Microsoft Office provides right-to-left functionality and features designed to support languages that work in a right-to-left or a combined right-to-left, left-to-right environment for text entering, editing, and display.
System requirements
To enable the right-to-left features in Office, you must be running a 32-bit Microsoft Windows operating system that has right-to-left support — for example, the Arabic version of Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition or any language version of Microsoft Windows 2000.
Note Not all of the programs in Office support each right-to-left function or feature described in this topic. To find out if a specific program has a feature, see Help for the program you are using.
User interface language
The user interface language is the language that appears in menus, dialog boxes, and wizards. Several right-to-left features in Office programs use the specified user interface language to determine the screen layout direction and the alignment of text within dialog boxes.
For example, when English is specified as the user interface language, the screen appears this way:
When Arabic is specified as the user interface language, the screen appears this way:
Keyboard languages
The Microsoft Windows operating system uses an indicator on the taskbar (or on the Language bar, if it is visible) to display the current keyboard language. For example, the indicator for Arabic is .
Right-to-left
Direction is a general term that describes the reading order, alignment, and overall layout of screen elements. When right-to-left and left-to-right text are used together in the same sentence, paragraph, or control, the combined text is referred to as bidirectional or mixed.
Cursor movement and text selection
Alignment
Text in a cell or field can be left-aligned, center-aligned, or right-aligned. In some programs, such as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel, text can also have General alignment.
When text has General alignment, text and numbers are aligned according to the language of the first character entered — for example, text in the cell or field will be right-aligned if the first character is in a right-to-left language, and left-aligned if the first character is in a left-to-right language. You can override General alignment and switch to Left, Center, or Right alignment for individual objects.
Many right-to-left or combined right-to-left and left-to-right programs apply context rules that govern the reading order of text and text alignment. Context rules are determined by the type of control governing the text. Controls such as text boxes and combo boxes can support either plain text or rich text editing mode.
The context rules for the reading order and alignment of text are:
Any time you change the first strong character from a left-to-right language to a right-to-left language, and vice versa, the reading order and the alignment change accordingly.
Selecting ligatures and diacritics
In word-processing programs — such as Microsoft Word 2002 — you can select, find, and replace individual diacritics and individual Arabic characters regardless of whether they are ligated. Each ligature and diacritic is managed as a discrete unit of a right-to-left language word.
The following example shows an Arabic word with a three-character ligature (as each character is selected).
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Numeral shapes
In the Arabic language, numerals are available in two forms: Arabic and Hindi.
Note In Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, you can change the current numeral display in right-to-left programs by using the Regional Settings icon in Control Panel. In Microsoft Windows 2000, use the Regional Options icon in Control Panel.
Lunar calendars
The Hebrew calendar, the predominant calendar used in Israel among Hebrew speakers, is fully supported in Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. Hijri dates are supported in Microsoft Office XP programs enabled with right-to-left features. In several programs, you can modify date fields between Hijri and Gregorian calendars. For example, in Microsoft Outlook you can display date information in either calendar or, in some items, both calendars.
Notes
Saving in HTML format
In Microsoft Office XP, you can save files in HTML format for posting on the Web in right-to-left or left-to-right direction. Web pages with right-to-left direction are marked with the standard HTML DIR attribute in the HTML file. If the Web browser you are using recognizes the DIR attribute, the page will be displayed with right-to-left direction. If the DIR attribute is not recognized, the page will be displayed with left-to-right direction.
Tip
To view right-to-left Web pages, use a browser that recognizes the DIR attribute, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.02 Middle East or later, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Complex Scripts, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later.
Code pages
Microsoft Office XP programs support the following code pages available to Arabic, Hebrew, and mixed-text users.
Tip
The Character Map, one of the Microsoft Windows Accessories, provides a view of the numerous codes supported by Microsoft Office XP programs. You can select a character from one of the right-to-left or left-to-right language font pages, copy it to the Clipboard, and then insert the character in your document.