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denni2579
Known Participant
Jan 25, 2021 5:10 AM UTC
Question

how do I type in sinhala Adobe InDesign or Illustrator 2020?

Hello, 

I'm trying to type in Sinhalese (Native Language of Sri Lanka) using inDesign or Illustrator on a MacBook 2019. I've downloaded the Sinhala Keyboard from Apple but when I try to type after selecting a sinhala font (FM font series) I get pink boxes in inDesign. 

When I type in Adobe Illustrator I get a different standard unicode font that doesn't display certain characters correctly. යි වි මි ම් ව්   .. all of these and more appear incorrectly. And worse is I'm unable to change the font... no matter which font I select I still get the same unicode characters.  

 

(I've attached screenshots)

 

Googling the answer told me go into prefrences > type and click on the enable show East Asian options. Then go into the character panel and change the languge to Sri Lankan .. ..  but doing this has no effect at all. I'm still unable to type in sinhala using a chosen FM series font.... 

 

please can someone help? I'll be happy to provide more details if needed. 

 

 

 

    7 replies

    Docs_srilanka
    Participant
    Oct 27, 2025 7:54 AM UTC

    I have the same problem. When typing Sinhala Unicode in Adobe InDesign using a MAC computer, the letter Yansaya (්‍ය) is replaced by the letter Hal. How can I fix this?

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    Passionate_critic5F8E
    Passionate_critic5F8E
    Participant
    Apr 11, 2022 11:33 AM UTC

    These are the few things you have to do in times like this,

     

    Method 1 

    1.  Go to Edit
    2. Preferences
    3. Advanced Type
    4. Default Composer
    5. Adobe World-Ready Paragraph Composer

     

    Method 2

    1. Type
    2. Paragraph Styles
    3. Style Options (Make sure you are not selecting any textboxes)
    4. Justification
    5. Composer
    6. Adobe World-Ready Paragraph Composer

     

    I hope these methods help you all.

     

    Best,

    Chatura Dissanayake

     

     

     

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    defaultfv9rbli2zh04
    Participant
    Aug 4, 2023 12:11 PM UTC
    1. If you are using Wijesekara font, You have to use input tool like Keyrep or SinhalaLink
    2. if you are using Unicode Fonts, (Noto Sans Sinhala, Iskola Pota, Nirmal UI), You need to to do following  changes
    3. Go to Edit-> Prefrence -> Type and tik Show indic Option
    4. Create text and Gotp Paragraphe -> Click option bread icon(top right conner of the pan) -> Select "Middle Eastern & South Asian Single-line Composer"

     

     

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      KeshanFernando
      KeshanFernando
      Participant
      May 27, 2024 8:51 AM UTC

      Thanks and it worked for characters like 'ඇ' when using Unicode fonts.

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      tharuka5FEC
      Participant
      Oct 8, 2021 2:40 AM UTC

      For this you can type in a Unicode converter and paste it into your software.

      Use the font unicode converter for this.

      Unicode To FM - Free Real-time Sinhala Unicode Converter

       

       

      Paste the copied word into your software. You can use this for FM Font.

       

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      denni2579Author
      Known Participant
      Oct 9, 2021 8:07 AM UTC

      Thank you.

      the Unicode converter trick mentioned worked!! 
      superb. 

      thanks 

       

      D

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      Community Expert
      LaubenderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 7, 2021 6:35 PM UTC

      Hi denni2579,

      no answers yet

      Does the issue still exist?

       

      Did some research; you may have to enable the harfbuzz features in InDesign. There is no control in the GUI for this, no checkmark in any of the preferences dialogs. Instead you may have to run a little ExtendScript (JavaScript) script for proper typesetting for Sinhala.

       

      Script for enabling Harfbuzz workflow in InDesign
      Sheena Kaul, Adobe Employee , Jul 17, 2020

      https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/script-for-enabling-harfbuzz-workflow-in-indesign/m-p/11295166

       

      What is harfbuzz? Yo may find some answers here:

      https://harfbuzz.github.io/

       

      Also see this little article:

      What’s New in InDesign 2019–2020
      December 10, 2019

      2020
      Support for South-East Asian languages

      https://pubassist.paratext.org/2019/12/10/whats-new-in-indesign-2019-2020/

       

      Regards,
      Uwe Laubender

      ( ACP )

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