InDesign keeps pasting as Arabic Language Dictionary

Report · Apr 30, 2018

This is happening to us in the CC2018 13.1 version.

I only saw one earlier example mentioned in the Forums (with CC2014).

Whenever a chunk of text, or text box is pasted into a fresh document, the language is Arabic. [Basic Paragraph] and all other styles have been set to English USA, and even though I do a find format/change format in the offending document, it still pastes as Arabic.

Exporting to .IDML, and reimporting did not solve.

Report · Apr 30, 2018

Hi,

Can you see what happens when you change the language from the character panel when no documents are open in Indesign.

Also, did you try to clean both your cache and preferences?https://forums.adobe.com/thread/526990#

-Aman

Report · May 01, 2018

Thank you, for the response, Aman.
This is not our issue.

(I am an Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign, by the way,) and this one is a stumper, a glitch. It's not preferences. When a text box is copied from the offending document and into another fresh Indesign document, from another computer (or TO another computer) it still pastes as Arabic, and flushes right.

Report · Apr 30, 2018

With no document open go to the Character Panel and make sure that the Language is set to "English USA". Then go into the Paragraph Styles Panel and double-click on the Basic Paragraph Style. In the Advanced Character Formats section make sure that "Language:" is set to English USA. After you've set it in these places, quit InDesign. When you relaunch it will become the default for the program. See screen shot.

Report · May 01, 2018

Bill, Thank you.

This is not our issue.

(I am an Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign, by the way,) and this one is a stumper, a glitch. It's not preferences. When a text box is copied from the offending document and into another fresh Indesign document, from another computer (or TO another computer) it still pastes as Arabic, and flushes right.

Report · May 01, 2018

What happens if you adjust the language in the Character Panel and Paragraph Styles Panel after you paste in the text frames?

What happens if you just copy and paste the text from the original document into a fresh text frame in the new InDesign file?

Report · May 01, 2018

Thank you, Bill.

What happens if you adjust the language in the Character Panel and Paragraph Styles Panel after you paste in the text frames?

ANSWER: It fixes/works/becomes English USA.

What happens if you just copy and paste the text from the original document into a fresh text frame in the new InDesign file?

ANSWER: It pastes as Arabic (dictionary), and flushes right.

Report · May 01, 2018

Have you checked the Advanced character section of all the Paragraph and Character Styles in the original document for the language used? If there are any of the styles used there that are not defined as English USA then this behavior would not be unexpected. It is also possible that some individual characters in the document might have been defined in the Character Panel as Arabic. If you do a "Select All" in a text frame that is showing this behavior when pasted and look at the character panel and it is blank in the language field then that would mean that there is at least one character in the text that has been defined as Arabic since a blank language field would indicate multiple languages used in the text.

Report · May 02, 2018

Thank you, Bill.

I've run a document-wide Find/Change format of Advanced Character Formats-->change Arabic to English USA.

Then, I've saved the file as a copy. When that copy doc is opened, and a text box is copied from it and pasted into another fresh document, Arabic reappears.

Report · May 02, 2018

Is there a way to open/edit the idml file and change all references from Arabic to English USA?

Report · May 02, 2018

I'm not sure though if what you did would affect existing paragraph and character styles that have been applied. I've done similar find/changes in the past to change fonts globally only to find that it did not affect the fonts indicated in the paragraph and character styles. You may want to make sure that all styles have been changed and then apply them globally through find/change as well.

Report · Feb 22, 2024

Hi
I am having similar problems mainly linked to spell checking, it will only spell check in Arabic.
I followed the recommended steps and it works for half the document then defaults to Arabic again despite me closing the programe down and restarting.
It will often import text in capitals despite my preferences being clearly set.
Everything is taking so long

Report · Feb 23, 2024

This discussion is 6 years old. It it doubtful that you are having a similar issue.

Please start a new discussion with full details on version of InDesign and operating system.

Report · May 01, 2018

Can you tell us if your InDesign is a Middle Eastern version or not?
Apparently this issue shows when you paste text, can you tell us what is the source of the text, eg. is it an existing InDesign document, MS. Word document or copying from the web?
Is the text you're copying and pasting has any Arabic in it?

Report · May 01, 2018

It is not a Middle Eastern version of InDesign.

Report · Jul 06, 2018

I am also having this problem. I installed the Arabic version to create one document. And even though I have now tried to uninstall that version, this issue of copy and paste still happens.

If I create a new document, and copy the information into it, it pastes in arabic. If I then override any style sheets to correct the issue in the second document, and copy it again into a third document, it seems to copy successfully. Obviously that is a long-winded, unsatisfactory solution.

Rick, did you find an answer?

Report · Dec 10, 2018

No answer. Still persists.

Report · Sep 05, 2018

I am having what I think is the exact same problem. I have INDD 2018 English USA version (latest version) on a Mac running OSX 10.12.6. I work in multiple languages for a client and often move back and forth from English to numerous languages such as Chinese, French, etc. I am taking text from a source INDD document and placing it into another INDD document(for example French from one INDD document and pasting it over existing French text in another INDD document, and so on for each language). For this particular project I am working in 6 different languages and in every single language when I paste the text from INDD source file to INDD destination file it pastes it as Arabic (or right to left) composition. Even though none of these languages I am working in are Arabic (or even right to left), the language indicator at the top tool bar switches it to Arabic, changes the text to Adobe World Composer, and makes it flush right (as you would in Arabic). I have to go back each time I cut and paste to change all of these settings. Never have encountered this problem in my years working in multiple languages until now. Adobe staff, have you found any resolution for this issue? It's really slowing my work down. Happy to provide additional information if needed

Report · Jan 15, 2019

I'm having the exact same problem and it just started. InDesign is showing the dictionaries as Arabic almost everywhere and I've never used anything but English USA for language. It's now showing USA English in the dictionary prefs panel and shows the correct user dictionary file, but Character panel, spelling panel and spelling prefs panel all show Arabic and when I switch them they automatically switch back, even if I save and quit right after.

Dictionary Prefs show the correct settings

Character pane shows Arabic as language and when it is set to English it just resets to Arabic

Spelling always shows Arabic as the language, which means none of the words ever are seen as valid.

Changing the User Dictionary in the spelling tab simply switches back to Arabic right after clicking "Done"

Report · Jan 15, 2019

Grrrrr.

Report · Feb 01, 2019

Having the same issue. None of the fixes on this thread have helped. This is infuriating. Once again thrilled that I'm renting software with these types of glitches.

Report · Oct 24, 2019

Did anyone ever find an answer to this? I'm having the same problem...

Report · Nov 08, 2019

Me too!!! Drives me nuts! 😞

Report · Jul 25, 2020

Very sad to see this is not answered, but finally I know that I am not alone! It happens regardless of what language I'm pasting. Today it was Chinese- everything came in flush right and the characters were in reverse order, language dictionary was Arabic. One factor that is part of my situation is that the client built the file long ago using the ME version (for whatever reason since they only work in English). To get around this problem I only use Paragraph and Character styles and never any local formatting, then select the entire text and click the Remove All Overrides button in the Styles panel. But I shouldn't have to do that, as we all know.

Report · Dec 14, 2020

Hello — did anyone find a solution to this? My preferences, styles, dictionary all say 'English: USA" but all English text is underlined in red as a typo (dynamic spelling).