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That’s a very fair point, Paolo. RTL is not something I use much, so I would be quite happy to copy and paste on the odd few occasions when I need it.

RTL Fixer is quite expensive. LeoMoon ParsiNegar is freeware.

My thoughts and hopes were truly disappointed! Is right-to-left typing support still ignored in new versions? I hope the team ignores announcing new releases and features for customers from Asia and Africa who need this important feature (RTL). Rather, I think it is clear racism from the Affinity developers team.

In this video I share with you how to fix RTL on Affinity Designer but its work Publisher and Photo as well, Free Fix Download Link: https://leomoon.com/downloads/desktop-apps/leomoon-parsinegar/ Enjoy!

Does anyone knows how do I type text from RTL for Arabic text for the 2 softwares mentioned?

I know this is a bit obscure, but I would appreciate it if when searching text, that ligatures like œ and æ show results as if they were oe and ae (and visa versa). I suppose there could be options so if I really only want the results that have the actual ligature, then that could be possible, but I think in most cases when searching I'd want all the results. Maybe color the ligature differently in the search results if it wouldn't have been found in a straight search. I'm sure there are some other similar ligatures, especially if you start looking at other languages and alphabets. I can think of a few in Hebrew, but as Affinity doesn't yet support RTL languages, I guess that's a moot point.

This thread is for people (like me) who are interested and hoping for support of Indic languages in Affinity Version 2 (V2). Sadly, there is still no support for Indic languages as of this moment, the 9th November, 2022. Features may be added in a future point-update or point-release. Let's all remain positive and hopeful that the staff and developers at Serif keeps the dialogue for Indic Languages and RTL Language support as open.

I also don't have a current subscription. So this APub was converted from .indd --> Viva Designer --> APub. I did open the .idml in IDCS6 and it appears fine...not true of the APub file. Both the .idml and APub files are in the ZIP. APub didn't use pages but rather each page is on a larger page. You'll see what I mean. Likely you'll need to create a proper facing page document and copy frames, etc. from one to another. Also, APub really doesn't even like "simple" RTL. Editing will likely be difficult. Also APub isn't gonna like RTL page set ups. Mike Brit3-digital.zip

Hi everyone, Just signed up for the forum after purchasing the Affinity V2 Universal License. I asked this question in a private message with Affinity support, and it was also asked in the Affinity V1 section in this forum but seems that no-one has asked this for V2. Hence, I'm raising this up here as well so this won't be forgotten: It would be great if Right-to-Left (RTL) text writing support will be added to the Affinity products for both desktop and iPad versions. I'm aware that this may be difficult to implement, yet this is an essential feature for RTL users. The competitor Adobe has RTL support but as you all know the mandatory subscription plan is why we're here, and so RTL users would love to see this important feature implement. Thanks! I would like I to take advantage of this opportunity to thank Affinity for developing such great products, making it much affordable (and reasonable) for those who still believe and prefer a one-time-purchase permanent license per version, which the competitor Adobe doesn't offer anymore. Also, I would like to thank the community here for their feedback to making the Affinity products even better. Personally, I would love to see Affinity products line grow to include even more products, such as video and audio editing, so eventually combine an entire production software in one suite, just like the Adobe Master Collection.

many messaged you before but no response> We need it ot support Arabic and other RTL languages.

Hi Affinity Team, Does Affinity V2 support RTL? RTL is in need.

we need RTL writing system on desktop and iPad ! we are waiting along time and still nothing for that , and no body lock seriously for that problem

I'm a photoshop user for 18 years now. affinity suite is the best competitor now. but not supporting RTL text is a major drawback. please fix this. thanks

We have done DTP for decades and practically never do it like this. We typically import cleaned Word documents (images etc. stripped) keeping local formatting and unifying everything else (basically using a single font and size when applicable) and then tag paragraph styles which we apply in layout with own scripts, using already defined InDesign formatting. This means that we would normally discard list formatting but might make an exception if the text has very complex hierarchy When working with multi-language texts, sometimes including RTL ones, with legal texts containing huge amount of footnotes, scientific texts containing equations, etc., normally with hectic schedules, there is really no alternative for us, and this workflow has never broken or caused any serious issues. The document included in this post was somehow corrupted and would ideally require some fixes and preparation before being imported in layout, but as was shown, it was not so badly damaged that it could not be used even as it is. But everyone with years of experience in publishing business has of course their personal preferences and optimized workflows they want to use whenever possible.

hi there any updates about rtl typing direction? are you going to work on that any time soon? thx!

So, beta 2.2 is here, and we can see that some very important features have been added, and with remarkable creativity. Development is proceeding slowly but steadily. Since new features are announced as possible during the next months, it is hard to say what we will have in Publisher before the end of the year. Just to recap, however, I'll write down what I still miss for my own needs. - Multipage tables. I work with tabular-heavy data, so I can't really use the current feature. - Object styles. I have to adapt my content to different styles. The current situation is that I should re-apply the object presets to each object in a publication. With their number easily going over 1,000, this is hardly feasible. I need object styles. - Text variables. Much of my work is referred to products available in different variants. The name of the product and of some of its features and controls can change. Without text variables, I have to use search and replace, with the imaginable risk of changing what shouldn't be changed. - Conditional text. Product variants also means an abundance of alternative text and images. - IDML export. This is a show-stopper for two reasons: (1) interfacing with assisted translation software, and (2) compatibility with my colleagues working in InDesign. While some of them may be wanting to switch to Affinity, this is not always possible for a series of reasons (company decisions, unwillingness to change, prestige associated with the Adobe name, lack of support of RTL languages, incomplete support of CJKV languages). And then, back to (1): they wouldn't be able to use their CAT tools. - DOCX export. I see this file format as the perfect interface for ePub and Web. The tools I use for this type of work require DOCX/RTF files. Copy & Paste from Publisher may work for text, but the lack of images would make rebuilding the project quite hard. - ICML import. Not a real show-stopper, but a cause of slowdown. It is the file format generated by Pandoc. I described somewhere else in this forum how to go from ICML to IDML, but it is not exactly a quick operation. Since ICML is just a subset of IDML, it would be very easy for Serif to support it. It's just a matter of adding the file into a <Story> element of a IDML template. - RTL support. Admittedly, I don't have much control on the work of the distributors using RTL languages. And I know that most of them prefer to work in Word or LibreOffice. But I must consider this as a limitation. And it happens, to me, to have to produce short multilingual documents including RTL languages. - Better CJKV support? I have still to understand if horizontal text is managed correctly or not. There is an inexplicable reluctance in talking extensively about this issue from our Chinese or Japanese fellows here in the forum, that I can't still get if it can be used or not. And I can't yet, for various reasons, get information from my colleagues (who don't use the Affinity suite, or only informally admit to have it installed in their secret computer). So, another year of InDesign CC subscription and file lock-in is to be expected Paolo

Does v2 support rtl? If not teher is any chance to get it in future updates??

i hope affinity team add RTL Support, Diagonal Ruler Guide, and Add Path Effect like inkscape feature

These are very basic to me. The v1 UI is horrible - everything is so tiny on a hi res screen. And you didn't manage to fix that? And so many people had been asking about rtl support? Also nothing? These things make the upgrade pretty useless for me, sorry.

Please fix the problem of writing in Arabic from right to left in the next update Without the intervention of external programs

As Affinity Publisher does not currently support RTL languages such as Arabic, what are the best choices for doing so? Before happily switching to Affinity Publisher I used Adobe InDesign and paid the monthly tax. For my occasional typesetting needs, there hasn't been anything significant in InDesign that I have missed. Now I find myself contemplating the idea of an Arabic translation for some of my content, and I realize it will be a while before Affinity Publisher supports RTL languages. So, if looking to translate an English book to a few languages (Spanish and Arabic in particular), what is the best choice of layout tool? Is there any cost effective language that handles the same work being in multiple languages with minimal layout changes better than other choices? Built-in support for an initial pass using machine translation would be great. Is going back to InDesign for this particular need the best choice? Are there any alternatives worth mentioning which Affinity fans like?

Hi, The following bug still exists within Affinity Publisher 2.0. I am using Publisher 2.0.0 on a Windows 10 machine (Ver 21H1, intel i7-9750H with NVIDIA 1660 Ti).

Hello, will there be support for Right to left languages encoding for the affinity programs? thanks

Come on guys? I want to move completely to Affinity but looks like I will still need Adobe Illustrator a little while longer.

Hi Mehdy and welcome to the forum. There are many threads on this topic, just search for RTL or Right to Left or the names of any of the various languages that would benefit from RTL text. Here's a link to over 90 posts on RTL just since the launch of v2 in November. I think Serif is very much aware of how many people want RTL. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q=rtl&quick=1&search_and_or=and&start_after=1667952000&sortby=relevancy But I want to dispel the notion that it is "done easily by a short code that reverses letters". Building in support for RTL from the start is straightforward. Adding it after the app is already built is a lot of work because it affects everything. RTL can be applied to paragraphs and ranges of characters so text direction can be reversed even within a paragraph. It affects tables, story direction, page binding, page numbering, and much more. I have no inside information but I wouldn't expect RTL to be added in a minor update. This complex of feature would likely be part of a major upgrade.