Indic
Last updated on
Oct 22, 2026
Learn how to configure Adobe Illustrator to support Indic, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian scripts.
Adobe Illustrator provides proper character shaping and composition for Bengali, Hindi, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai, Burmese, and other supported scripts. Configure Illustrator to support Asian scripts and design for global audiences.
Illustrator uses composers to handle the unique requirements of these writing systems. These include right-to-left text direction, complex character forms, and language-specific typography rules.
Supported Asian languages
The Middle Eastern and South Asian composer in Illustrator supports the following languages:
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Middle Eastern |
Southeast Asian |
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Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu |
Arabic, Hebrew |
Thai, Sinhalese, Burmese, Khmer, Lao |
- Adobe Illustrator on Windows or macOS
- For Windows users: Language and font packs installed for your target language
- Appropriate fonts for your selected language (for example, Adobe Thai or Noto Sans Thai for Thai content)
- Text content in your target language from a file or keyboard setup
Enable Asian script options
Select Edit > Preferences > Type (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > Type (macOS).
Select Southeast Asian Options or Show Indic Options for your target language group.
Select OK.
Note
In Preferences > Type, you can't enable both Indic and East Asian options simultaneously. South East Asian options can be enabled independently.
Create a document with Asian language text
Open an existing document or create a new document.
Select the Type tool from the toolbar.
Click on the canvas where you want to add text.
Select Window > Type > Character to open the Character panel.
In the Character panel, select your target language from the Language dropdown menu (Thai, Burmese, Lao, Sinhalese, Khmer, or your chosen Indic language).
Choose an appropriate font such as Adobe Thai or Noto Sans Thai.
Type your text using a language-specific keyboard or copy and paste text composed in your target language.
Select a composer for an Asian text
Select your text layer or the text you want to format.
Select Window > Type > Paragraph to open the Paragraph panel or press Ctrl + T (Windows) or Command + T (macOS).
Select the Paragraph panel menu icon.
Select either Middle Eastern & South Asian Single-line Composer or Middle Eastern & South Asian Every-line Composer.
The Single-line Composer evaluates each line for optimal spacing. Every-line Composer considers all lines in a paragraph for more balanced text composition.
Work with Asian scripts across Adobe applications
Adobe applications vary in their support for Asian scripts based on their text engines.
Southeast Asian scripts are not currently supported in all Adobe products. Moving SEA text from Illustrator to an application without SEA support may result in loss of text, formatting, or editability.
To preserve your work:
- Image files may need to be flattened before moving from Photoshop to other applications
- Text files from Illustrator may need to be converted to outlines before use in other applications
- Text conversions may result in loss of editability when moved between applications
To preserve formatting and editability, keep source files with live text when working with Asian scripts across multiple applications.
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