Text from right to left in word

If you regularly use Microsoft Word with a language that reads from right-to-left, you may find that the right-to-left format remains when you try to write in English. This is because the text direction defaults to right-to-left in versions of Microsoft Word sold in some regions.

Luckily, if you’re using a Windows computer, changing the direction of text is easy via the “left-to-right” command. Only the most recent versions of Word for Mac support this feature, so if you encounter this problem, the best option is to copy and paste the text into a new document.

Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar

The first thing you need to do is add the “left-to-right” command to the Quick Access Toolbar. To do this, click the arrow next to the “Redo” button and choose “More Commands” from the dropdown list.

On the next screen, you have the option to choose commands to add to the toolbar. If you can’t see the “left-to-right” command, chose “All Commands” from the top menu.

Next, scroll down and choose “Left-to-Right Text Direction.” The name of the command here may depend on the version of Word you’re using. In Word 2010, this command is called “Ltr run,” while Word 2003 lists it as “Ltr para.”

Now the button will be displayed on the toolbar (you can use a similar process to add it to the main ribbon if you right click on the ribbon and select “Customize the Ribbon”).

Now select the text that is showing right-to-left, click the button, and it should switch to left-to-right. Repeat this last step anywhere in your document, including footnotes and comment boxes, where the text direction displays from right-to-left.

It’s also worth noting that you can select the “Right-to-Left Text Direction” command using the same method. This is useful if you need to switch back to the original format at any point.

Formatting from Proofed

If you would like to get your paper formatted perfectly, send it to the professionals at Proofed!

Specify text direction in a shape or text box

1. Right-click the edge of the shape or text box that contains the text.
2. On the shortcut menu, select Format Shape.
3. In the left pane of the dialog box, select Text Box.
4. Under Text layout, select the option that you want in the Text direction list.
5. Select Close.

How do I change the direction of text in a Word document?

To change the text direction, select Table Tools Layout > Text Direction. The text will rotate to the right. Select Text Direction again to rotate the text another 90 degrees. To change the text alignment, choose an Alignment option to change how the text appears in the cell.

How do you change the direction of typing?

In most Windows programs (including MS Word, Internet Explorer, and Notepad), you can use the following shortcuts to switch direction:

1. For right-to-left, press: Ctrl + Right. Shift.
2. For left-to-right, press: Ctrl + Left. Shift.

Which tool can change the direction of text using?

To do so, select the cells for which you want to change the text direction and click the Layout tab under Table Tools. Click Text Direction in the Alignment section of the Layout tab. Each time you click Text Direction, a different direction is applied.

How do I change the position of words in Word?

Opening and Using the Position Menu
In your document, select the object with which you want to work, switch to the “Layout” menu, and then click the “Position” button. That button also appears on the “Format” menu of the Ribbon and works the same way.

How do I change text from right to left?

Select the text that needs to be fixed, or select all text in the document by pressing Ctrl-A. Click both the Left-to-Right Text Direction and Ltr Run buttons (it doesn’t matter which you click first).

How do I change text from right to left in Word?

You can change the text direction from within a Microsoft Office program by choosing the Right-to-left paragraph button in the Paragraph group on the Home tab (this only appears if you have a right-to-left language enabled).

How do I fix my keyboard backwards?

Keyboard typing backward from right to left

1. Restart your PC.
2. Hard reboot your PC.
3. Check your system’s Region.
4. Run the Keyboard Troubleshooter.
5. Change the keyboard typing direction.
6. Update or Reinstall your keyboard driver.
7. Troubleshoot in Clean Boot State.

How do I type vertically in Word 2010?

8 Answers

1. Enter your Word art as usual.
2. Then click on the word art box you just made.
3. Make sure you click on ‘Format’ on the top of Publisher.
4. Third option across the top says ‘vertical text’
5. Click and your text is vertical 😉

Which feature allows you to change the direction of the cell content?

Select a cell, row, column, or a range. > Format Cell Alignment. Under Orientation on the right side, in the Degrees box, use the up or down arrow to set the exact number of degrees that you want to rotate the selected cell text.

How do you change from horizontal to vertical in Word?

To change the orientation of the whole document, select Layout > Orientation. Choose Portrait or Landscape.

How do I align text left and right on the same line in Word?

Flush Left and Flush Right On the Same Line

1. Make sure the paragraph is formatted as left-aligned.
2. Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
3. Click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Paragraph group.
4. Click the Tabs button.
5. What you want to do is to insert a right-aligned tab near the right edge of the line.

How do you fix an inverted arrow key?

5 Answers. Hold down the Fn key, usually on the right side of the space bar, and press W while you are holding it. Should fix it instantly.

Why have my keys swapped on my keyboard?

The reason why the @ and ” keys keep swapping is because your keyboard is switching between two different language settings.On a UK keyboard, pressing shift +’ will give you an @ symbol, and pressing shift+2 will give you an apostrophe. On a US keyboard, this is reversed.

Why is my keyboard deleting backwards?

Press the “Ins” key to toggle overtype mode off. Depending on your keyboard model, this key may also be labeled “Insert.” If you simply want to disable overtype mode but keep the ability to toggle it back on, you are done.

How do you make text vertical?

Make text flow vertically within a text box or shape
On the Text Box Tools Format tab, click Text Direction. If you want your text to go the other direction (bottom to top, instead of top to bottom), drag the rotation handle for the text box or shape until the text direction is reversed.

How do I make text vertical in a Word table?

You can change text direction by following these steps:

1. Right-click your mouse on the cell whose text direction you want to change. A Context menu appears.
2. Choose Text Direction from the Context menu. The Text Direction dialog box appears.
3. Select the Orientation you want used for your text.
4. When satisfied, click on OK.

Specify text direction in a shape, text box, or table cell

1. Enter the text in the shape or text box or table cell, and then select the text.
2. Ctrl+Click the selected text, and then click Format Shape. On the Text Box tab in the dialog box, choose a direction from the Text Direction box.

Which option allows you to change the way text appear in a cell or a group of cells?

Answer: Alignment Tab. Explanation: You can position text and numbers, change the orientation and specify text control in cells by using the Alignment tab in the Format Cells dialog box.

How will you rotate the text in a table cell?

Change the orientation of text in a cell

1. Select a cell, row, column, or a range.
2. Select Home > Orientation. , and then select an option. You can rotate your text up, down, clockwise, or counterclockwise, or align text vertically:

How do I change text from horizontal to vertical in Excel?

In Excel, you can use the Paste Special to convert a horizontal list to a vertical list. In Excel 2007, after selecting the Paste Special from the context menu, it will open the Paste Special dialog. In the dialog, please check All option and Transpose option, and click OK button.

Release Date: November 7, 2018
Category: Writing Tools
Author: Amanda W., Ph.D.

Many versions of Word allow users to enter text in right-to-left format to accommodate other languages.
Most of these change the formatting to left-to-right text direction when users select English for the text language.
However, a few versions have bugs in this process and the formatting remains right to left, such as the Arabic versions of Word.
If you receive a document originally written in one of these versions, the cursor, text direction, and/or punctuation will behave abnormally.

Here, we describe 1) how to fix this problem in a selected segment of text and 2) how to set all new comments to run in the correct direction.
The information in this guide was compiled from instructions for the 2010, 2013, and 2016 versions of Word, so these instructions should be accurate for those versions, but might not work with older versions.

Changing right-to-left to left-to-right formatting

To do this, we will add two buttons to our Quick Toolbar.
These will stay in Word as long as it is installed on your computer, so you can use them whenever you encounter this problem.

1. In the Quick Access Toolbar at the top left of the screen (where the save and undo buttons are), click the arrow at the right side and select “More Commands”.
2. Under «Choose commands from:» select «All Commands.»
3. Find «Left-to-Right Text Direction» in the alphabetical list and click «Add>>».
4. Find «Ltr Run» and click «Add>>».
5. Click «OK» to close the window.
6. You should now have two new buttons in the Quick Access toolbar at the top left of your screen: the Left-to-Right Text Direction button, which looks like an arrow and a paragraph symbol, and the Ltr Run button, which looks like an open, gray, or green circle depending on your version of Word.
7. Select the text that needs to be fixed, or select all text in the document by pressing Ctrl-A.
8. Click both the Left-to-Right Text Direction and Ltr Run buttons (it doesn’t matter which you click first).

Text should now run left to right as we expect in English writing.
If the text is suddenly right justified, meaning that it all lines up along the right margin, don’t worry – that means the author of the original document was trying to get around the bug and make the text look normal.
Just select the text and click “Left Align” in the “Paragraph” section under the “Home” tab.

Setting comments to default to left-to-right text

If you are providing feedback on this document, you will likely need to add comments to the document.
Although the directions above are effective in comments, it can get very annoying to click your two Quick Access buttons every time you need to write a new comment.
Luckily, we can set Word to use the correct formatting for all future comments.

1. If there are no comments, write one and fix it using the directions above.
2. In a properly formatted comment, click somewhere in the comment text that doesn’t have any special formatting (no italic, bold, superscript, etc.).
3. Go to «Home» tab and click the tiny arrow in the bottom right corner of the “Styles” section.
4. Click “Options…”
5. Change “Select how list is sorted:” to “Alphabetical”.
6. Change «Select styles to show:» to «All styles.»
7. Find «Comment Text» in the list and click it if it’s not already selected.
   • If there are no styles in the list and it’s just a blank white box, click the «Style Inspector» button at the bottom (the one in the middle with a magnifying glass), and the first item in the smaller box that pops up should be “Comment Text.” You’ll follow the next steps within that box.
   • If clicking “Comment Text” changes the comment back to right-to-left formatting, select all the text in that comment and click your two new Quick Access buttons again.
8. Hover your mouse over «Comment Text» and click the drop-down arrow that appears.
9. Click «Update Comment Text to Match Selection.»
10. Close all open style boxes.

Try adding new comments; the text should run left to right.
This will save a bit of time and a lot of frustration.
It will need to be done for each document in which you encounter this issue, but once you’ve done it, that style information should stay with the document even if you send it to someone else.

Keywords: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office, Text Direction, Editing, Comments

Scientific Writing Workshops

If you like our articles, try our workshops!
Our articles are based on the material from our scientific writing workshops, which cover these and many other topics more thoroughly, with more examples and discussion.

We offer on-site workshops for your event or organization, and also host workshops that individual participants can attend.
Our on-site scientific writing workshops can range from 1-2 hours to several days in length.
We can tailor the length to suit your needs, and we can deliver a writing workshop as a stand-alone activity or as part of scheduled meetings.

Our scientific writing workshops consistently receive high praise from participants including graduate students, post-docs, and faculty in diverse fields.
Please see our scientific writing workshop page for details.

If you found this article helpful or if there is a topic you want us to address in a future article, please
use our
online comment submission form,
or
contact us directly. Your comments and suggestions are valuable!
Click here to return to our scientific editing article library.

Word left-to-right/right-to-left handling (LTR/RTL) works on two levels: the paragraph level, which can be controlled by right-clicking on the paragraph and choosing the appropriate direction (right-to-left, or left-to-right); and the run level.

Consider the following sequence of letters:

ABCD

This is an example of an LTR run. If we are using an RTL language, even though the sequence of letters is the same order, the text should be displayed in reverse, as a RTL run.

Actual order: ABCD
Visual order: DCBA

When we add netural characters — characters that don’t have rules about whether they are displayed as LTR or RTL — the run direction cannot be determined based on the characters themselves; we have to explicitly define the direction of the run:

(assumes LTR paragraph direction)
Actual order:    ABCD0123
LTR run:         ABCD0123
partial RTL run: DCBA0123
full RTL run:    3210DCBA

When typing, there is no need for you to set the run direction; Word sets the run direction of a given neutral character based on the direction of the current language you are typing in.

In older versions of Word (<=2003), I didn’t find any way to do this through the UI, only through the VBA editor.

1. Select the text you want to change
2. Press ALT+F11 to open the VBA programming environment
3. Click on the Immediate pane; or if it’s not visible, press CTRL+G
4. Type Selection.LtrRun and press ENTER

Note: To set the run to RTL, type Selection.RtlRun

In Word 2010, you can customize the ribbon by adding the commands LtrRun and RtlRun to set the LTR/RTL run direction.

Is this article up to date?

Last updated: March 13, 2019

Microsoft Word has a lot of possible applications aside from simple document creation. For example, you might use it to create a newsletter or flyer, which will inspire you to modify your text in ways that typical document editing may not require.

One such modification is the option to change the direction in which your text is oriented. This is not possible in the main document body, but you can use text boxes to position and rotate text as needed. Our guide below will show you how to create and populate a text box, then use a couple of different options to rotate the text contained within the box.

Change Text Direction in Word – Quick Summary

1. Click Insert at the top of the window.
2. Click the Text Box button and choose a text box to insert.
3. Add your text to the text box.
4. Click the Drawing Tools Format tab.
5. Select the Text Direction button, then choose the desired option.

For additional information, including pictures for these steps, continue to the section below.

If you need to move your content to the center of the page, then our guide on how to center text in Word can help you out.

The steps below will show you how to create a text box, add text to it, then change the direction of that text. Your text can be either horizontal (default), it can be rotated by 90 degrees, or it can be rotated by 270 degrees.

1. Open your document in Microsoft Word 2013.

1. Click the Insert tab at the top of the window.

1. Click the Text Box button in the Text section of the ribbon, then either select one of the default text box options, or click the Draw Text Box button to insert a custom one.

1. Type the desired text into the text box.

1. Confirm that the Format tab under Drawing Tools is selected, then click the Text Direction button and choose the preferred direction of the text.

If you would like the direction of your text to be different than one of the default options, you can also click the rotation handle on the text box and drag it until your text is situated correctly.

Now that you know how to change the direction of text in Microsoft Word you will be able to use it when you are working on a document that needs upside down or tilted text.

If you’ve noticed Word deleting text as you type, then you can read our why does typing delete letters guide and change a setting to fix it.

How to Add the Right-to-left Text Direction Button in Word

If you instead need to switch from a left-to-right to a right-to-left option when entering text into the document body, then there are some actions you need to take first.

Step 1: Click the File tab at the top-left of the window.

Step 2: Click the Options button in the left column.

Step 3: Choose the Language tab.

Step 4: Click the Add additional editing languages dropdown menu, choose a right-to-left language, then click the Add button.

Step 5: Click OK at the bottom of the window. Note that you will need to restart Word for this change to take effect.

Step 6: Click the Right-to-left Text Direction button in the Paragraph section of the Home tab.

Is there text in your document that you do not want to be visible, but you aren’t ready to delete it? Learn how to hide text in Microsoft Word 2013 and give yourself a new option for formatting your text.