Select the text frame containing the paragraph.
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Control text direction for Arabic and Hebrew
Last updated on
Jun 2, 2026
Learn how to use paragraph, character, and story direction controls to manage bidirectional text flow in Adobe InDesign.
InDesign lets you control text direction for Arabic and Hebrew, supporting right-to-left (RTL) text alongside left-to-right (LTR) content like English or numbers. Direction can be set at the paragraph, character, or story level. These features require the Middle Eastern or North African version of InDesign.
Set paragraph text direction
Select Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph.
Select the Right-to-Left Paragraph Direction
icon for Arabic or Hebrew, or the Left-to-Right Paragraph Direction
icon for Latin.
Set character text direction
Use the Type tool to select the characters that need a different direction.
Select Window > Type & Tables > Character.
Select the panel menu icon, then choose Character Direction.
Select Default, Left-to-Right, or Right-to-Left from the submenu.
Set story direction for multi-column layouts
Select a text frame within the story.
Select Window > Type & Tables > Story.
In the Story panel, select the Right-to-Left Story Direction icon for Arabic or Hebrew, or the Left-to-Right Story Direction icon for Latin.
Note
Each story can have its own direction setting. Documents with mixed-language content may require different story directions for different text threads.
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