zwnj character (unicode) will be omitted in "Text variable" and export to epub

[sak95456465]

Hello

In Farsi-persian writing zwnj character (unicode) is vital. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-width_non-joiner). unfortunately If I use text variable like "running header" this character will be omited. 

It will happen in any version of indesign however I use middle eastren version. zwnj is sessential character in persian and it is not possible to use another character (It os not optional It is mandatory). meanwhile If I export it to epub it will be omitted as well.

and if I copy text with zwnj like (می‌خانه) and copy it on "numbering and section options it will be omitted as well.

Thanks.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

InDesign's text variables, including running headers and captions, have a number of quirks. (For one thing, they are inherently non-breaking text, which can create all kinds of problems with long strings in short text frames.) I can't think of any examples offhand, but there are other instances of glyphs being dropped, substituted or misformatted.

I don't know that there's any simple solution; just possibly a GREP style might be applied to fix this problem in the running header style.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

[...] 

I don't know that there's any simple solution; [...] 

By @James Gifford—NitroPress

This would require dedicated tool for Running Headers. 

[Pomodu]

I don't think its just headers, I'm up against the same issue throughout an entire book I'm migarting to Farsi.  I don't speak or read Farsi, I submitted the draft to the proofreader and she noticed this issue is throughout the book.  It appears InDesign strips the zwnj character out of the text when its cut and pasted into the ID doc from a word document.  The only solution we've hit upon is to find and replace all the zwnj chararters in the source text doc with a white space and then I'll replace all the text again throughout the entire document.  This is going to cost me me a few days of work so its quite vexing.   It seems pretty fundamental that if Adobe supports partiuclar language that that its should also be supported all the characters needed to properly display that language.    If anyone has any other solutions, I'm keen to hear them.

[sak95456465]

I speak persian-farsi and I use indesign from version 1.5 so I can help you for Farsi If you want. There is no problem for using zwnj in indesign and Microsoft word and If you type standard zwnj in word and copy it when you past it in indesign It will be preserved. Unfortunately Normal "Persian keyboard" on mac and windows doesn't have necessary key to type It so some amateur users type "optional hyphen" instead and It will show normal but when place .docx file to indesign It will be omitted. The solution is replace "Persian standard" keyboard on mac and windows and use "shift+space" to type zwnj.
omitting zwnj on header and export to epub is a bug and It is critical. there are some temporal workaround but will not be resolved completely. unfortunately zwnj is only vital in Persian and because Persian users of InDesign are in minority adobe don't pay attention to It.
This topic has already been mentioned years ago:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/zwnj-in-text-variable-dropping/m-p/8748838#M3330...
I posted another critical bug here:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/harfbuzz-issue-didnot-resolved-even-in-19-5-vers...
and I don't know why adobe did this Big change in core type engine that didn't resolve even in 19.5 Which is almost a disaster

[Pomodu]

...There is no problem for using zwnj in indesign and Microsoft word and If you type standard zwnj in word and copy it when you past it in indesign It will be preserved. Unfortunately Normal "Persian keyboard" on mac and windows doesn't have necessary key to type It so some amateur users type "optional hyphen" instead and It will show normal but when place .docx file to indesign It will be omitted. The solution is replace "Persian standard" keyboard on mac and windows and use "shift+space" to type zwnj...

By @sak95456465

Hey Thanks for your input.  I'm assuming the translator who provided the text in Farsi has a persian keyboard as the zwnj character existed in their word doc translation.  I'm not typing anything myself really, just cutting and pasteing Farsi text from that word doc into my Indesign doc, paragrah by paragraph.  Only after having it proofed did we realize all the zwnj characters were dropped.  I'm using the English InDesign with Arabic support so maybe its different with the strictly middle eastern version of the software; but in anycase, I'm not sure how even if I install a persian keyboard for this partiuclar project at this point it will help me; I'll still need to re-cut and paste the entire document.  Since my post above, the translator has gone through the word doc and replaced all the zwnj characters with a space and I'll be re migrating the text again and hoping there are no further glitches.   

Cheers anyway.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

[...] The only solution we've hit upon is to find and replace all the zwnj chararters in the source text doc with a white space and then I'll replace all the text again throughout the entire document. [...] 

By @Pomodu

If correct glyph is present in WORD - you could replace it with "#$#" or something equally unique - then replace back in InDesign - instead of doing it manually.

[sak95456465]

[...] The only solution we've hit upon is to find and replace all the zwnj chararters in the source text doc with a white space and then I'll replace all the text again throughout the entire document. [...] 

By @Pomodu

If correct glyph is present in WORD - you could replace it with "#$#" or something equally unique - then replace back in InDesign - instead of doing it manually.

By @Robert at ID-Tasker

as I said before This is not necessary for zwnj and importing from word. but this is useful for exporting to epub.