Writing in Arabic on MS Office 2008 for Mac

[elmistico]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther)
Processor: Power PC

Why only the SmartArt Graphics feature supports Arabic text on the MS Word 2008 for Mac? If I open a new page and start typing without that feature, I would get only Arabic gibberish.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

MacOffice does not support Right to Left languages at all. That it works
in SmartArt is a random bonus. Investigate Mellel, Nisus Writer,
possibly NeoOffice instead.

MS thinks it will not be profitable to add Arabic support to
MacOffice--you can try to convince them it will be via Help | Send
Feedback in any Office app.

 

[John McGhie]

Microsoft Word for Mac does not support Arabic. At all.

However, Arabic may be included in a future version. We can't say --
Microsoft reconsiders the mix of languages offered for each version. New
languages are added and old languages withdrawn as the sales figures change.

What you see in SmartArt is the beginning of support for Arabic. The
SmartArt graphics engine is a new piece of code inherited from the PC Word
side of the business, and it does have Arabic support.

Sadly, changing a text application so the words run in the opposite
direction means practically re-writing the whole application. So you need
very high sales potential to fund such a deep change.

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther)
Processor: Power PC

Why only the SmartArt Graphics feature supports Arabic text on the MS Word
2008 for Mac? If I open a new page and start typing without that feature, I
would get only Arabic gibberish.

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Keith E. Small PhD]

I was very disappointed to discover that I can no longer write with right-to left scripts with this new version of Office. I am a scholar who has appreciated the past multi-lingual capabilities- and to buy a new version of software I trusted and used extensively, and then find out it won't work for much of my job was very disappointing indeed. I understand market dynamics, but in our increasingly connected world, and with the Arabic speaking world coming into increasing financial prominence, I can't help but think the decision to withdraw this capability was an extremely short-sighted one. Not only did I lose money buying software that won't do what I want, this has severely dented my trust in Microsoft. Can you really afford people looking elsewhere for such crucial software?

Microsoft Word for Mac does not support Arabic. At all.





However, Arabic may be included in a future version. We can't say -- Microsoft
reconsiders the mix of languages offered for each version. New languages
are added and old languages withdrawn as the sales figures change.





What you see in SmartArt is the beginning of support for Arabic. The SmartArt
graphics engine is a new piece of code inherited from the PC Word side
of the business, and it does have Arabic support.





Sadly, changing a text application so the words run in the opposite direction
means practically re-writing the whole application. So you need very high
sales potential to fund such a deep change.





Cheers

Version: 2008 > Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) > Processor:

Power PC > > Why only the SmartArt Graphics feature supports Arabic text
on the MS Word > 2008 for Mac? If I open a new page and start typing without
that feature, I > would get only Arabic gibberish.





--





Don't wait for your answer, click here: <http://www.word.mvps.org/>





Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.





John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia.
mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Keith;

I'd first point out that - cogent as your comments may be - they're as
pointless here as carrying coal to Newcastle. This is a news group
comprising users of Word for Mac. Not only do we have no control over the
development decisions made by MS but those who do are not a part of this
forum. You might consider using Help> Send Feedback to convey your thoughts
to the MS folks who do have the necessary impact on product development.

Also, Mac Word has never supported RTL, so it must be Windows versions that
you're recalling. In fact, Mac OS didn't even support RTL prior to OS X...
It hasn't been "withdrawn", it's never been included.

Word for Mac & Word for Windows do share many of the same capabilities &
features, but they're by no means *identical* - there are a number of
difference pro & con for each.

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