Hebrew text in Word 2003

[Terri N]

I'm typing a 300-page book that is in English but will have Hebrew text
inserted, a word here, a phrase there. Someone else will be typing in the
Hebrew, or at least typing it into a document so I can paste it into mine.

My problem is that the Hebrew isn't flowing from right to left properly. It
appears to be right to left, and I've been told that it mostly is, but words
will be switched around, numbered paragraphs have the number on the left
instead of the right, etc. And the "Text Direction" isn't active on my
Format menu--it's grayed out.

I can use some good instruction on how to use Hebrew/right-to-left text.
I'm also wondering if there is something I need to install in order to be
able to do this--something that didn't get installed initially, or perhaps
some support I should download. Thanks for any help...!

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

You need to enable Hebrew in Windows. Go to Start > Control Panel >
Regional and Language Settings. This opens a panel with several tabs
at the top. It differs between XP and Vista.

Choose the tab having to do with languages and/or keyboards. In XP,
there are checkboxes for "Complex Scripts" and for "Asian Scripts."
For Hebrew (and Arabic), you need to check "Complex Scripts." Then
follow the buttons to Add Keyboards. You may need to have your
original Windows XP disks on hand to complete the installation.

In Vista, just go through the procedure to add a Hebrew keyboard to
your system.

When you're done, you'll see a square icon near the right edge of the
desktop taskbar (at the bottom of the screen). It should say EN. If
you click on it, you can choose HE instead, and then you can type in
Hebrew.

As long as the choice exists (you don't need to actually choose it),
there should be no problem pasting Hebrew text in the middle of your
English text, and it wll do line breaks, etc., correctly.

Though be aware that funny things happen where R-L and L-R passages
meet -- it will be tricky to add English punctuation after the Hebrew
is in place, so choose your pasting spots carefully.

 

[Terri N]

Thank you very much--I'll give this a try...