Arabic letters

[Philipp]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Hello,

I want to write words with arabic letters in Excel, the problem I got is that the letters are not connected to each other. If they are displayed isolated, the words are difficultly readable and additionally they are written incorretly.

So what do I have to do if I want that Excel connects the letters?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I want to write words with arabic letters in Excel, the problem I got
is that the letters are not connected to each other. If they are
displayed isolated, the words are difficultly readable and additionally
they are written incorretly.

The main issue is that Office doesn't support any right-to-left language.
The only solution would be to use another software that does support it.

Corentin

 

[Philipp]

Hello Corentin,

thanks for your answer.

I don´t believe that Office doesn´t support arabic letters, e.g.: Word is able to connect arabic letters.

You have to know that the arabic alphabet is the second-most widely used alphabet around the world (see wikipedia). So I am sure that microsoft installed features in order to use those letters on office, other wise they would loose a very big number of clients.

The fact that the letters are displayed in ther correct form indicates that excel supports them, I only have to find the menue point where I can tell excel: "Connect them".

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Phillipp;

You're logic is impeccable until you factor in one other consideration...

Even though Arabic may be the 2nd most commonly used alphabet around the
world, what do you believe to be the probable volume of Mac Office sales in
Arabic-speaking countries? Or Mac computer sales, for that matter?

Just to throw out some numbers: If it costs $1M to produce something & the
actuarial tables suggest that it will take 5 years to recoup that investment
before you even begin to realize any profit whatsoever, how quickly would
you jump to write the check?

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Even though Arabic may be the 2nd most commonly used alphabet around the
world, what do you believe to be the probable volume of Mac Office sales in
Arabic-speaking countries? Or Mac computer sales, for that matter?

Yeah, though if you don't support Arabic, what are the chances you will
sell your product in an Arabic-speaking country :->

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The fact that the letters are displayed in ther correct form indicates
that excel supports them, I only have to find the menue point where I
can tell excel: "Connect them".

Not really.
The fonts are supported and the letters can be typed in, but Office
doesn't support right-to-left and will not link the letters either.
That applies to all right-to-left languages (including Hebrew).

It is a very serious limitation of Office for Mac and it has been
discussed numerous times here.
You have to realize though that this is a peer-support group and none
of us can really do much about it :-\

Corentin

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, I guess you could stuff the issue into the ol' chicken & egg duffle
bag but this page indicates the focus Apple's international market:

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/intlstoreroutingpage.html

How many Arabic-speaking nations do you see in the list?

Do you really think MS is sufficiently delusional to flood the Arab nations
with software in the expectation that it will drive the sale of computers
that can run it? Especially when the exclusive source of that hardware is
one of their staunchest competitors?

Besides, MS *does* support Arabic ‹ just not on the Mac ;-)

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac