• 3-minute read
  • 3rd July 2016

How to Set Text Direction in Microsoft Word

99.9% of the time in English language writing, sentences start on the left hand side of the page. This is simply how we do things. But not every language uses this convention.

In Hebrew and Arabic, for instance, sentences begin at the right hand side of the page. Versions of Microsoft Word designed for these languages therefore default to right-to-left.

Whichever version of Word you’re using, though, you can adjust the text direction to suit your particular needs.

Writing in a Right-to-Left Language

If you need to write in a language that reads from right to left and your version of Word doesn’t support this, you will have to install the necessary language and keyboard settings.

If both left-to-right and right-to-left languages are enabled in a document, the ‘LTR’ and ‘RTL’ buttons should appear in the ‘Paragraph’ section of the ‘Home’ tab.

Changing the Text Direction

Even if you’re not writing in a right-to-left language, you may need to change the text direction if you’re using a version of Word where right-to-left is the default or if you’re editing a document written using this format.

In these cases, with Word 2010 or later on a Windows computer, your simplest option is to add buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar. To do this:

  • Click the little arrow on the right of the existing buttons and select ‘More Commands’Change Text Direction
  • In the new window that opens, select ‘All Commands’ from the dropdown menu
  • Find ‘Right-to-Left Text Direction’ and/or ‘Left-to-Right Text Direction’ in the list
    All Commands
  • Add these to your toolbar by selecting them and clicking ‘Add’

    The Left-to-Right button has an arrow pointing from left to right; Right-to-Left has the opposite pointing in the other direction.
    The Left-to-Right button has an arrow pointing from left to right; Right-to-Left has the arrow pointing in the opposite direction.

You can now use these buttons to set the text direction for all (or part) of a document.

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Alternatively, you can also add these buttons to the main ribbon on Microsoft Word by right clicking on the ribbon and selecting ‘Customize the Ribbon’.

This opens a menu similar to the one used to customize the Quick Access Toolbar. The main difference is that you need to create a new ‘Group’ under one of the main tabs so that the commands have somewhere to appear.

Microsoft Hates Mac Computers

It’s a melodramatic subtitle, we’ll grant you, but it’s the only explanation for why Microsoft Word on the Mac has only recently added support for right-to-left languages.

If you want to change the text direction from right-to-left to left-to-right in older versions of Word on an Apple computer, you’ll need to cheat using this workaround:

  • Copy and paste your text into Pages, where it will default to left-to-right
  • Copy and paste your reformatted text back into Word

You can also change the text direction from left-to-right to right-to-left using this method if you have an appropriate right-to-left script installed on Pages.

The text direction should then match the settings you chose in Pages (or other compatible program). If not, it might be time to get a PC instead.

Especially if your Mac is this old [Photo: w:User:Grm wnr/Wikimedia]

Comments (10)
Ziad
25th January 2018 at 12:50
THANK YOU SO MUCH, THIS HELPED ME ALOT SINCE I COULDN'T FIND A SINGLE ANSWER ON MICROSOFTS SITE.
CHI
4th February 2019 at 11:40
Thank you so much for teaching me something new. i was almost missing a deadline.
    Proofed
    4th February 2019 at 14:17
    Glad to help! Don't forget we offer a formatting service, too, in case you need any assistance in the future: https://proofed.co.uk/services/formatting/
Smadar
12th March 2019 at 10:02
In Office 2016, how can I set that when I change the text direction, the language will change automatically? It worked in previous versions of Office. Thanks.
    Proofed
    12th March 2019 at 11:53
    I'm afraid I don't know about that function or whether it is part of Office. I'm not entirely sure how it would work, either, as there are multiple languages that use either text direction. If it doesn't work the same as it used to, the nearest I can find are guides to automatically detect a language or to automatically change the keyboard settings. Would either of those do what you're trying to achieve? https://support.office.com/en-us/article/automatically-switch-keyboard-to-match-language-of-surrounding-text-c7316c3a-b6b3-433f-87f4-f777cf13decc https://support.office.com/en-us/article/turn-on-automatic-language-detection-194d309c-3e10-4bd5-a694-ba9bbdf4a28e
Meg
3rd October 2019 at 20:27
This was the perfect solution for my needs, thank you!
Suhaina Fashila
15th November 2019 at 18:15
awesome..............thank you so much
Suhaina Fashila
15th November 2019 at 18:19
is it work in Ms word 2007 version?
    Proofed
    16th November 2019 at 10:06
    Hi, Suhaina. Unfortunately, the instructions here only work for Word 2010 and later. You can change the text direction in a text box in Word 2007, though (e.g. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2007-word/changing-text-orientation-word-2007/b3b110ae-4d20-41a2-a414-5b09909cb5a5?auth=1).
Pagu
3rd July 2020 at 19:42
I had the same problem when I cut, copy and pasted on ppt from word. When we copy and paste in the ppt the small paste options box appears. There you select keep text formatting only. It turns immediately.




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