English/Arabic InDesign CC 2018 version 13.0, Arabic txt reverse order in paragraph

[mb@mage.com]

I am using adobe English/Arabic InDesign CC 2018 version 13.0, and text imported from MsWord, which contains both English and Arabic makes the arabic words into reverse order, Everything else in settings/language/adobe world ready single line/paragraph composer has been set correctly.

Anyone know what's going on and how to fix it?

[Bill Silbert]

Have you checked your InDesign Character Panel to make sure that the proper language is selected from the pull-down menu at the bottom? Also check the Advanced Character options in any Paragraph or Character Styles that may exist in your documents to make sure that the correct language is chosen. Any text that doesn't have a character or paragraph style applied may also have to be selected and checked in the Character Panel for the correct language.

[mb@mage.com]

Dear Bill,

Thanks for the quick attention to this.

But I have checked everything, including dumping preferences.

The only thing that fixes the reverse order of words is if I change the binding to right to left, but of course that’s no good for my purpose.

To explain further, what seems to be happening is that words written in arabic or Persian are reversed on the line so, for example, Jack Frost reads from right to left on the line Frost Jack.

If I go into character direction and change it from default or right to left to, left to right, then the letters become gibberish.

Yours

Mohammad

[mb@mage.com]

Dear Bill,

I’m wondering if this might be a problem in converting the text from MsWord, because if I type in Persian in InDesign, it works just fine.

Here are two screen shot of a paragraph in Word and in ID, in case it helps.

As you may notice, single words are fine, it’s phrases with two or more words that

Best

Mohammad

ID

MsWord

[Bill Silbert]

Unfortunately, I am not well versed enough in Word to be able to advise you on that part. Hopefully, another ACP who knows more about Word will be able to help you out.

[mb@mage.com]

What is odd, is that in some paragraphs where I do not clear override the phrases are in the correct order, but if I clear overrides, then the become backwards. In other paragraphs it makes no difference, they are always backwards, cleared or not.

[mb@mage.com]

Just wanted to thank you and let you know that I have found the problem. It’s neither Word nor ID, it’s the author who has been using a 2003 edition of MsWord and keying in the Persian via “insert symbol” where he has to reverse word order to get it to come out correctly on his Word doc. Of course, that screws up every conversion program.

Sorry for the trouble, and many thanks for your help.

[Bill Silbert]

Happy to be of help.

[billiec82465996]

Dear mb@mage.com,

I am having this same difficulty with the Arabic for an InDesign book. (The book was written years ago in Word.) Can you tell me how you were able to fix the problem? Or do I need to go back to the author and have him fix all the Arabic in Word?

bjcollins@lockwoodpress.com

[Joel Cherney]

Before you start asking mb for their solution, are you completely certain that you are experiencing the same issue? Note that the problem posted about here  is that the person who wrote the Persian originally in Word didn't use the Persian keyboard... they wrote it in a left-to-right format using the Insert Symbol menu. So if I did that to that last sentence...

"... they wrote it in a left-to-right format using the Insert Symbol menu" -->

"menu Symbol Insert the using format left-to-right a in it wrote they ..." 

See how I reversed the word order? That's what mb is talking about. If someone did a WHOLE BOOK like that, by manually writing every word in every sentencce backwards, then a) I have  a scripted solution for you, and b) that Arabic writer should be given a bleeping medal. For the stamina that must have taken. 

Is that what you have? I have a simple VBA script that will reverse word order in the source Word doc, for just this kind of problem. I could probably write the same thing in JS for you to use in InDesign.  The need to do so usually crops up when you're working with text that is more than 20 years old, back when good RTL text entry just didn't exist in mainstream products like Word and PageMaker. 

But maybe that's not your problem, so I'd suggest that you stop and tell us what you think is going on in your document. Maybe post a screenshot, or a chapter, if you can? 

[Diane Burns]

Not sure exactly what's going on here, but if it helps, you can install these RTL scripts and change direction for individual characters, paragraphs, etc. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dzvkg4iv1vsg6tq/AAC_FlxT4qr55lwNrA0QKd5da?dl=0

[Zaid Al Hilali]

Dear Mohammad, I didn't see any screenshot from you so I'm not sure what to suggest as solution. Having said that, these are the common steps you ought to take when inserting Arabic from MS. Word:

• Don't Copy/Paste from MS. Word, instead, open InDesign, go to the File menu and choose place and navigate to the MS. Word document.
• (Optional) In the Place window, click on the "Show Import Options" then click Open, in the Options window, you may choose to "Remove" or "Preserve" formatting from the bottom section, then click OK.
• Once the text is placed in the page, hightlight all to apply an Arabic/Farsi font to the text
• From the Paragraph Panel, make sure you select "Right-to-Left Paragraph Direction" 
• From the Paragraph Panel fly-out menu choose an Adobe World Ready Composer
• From the Character Panel fly-out menu access Keyboard Direction and choose "Default" if possible as it may be dimmed
• From the Character Panel fly-out menu access Character Direction and choose "Default"