString(...arguments);
 	}
 	
-	
-	this.getStringFromBundle = function (bundle, name, params, num) {
-		try {
-			if (params != undefined) {
-				if (typeof params != 'object'){
-					params = [params];
-				}
-				var l10n = bundle.formatStringFromName(name, params, params.length);
-			}
-			else {
-				var l10n = bundle.GetStringFromName(name);
-			}
-			if (num !== undefined) {
-				let availableForms = l10n.split(/;/);
-				// If not enough available forms, use last one -- PluralForm.get() uses first by
-				// default, but it's more likely that a localizer will translate the two English
-				// strings with some plural form as the second one, so we might as well use that
-				if (availableForms.length < this.pluralFormNumForms()) {
-					l10n = availableForms[availableForms.length - 1];
-				}
-				else {
-					l10n = this.pluralFormGet(num, l10n);
-				}
-			}
-		}
-		catch (e){
-			if (e.name == 'NS_ERROR_ILLEGAL_VALUE') {
-				Zotero.debug(params, 1);
-			}
-			else if (e.name != 'NS_ERROR_FAILURE') {
-				Zotero.logError(e);
-			}
-			throw new Error('Localized string not available for ' + name);
-		}
-		return l10n;
-	}
-	
-	
 	/**
 	 * Defines property on the object
 	 * More compact way to do Object.defineProperty
diff --git a/components/zotero-service.js b/components/zotero-service.js
index bf9a3da8b7..b19cb89c01 100644
--- a/components/zotero-service.js
+++ b/components/zotero-service.js
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ const Ci = Components.interfaces;
 /** XPCOM files to be loaded for all modes **/
 const xpcomFilesAll = [
 	'zotero',
+	'intl',
 	'prefs',
 	'dataDirectory',
 	'date',