Adobe Asian composers enable you to create content in middle-eastern and South-Asian languages. You can type in, and mix between, Arabic, Hebrew, English, and other languages.

You can choose between available composers from the Paragraph panel menu (Windows > Paragraph > panel menu). For example, you can use the Middle Eastern & South Asian Single-Line Composer or Middle Eastern & the South Asian Every-Line Composer.

For more information about other Asian languages that are supported in Illustrator, see Composer for Asian scripts.

You can also save your files with Arabic and Hebrew names.

Text direction

To create content in Arabic and Hebrew, you can make the right-to-left (RTL) direction the default text direction. However, for documents that include left-to-right (LTR) text, you can now seamlessly switch between the two directions.

Select the paragraph direction from the Paragraph panel.

If you have a mix of languages in the same paragraph, you can specify the direction of text at a character level. Also, to insert dates or numbers, specify the direction of text at the character level.

From the Character panel menu, choose the desired character direction.

Digit types

When you are working in Arabic or Hebrew, you can select the type of digits you want to use. You can choose between Arabic, Hindi, and Farsi.

By default, in Arabic, the Hindi version is auto-selected, and in case of Hebrew, the Arabic type digits are selected. However, you can switch to Arabic digits, if necessary:

1. Select the digits in the text typed.
2. In the Character panel (Ctrl + T), use the Digits list to select the font that the digits must appear in.

Legacy font support

Fonts that have been traditionally used (for example, AXT fonts) can continue to be used in this release of the software. However, it is recommended that newer Open Type fonts be used for text-based elements.

Missing glyph protection is enabled by default in Illustrator. The text is handled automatically, where glyphs are not available in the font you are using. To disable this functionality, choose Preferences > Type and deselect the Enable Missing Glyph Protection option.

Default fonts

When you install a Middle Eastern or North African version, the default typing font is set to the installation-specific language, by default. For example, if you have installed the English/Arabic-enabled version, the default typing font is set to Adobe Arabic. Similarly, if you have installed the English/Hebrew-enabled version, the default typing font is set to Adobe Hebrew.

Automatic Kashida insertion

In Arabic, the text is justified by adding Kashidas. Kashidas are added to Arabic characters to lengthen them. Whitespace is not modified. Use automatic Kashida insertion to justify paragraphs of Arabic text.

Select the paragraph and from the Paragraph panel (Window > Type > Paragraph), choose a setting from the Insert Kashida drop-down list. The options available are: None, Short, Medium, Long, or Stylistic. Kashidas are only inserted if the paragraph is justified. This setting is not applicable for paragraphs that have alignment settings.

To apply Kashidas to a group of characters, select the characters and choose Kashidas from the Character panel menu.

Ligatures

You can automatically apply ligatures to character pairs in Arabic. Ligatures are typographic replacement characters for certain letter pairs if they are available in a given Open Type font.

When you choose Ligatures from the Character panel menu or Control panel menu, a standard ligature defined in the font is produced.

1. Select text.
2. Choose Window > OpenType and select Standard Ligatures from the panel menu.

However, some Open Type fonts include more ornate, optional ligatures, which can be produced when you choose Discretionary Ligatures. To apply these ligatures, choose Discretionary Ligatures from the OpenType panel menu.

Copy-paste from Microsoft Word

You can copy text from Microsoft Word, and paste it directly into a document. The pasted text's alignment and direction is automatically set to that of the Arabic or Hebrew text.

Hyphenation

Sentences that have more words that can fit into one line of text automatically wrap into the next line. The type of text justification when wrapping occurs sometimes causes unnecessary spaces to appear in the line that are not aesthetically pleasing or linguistically correct. Hyphenation enables you to split the word at the end of a line, using a hyphen. This fragmentation causes the sentence to wrap into the next line in a better way.

Mixed text: The Kashida insertion feature affects how hyphenation occurs in mixed text. When enabled, Kashidas are inserted where applicable, and non-Arabic text is also hyphenated. When the Kashida feature is disabled, only non-Arabic text is considered for hyphenation.

Note: This functionality is disabled when you choose Arabic as the Language in the Character panel.

Hebrew text: Hyphenation is allowed. To enable hyphenation and customize settings, choose Window > Type > Paragraph > panel menu > Hyphenation.

Find and replace

Arabic and Hebrew users can perform full text search and replace. In addition to searching and replacing simple text, you can also search and replace text with specific characteristics. These characteristics can include diacritical marks, Kashidas, special characters (for example, Alef), digits in different languages (for example, digits in Hindi), and more.

To perform text find-and-replace, choose Edit > Find And Replace.

Diacritical marks

In the Arabic script, a diacritic or a diacritical mark is a glyph used to indicate consonant length or short vowels. A diacritical mark is placed above or below the script. For better styling of text, or improved readability of certain fonts, you can control the vertical or horizontal position of diacritical marks:

1. Select text that has diacritical marks
2. In the Character panel, modify the position of the diacritic marks relative to the script. Values you can change are Adjust Horizontal Diacritic Position and Adjust Vertical Diacritic Position.

Glyphs

Arabic and Hebrew users can apply glyphs from the default character set. However, to browse, select, and apply a glyph from the default character set or a different language set, use the Glyphs panel (Type > Glyphs)