How to switch from Arabic type setting to English

[massimilianoa37992866]

Hi there,

suddenly and with no apparent reasons - my default type settings in illustrator 2020 are Arabic (RTL and Hindi digits ect etc) as per images attached

I'm living and working in UAE - but my language has always been set as English UK in the settng panel preferences and never had an issue before. Now i have to set manually the text tool everytime i want to use it - super annoying!

Does anyone know how to set English as default 

Thanks,

Max

[Anna Lander]

Check Preferences > Hyphenation > Default Language

[massimilianoa37992866]

HI Anna,

thanks a lot for you reply - unfortunately i did already and nothing changed.

Hyphenation is set to English UK - but the default font still Adobe Arabic and the default type tool is set to Right to Left

[Zaid Al Hilali · Accepted solution]

In Adobe InDesign, we change application defaults by simply closing any open documents, change the font to Gill Sans, change paragraph directions, dictionary language, and any other formatting. From there on, any new document you create in InDesign will remember your new defaults that suit Latin language users, but this is only in InDesign.

In Illustrator however it is a longer issue, to my knowledge you need to change your file profile. For instance, if you use the "Print" profile, you will have to change all defaults in a new document, name this new document as Print.ai to replace the one that comes "out of the box" with Illustrator.

Check this link of how to change Illustrator defaults on your Mac or Windows machine. I also prepared a video a few years ago which may help you perform this task.

Another thing, if you don't use Arabic at all, you may as well remove existing Illustrator version, and download an International English version instead.

[massimilianoa37992866]

Hi Zaid,

thanks a lot i will follow your guide which seems very well done and clear.

I'm only surprise that there is no an easier way to set new type preferences and most importantly - why it happend to me all of the sudden.

Thanks,

Max

[Chawki Chahed]

Hi,

this solved my issue. AI is really weird: you ahve to change all default type settings in order to have Illustrator open documents in the right way. My defaults were for Arabic: any document written in 100% English were automatically converted into hindi figures and weird text for repalced fonts.

AI should be more clever than that and automatically detect language and preserve their setting. say I have a paragraph in Arabic, another one in English: opening that document should be transparent.

Otherwise, this post was really helpful. Thanks,

[elisabettaa77089014]

wow, I was stuck in the same problem and Adobe assistance had no idea on how to help me, this SAVED ME! Thank you sooo much for doing this video!

[juliehaydar88]

This didn't work for me for some reason, I was so hoping It would

[Zaid Al Hilali]

Salam,

Can you explain the issue better so we can help. 

[riadhrebei]

Zaid should take over Adobes support. Thank you so much, it worked! 

[kristenb81936023]

Thank you @Zaid Al Hilali !! This has been plaguing me forever. Appreciate your video and advice—it worked! 

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Hi! I had the same problem. In a past CC version, I did download InDesign for Arabic fonts. I remember setting this up in my Creative-Cloud downloader. - This isn't the case anymore. Any software version can have its language and style-writing altered without having to download a new version for it.

What did the trick for me is goign to InDesign Preferences

- Dictionnary

- Autocorrect

- Story Display Editor

and choosing: English

+

Advanced Type: 

Input Method Options

> deseclect "use inlien for non-Latin (=arabic,etc) text

Default Composer

> select: Adobe World-Ready single-line composer

Now I can finally write in English without gettign my text, numbers, paragraph and punctuation formated to Arabic. Yey

I sincerally hope this info can help other users further in their selecter Adobe softwares.

[pattrix242581371xzc · Accepted solution]

I had the same problem it turned out to be keyboard preference language you can change it in the task bar, you will see ENG or AR open it it will open a small window then start typing in AI then when typing to hindi or arabic click small language window and select english and problem You will be solved

[danielfeary]

I have this problem too: three years after your first post. Installed ME pack for job last year, now I can't stop AI from defaulting to Arabic. Frustrating. Will follow @Zaid Al Hilali video explainer…

[Zaid Al Hilali · Accepted solution]

@danielfeary You may consider installing two versions of Illustrator, one can be the Middle Eastern version for Arabic jobs, and the other version can be of a different language such as English for your regular jobs.

This way you don't have to bother about changing Ai profiles.

[riadhrebei]

So we have to jump between Illustrators just because we want to write in Arabic ? Shouldn't there be an option to change the default language & font ?

[Zaid Al Hilali]

So we have to jump between Illustrators just because we want to write in Arabic ? 

By @riadhrebei

Not necessarily. The International English, and the English (North America) versions have the option to enable Asian languages (Arabic included) so you can keep the same application and type Arabic. 

If however, you need FULL Right-to-Left controls, then you need to download and install the Middle Eastern version.

[danielfeary]

THanks @Zaid Al Hilali . In the end, that's what I did. Well, I don't have an arabic job currently so uninstalled my existing version of Illustrator and reinstalled an English version. Thanks for the help