Arabic Letters Broken or Reversed in Photoshop: Cause and Fix

You type an Arabic word in Photoshop and the letters appear separated and reversed: "د م ح م" instead of "محمد". The font is rarely the problem; the text engine is.

Why the letters break apart

Arabic letters change shape depending on their position in a word, and the text runs from right to left. The default text engine in Adobe apps is built for Latin scripts, so it neither joins the letters nor reverses the direction. The fix is to switch to the engine for Middle Eastern and South Asian languages.

Fix in Photoshop

1. Open Edit → Preferences → Type (on Mac: Photoshop → Settings → Type).

2. Under Choose Text Engine Options, select Middle Eastern and South Asian.

3. Click OK, then quit and reopen Photoshop; the change only applies after a restart.

4. Create a new text layer and type the Arabic text. Older layers may need to be retyped.

5. In the Paragraph panel menu, choose Middle Eastern and South Asian Every-line Composer and set the paragraph direction to right-to-left.

Fix in Illustrator

1. Open Edit → Preferences → Type and enable the Middle Eastern and South Asian options.

2. In the Paragraph panel menu, choose Middle Eastern & South Asian Every-line Composer.

3. Set the paragraph direction to right-to-left.

Fix in After Effects

Open Preferences → Type, choose South Asian and Middle Eastern as the text engine, then restart the app.

Still broken?

• **The font has no Arabic letters:** many Latin fonts lack Arabic glyphs, so the app substitutes another font or shows boxes. Pick an Arabic font from the [font library](/en) and check that its preview shows the letters.
• **Very old version:** older releases needed a special "ME" edition. Update to a recent version.
• **Text pasted from a website:** hidden direction marks can come along. Type the text directly or paste it as plain text.
• **Apps with no Arabic support at all:** write the text in the [Arabic font generator](/en/arabic-font-generator), download a transparent PNG and place it on your design.

Summary

In most cases switching the text engine to Middle Eastern and South Asian and restarting the app is enough. If the problem remains, check that the font itself supports Arabic.

References

• [Arabic and Hebrew type in Photoshop — Adobe](https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/arabic-hebrew-type.html)
• [Arabic and Hebrew type in Illustrator — Adobe](https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/arabic-hebrew-type.html)

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