Proposal for a Separate Persian Language Engine for Illustrator

[Akbar_1404]

Considering that Persian-speaking users make up a significant portion of Illustrator users, and the growth of software learning and training in Persian-speaking countries, the issues related to Persian language support in this software and the inconsistencies in Persian typography still persist.
Currently, these problems arise due to the use of an Arabic language engine, which shares some similarities with Persian. However, Persian has its own unique characteristics that require more accurate support, and the existing issues create challenges in typography, text layout, and text display.
Therefore, we expect Adobe to develop a separate Persian language engine for Illustrator. This step could solve the current problems and improve the experience for Persian-speaking users. Creating such an engine would not only enhance the quality of Persian design work but also, considering the increasing usage of Illustrator in Persian-speaking countries, it would facilitate the use of this software for a broad range of users.
If you require further examples or more detailed information on this matter, I would be happy to provide them.
Thank you for your attention, and I hope this suggestion will be considered.

[Ton Frederiks]

Hello, @Akbar_1404 for feature request, UserVoice is the best place to post them:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/

[Akbar_1404]

Hello
Thank you for the guidance! I’ve submitted the feature request on UserVoice as you suggested. I appreciate your help!
Best regards,
akbar

[Ton Frederiks]

Glad to hear that helped, I am posting a link to your feature request here, so others who find this post can vote:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/497...

[Akbar_1404]

Thank you so much for your help! I truly appreciate you sharing the link to my feature request. I hope it can get more support and reach the right people at Adobe. Your assistance means a lot!
Best regards,
Akbar

[Bobby Henderson]

I think Adobe is taking a step in the direction of supporting more languages by incorporating the Harfbuzz text shaping library into its applications. Harfbuzz will make it easier for applications like Illustrator to support languages with text written right to left. 

[Akbar_1404]

Yeah, it's great to hear that Adobe is moving in that direction! HarfBuzz could really make a big difference for languages like Persian that rely on proper character shaping and right-to-left support. I just hope the improvements go beyond the rendering engine and show up in the UI too—like better paragraph and character controls for RTL languages.
Do you happen to know which apps or versions are already using HarfBuzz?

[Bobby Henderson]

I don't know the status for Illustrator, but Adobe InDesign incorporated Harfbuzz starting with version 19.0.

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/arabic-hebrew.html

[Akbar_1404]

Thanks for the info 🙌
About Illustrator — from what I’ve checked, even though Adobe hasn’t officially said anything, according to HarfBuzz’s GitHub and some other sources, Illustrator does use HarfBuzz too.
But unlike InDesign, you can’t really control or toggle it. It’s there, just running quietly in the background.

[Bobby Henderson]

I think Arabic and Hebrew text support is dependent on the language version of Adobe Illustrator that is installed. Some of the options in the Character and Paragraph panels shown at this page are not available in the English version of Illustrator; the situation could be the same if Adobe releases a Persian language version of Illustrator:
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/arabic-hebrew.html

[Zaid Al Hilali]

Salam Akbar, I'm interested in knowing the issues that are unique to Farsi Language users. I thought the issues would be similar to that of Arabic/Kurdish/Urdu Langauges!

[Akbar_1404]

Hi! You're right that Farsi shares some similarities with Arabic, Kurdish, and Urdu, but there are several unique challenges for Farsi users:
Unique letters: Farsi has extra letters like "پ", "چ", "ژ", and "گ" not found in Arabic, causing font/rendering issues.
Unicode confusion: Similar letters like Arabic "ي" vs. Farsi "ی" often cause search or text processing errors.
Mixed text direction: Farsi is RTL, but numbers and URLs are LTR, which creates layout and UX issues.
Farsi numerals: Users expect Persian digits (۱۲۳), not Arabic (١٢٣) or Latin (123).
Different grammar: Sentence structure is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), different from Arabic/Urdu, requiring tailored NLP tools.
Let me know if you'd like more details on any of these!

[Zaid Al Hilali]

Thanks Akbar for the clarification, I'm aware about some of the differences, mainly the grammar (SOV). Other than that I believe the differences are minor when it comes to the text engine - in my opinion. 

I will attract attention within Adobe to your post, hopefully you and all of us users will get an improved experience in Illustrator and other Adobe apps.

[Akbar_1404]

Thanks a lot for your support and for raising awareness within Adobe.
You're right — while grammar structure like SOV is a major difference, there are also subtle but important differences in how right-to-left and complex scripts behave, especially with ligatures, justification, diacritics, and number shaping. I believe improving the text engine to handle these nuances more naturally can really enhance the experience for many users.
Appreciate your attention to this!