URGENT!! Mirrored Arabic Text!! Thread poster: Dina Abdo
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Dina Abdo 
Palestine
Local time: 07:12
Member (2005)
Arabic
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Tip: Arabic is written in connected characters from right to left, English is written in separated characters from left to right.
I submitted a document to one of my clients some time ago in a word file as blank text. Nothing but the source and target texts in two columns. The client sent me a couple of days ago telling me that He'd like me to review the PDF files created for the text with all the DTP work. The designer doesn't know Arabic, and so many amends were required in the fi... See more Tip: Arabic is written in connected characters from right to left, English is written in separated characters from left to right.
I submitted a document to one of my clients some time ago in a word file as blank text. Nothing but the source and target texts in two columns. The client sent me a couple of days ago telling me that He'd like me to review the PDF files created for the text with all the DTP work. The designer doesn't know Arabic, and so many amends were required in the file. As I couldn't apply changes to the PDF, the client sent me the MS WROD version of the file and asked me to apply the modifications into it.
Viewing the word file, the text was all written in Arabic characters, but as if English (i.e. separated characters from left to right) the word نص for example was showing ص ن ... this is in spite of the fact that the text looks just perfect in the PDF file!!
I tried copying the text from the PDF file into the word file, but the result was always the same ... mirrored text!!
I need to get the file ready by tomorrow, and it doesn't make sense re-typing the whole 30 pages or even copying the blank text and work on it's formatting all over again!!
Any suggestions? ▲ Collapse
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Waleed Mohamed
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 08:12
English to Arabic
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| Chaning the font... | May 6, 2006 |
Dear Dina,
Similar problem happened to me about 3 years ago. A colleague advised me to change the Arabic font to Simplified Arabic Fixed. This simply solved the problem.
So, just select your text and choose the font “Simplified Arabic Fixed” and see whether this will solve your problem.
I hope this helps you!
Regards,
Waleed
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Dina Abdo
Palestine
Local time: 07:12
Member (2005)
Arabic
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | It didn't work out :( | May 6, 2006 |
It didn't work Waleed ... I even tried changing it with other Arabic fonts but the problem is still there. It looks like something's not changing with the formatting maybe ... I don't know.
I'll have to retype the documents all over again I guess ... no other way until now
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| Return document to client, but also try this trick | May 6, 2006 |
You are under no obligation to work with a defective document.
Explaine to the clinent that the word file is useless for this purpose. They can either provide you with a serviceable document or accept changes made by hand on a hardcopy. You can print the PDF, make the changes with a pen, stuff the pages in an envelope, and FedEx it to the client at their expense. If their typesetter cannot work with handwritten Arabic, it is time for the client to switch to a typesetter that can. Th... See more You are under no obligation to work with a defective document.
Explaine to the clinent that the word file is useless for this purpose. They can either provide you with a serviceable document or accept changes made by hand on a hardcopy. You can print the PDF, make the changes with a pen, stuff the pages in an envelope, and FedEx it to the client at their expense. If their typesetter cannot work with handwritten Arabic, it is time for the client to switch to a typesetter that can. The shortcomings are not on your end, but on the client's end. You are under no obligation to make up for the client's (or their typesetter's) failures.
Now for some possible remedies:
You said that when you copy-and-pasted the text from the PDF to a Word document, the result was reversed text. Good. Now, at least you know how the reversal happened, which may point you to a possible solution.
Creat a PDF file from the bad Word document (either the one that you made or the one that the client sent you. Copy the reversed text from the new PDF file to a new Word document. That should reverse it back to normal, shouldn't it? ▲ Collapse
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w2m14
Local time: 06:12
English to Arabic
| Suggested solutions | May 6, 2006 |
Hi Dina
- I may suggest saving the PDF file as MS Word document (this requires Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Me or higher).
- If this does not work, you can copy the text from the PDF file and paste it in a Notepad file, then you should change the font into Times New Roman or Arial. At that point, you have to copy the text again and paste it in MS Word document to solve the problem of letter separation.
- If the text still needs to be flipped, you can use a command in ... See more Hi Dina
- I may suggest saving the PDF file as MS Word document (this requires Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Me or higher).
- If this does not work, you can copy the text from the PDF file and paste it in a Notepad file, then you should change the font into Times New Roman or Arial. At that point, you have to copy the text again and paste it in MS Word document to solve the problem of letter separation.
- If the text still needs to be flipped, you can use a command in MS Word called RtlRun. ▲ Collapse
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Dina Abdo
Palestine
Local time: 07:12
Member (2005)
Arabic
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Made sense to me, but didn't work either :) | May 6, 2006 |
Fuad Yahya wrote:
You are under no obligation to work with a defective document.
Explain to the client that the word file is useless for this purpose. They can either provide you with a serviceable document or accept changes made by hand on a hardcopy. You can print the PDF, make the changes with a pen, stuff the pages in an envelope, and FedEx it to the client at their expense. If their typesetter cannot work with handwritten Arabic, it is time for the client to switch to a typesetter that can. The shortcomings are not on your end, but on the client's end. You are under no obligation to make up for the client's (or their typesetter's) failures.
I totally understand and agree Mr. Fuad.
Fuad Yahya wrote:
Create a PDF file from the bad Word document (either the one that you made or the one that the client sent you. Copy the reversed text from the new PDF file to a new Word document. That should reverse it back to normal, shouldn't it?
Made sense to me, but it didn't work out when I tried it. I ended up with a PDF AND a word file both with mirrored text. I believe that the problem is that either the converter my client used to create the PDF or the software used for designing the files doesn't support Arabic. i.e. It's a defective text I'm handling originally here ... I guess!
Thanks for the suggestion anyway I guess I have nothing to do after all
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| this is a problem of font I believe | May 7, 2006 |
why don't you try to open the file in Freehand or Corel Draw, so it will tell you about the missing font. I believe I had the problem some years ago, but I solved it easily. Unfortunately, I can't remember how.
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Imad Almaghary (X)
Local time: 07:12
English to Arabic
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| If it is okay in PDF then there is a hope | May 7, 2006 |
good morning
If you email me the file in PDF then I will pass it to our IT department workers and there is a high likelihood of finding out a solution. This will be done for free.
Yours
Mr. Imad
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Dina Abdo
Palestine
Local time: 07:12
Member (2005)
Arabic
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER |
w2m14
Local time: 06:12
English to Arabic
| A solution that worked with me | May 7, 2006 |
w2m14 wrote:
- If the text still needs to be flipped, you can use a command in MS Word called RtlRun.
I tried to imitate the problem you mentioned, I got a PDF file, copied the text and pasted it in a doc file. The problem was there just as you descriped. When I tried to fix it using RtlRun it did not work, then I tried LtrRun and it worked.
You can get this command in MS Word as follows:
1. Select the text that flipped.
2. On the Tools menu, click Macro and then click Macros.
3. On the Macros in list, click Word commands.
4. If you want the text to be right-to-left, select the RtlRun macro and then click the Run button.
5. If you want the text to be left-to-right, select the LtrRun macro and then click the Run button.
The macro restores the correct layout to the selected text.
It worked with me, I hope it work next time as you said you typed the text.
Thanks and sorry for saying RtlRun instead of LtrRun.
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