How to fix reversed and disconnected Arabic text
Arabic comes out backwards and broken in software that does not know how Arabic is written: the letters stand apart and each word starts from its last letter. This tool works in both directions. You can prepare text for an app without Arabic support, such as a game engine, an older design program or an LED sign, so the letters are joined and the line is ordered to look right there. Or you can repair text you copied out of a PDF or such an app that came out reversed, turning it back into ordinary letters in typing order.
Try the app's own Arabic settings first, because text the app shapes itself stays editable and searchable. The reversed Arabic guide shows where those settings live in Photoshop, Illustrator and Unity.
How to use it
- Under Goal, choose Prepare text for an app without Arabic support if you are going to paste the text into that app, or Repair reversed text copied from a file if you copied it out of one, or out of a PDF.
- Paste your text. When preparing, paste it exactly as you wrote it; do not reverse it yourself.
- Leave Reverse the order for apps that write left to right on in most cases. When preparing, turn it off if the app already gets the direction right but fails to join letters. When repairing, turn it off if the words are already in the right order and only the letter shapes look odd.
- Tick Remove diacritics if the vowel marks are not essential, because apps without Arabic support sometimes stack them on the wrong letter.
- Check the result, then copy it or download it as a text file. Keep your original somewhere safe.
Worked examples from the tool
لا توجد رسائل جديدة
ﺓﺪﻳﺪﺟ ﻞﺋﺎﺳﺭ ﺪﺟﻮﺗ ﻻ
Settings: Goal: Prepare text for an app without Arabic support · reverse order on
المستوى 3 (صعب)
(ﺐﻌﺻ) 3 ﻯﻮﺘﺴﻤﻟﺍ
Settings: Goal: Prepare text for an app without Arabic support · reverse order on
ﺔﻳﻮﻨﺴﻟﺍ ﺔﻴﻣﻮﻤﻌﻟﺍ ﺔﻴﻌﻤﺠﻟﺍ ﻉﺎﻤﺘﺟﺍ
اجتماع الجمعية العمومية السنوية
Settings: Goal: Repair reversed text copied from a file · reverse order on
What happens to your text
When preparing, the tool picks the joined form of every letter for its position in the word, merges lam and alef into a single لا, and then reverses each line so it reads correctly when the app draws it left to right. Latin words and numbers are not reversed internally, and brackets are mirrored to face the right way. The joined shapes come from Unicode's Arabic presentation forms, legacy characters kept for compatibility with older systems, which is why the output is for display only.
Repairing does the opposite: presentation forms turn back into ordinary letters, لا splits into lam and alef, and each line returns to typing order. In both modes the tool removes hidden direction marks automatically, because they upset the ordering. Persian letters such as پ چ گ ک ی are handled the same way.
Before you paste the result
- Break long text into lines yourself. An app without Arabic support wraps a long line from the left, so the end of your sentence lands on top. Press Enter between lines before preparing, and in design apps use point text rather than a paragraph box.
- Edit the original, not the output. If the wording changes, edit your source text and prepare it again.
- Use a complete Arabic font. Boxes instead of letters mean the font has no glyphs for Arabic presentation forms.
- Do not paste the result into an app that supports Arabic. Word, browsers and chat apps reverse it a second time, so it looks backwards.
If your text came out of a PDF, start with fixing Arabic copied from a PDF, which helps you identify the problem before you repair it.
Limits
- Prepared text is for display only: search cannot find it, and spell-checkers and screen readers do not treat it as normal Arabic.
- Each line is processed on its own, and the tool cannot know how wide your app's text box is, so lines the app wraps automatically appear in reverse order.
- Ordering follows a simplified version of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm, so punctuation can land in an unexpected place in lines that mix a lot of Arabic and Latin.
- After a repair, a % sign or currency symbol can end up on the other side of its number. Check those by hand.
- It cannot recover missing letters or gibberish from a PDF, because the copied text never contained the right letters.
- Up to 20,000 text units per run.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the text look backwards when I paste it into Word or WhatsApp?
Those apps support Arabic, so they reverse the prepared text a second time. Prepared text is only for software without Arabic support. In Word and WhatsApp, use your original text.
How do I turn prepared text back into normal Arabic?
Choose Repair reversed text copied from a file and paste the prepared text. Ordinary letters come back in typing order. Then check numbers and punctuation.
How is this different from the presentation-form option in the Cleaner?
The Cleaner option restores letter shapes but never changes order, so it suits text whose words are already in the right order. This tool restores shapes and order together, so it suits words that start from their last letter.
Does it work with Persian?
Yes. It joins Persian letters such as پ چ گ ک ی and orders them the same way. Make sure the font in the target app has glyphs for them.
Why do I see boxes instead of letters after pasting?
The font chosen in the app has no Arabic presentation-form glyphs. Pick another Arabic font that covers them and paste the text again.