Microsoft KB Archive/315566

= How to set up right-to-left functionality for Arabic or Hebrew in Office 2000 =

Article ID: 315566

Article Last Modified on 1/31/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 Premium Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 with MultiLanguage Pack

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This article was previously published under Q315566



Note This article discusses complex scripts functionality. Complex scripts functionality is available when you use the Office Language Settings tool to enable a language, such as Arabic or Hebrew, that requires this functionality. For more information about multilingual features, click Microsoft  Help on the Help menu, type multilingual features in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics that are returned.



SUMMARY
Microsoft Office 2000 contains language support for a number of languages, including languages that are written from right to left, for example, Arabic or Hebrew. In order to type text from right to left in Arabic or Hebrew characters, you must fulfill several conditions. The &quot;More Information&quot; section of this article describes how to set up your computer to use right-to-left functionality in Office 2000.



Operating System
Make sure that your computer's operating system supports the language in which you want to type. In Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows XP, you can add language support for additional languages. If you are using Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), you must have a Windows version that contains language support for the language that you want to use.

To add language support in Windows 2000, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Regional Options.
 * 2) On the General tab, select the check box for the language that you want, and then click OK.
 * 3) Restart your computer if prompted.

These steps add language support but do not add the matching keyboard driver. To add a keyboard driver, follow these steps for Windows 2000:
 * 1) Click Start and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click the Keyboard icon.
 * 3) Select the keyboard driver for the right-to-left language in which you want to type.

Or, refer to the product documentation for your version of Microsoft Windows.

To add language support in Windows XP, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, click Control Panel, click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options, and then click Regional and Language Options.
 * 2) Click the Languages tab, click Details, and then click Add.
 * 3) Select the language and keyboard layout that you want to add, and then click OK three times to close all the dialog boxes.
 * 4) Restart your computer if prompted.

Office 2000 Language Support
To activate language support in the Office Language Settings, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Language Settings.
 * 2) In the Show controls and enable editing for list, select the check box for the language that you want to activate, and then click OK.
 * 3) If you activated a right-to-left language (step 2), now you are prompted to select your preferred language in Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel. Select the right-to-left language to ensure full language support for this language in Microsoft Access and Excel.

Note If you activated language support for a language (step 2) but did not set the preferred language to the right-to-left language (step 3), clear the check box for the right-to-left language (step 2), and then select it again, in order to be prompted for your preferred language again.

Regional Options
Some functionalities--for example, currency formats--depend on the locale setting and may only be available when the current locale is set to the right-to-left language. To change the current locale, follow these steps:
 * 1) In Windows 2000, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Regional Options. In Windows XP, click Start, click Control Panel, click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options, and then click Regional and Language Options.
 * 2) In Windows 2000, select the locale that you want from the Your locale (location) list, and then click OK. In Windows XP, click the Regional Options tab, and then, under Standards and formats, follow the instructions.

Now you can type from right to left in the activated language, and you see additional menu items and additional options in some dialog boxes that refer to specific functionalities for the right-to-left language or writing system.

Proofing Tools
In order to use the language-specific Proofing Tools, you must obtain either the Microsoft Office 2000 MultiLanguage Pack or the Office 2000 Proofing Tools CD. For more information about the Office 2000 MultiLanguage Pack, see the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2000/six/85ct_1.htm

User Interface and Additional Templates
In order to switch the user-interface language and to use specific templates for your right-to-left language, you must install the Microsoft Office 2000 MultiLanguage Pack for this language.

