Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 23/03/2004 01:08, Søren Holst wrote:

> I hope it's all right to ask for technical assistance from all you computer 
> wizards out there, on a purely non-linguistic problem:
>
> A kind colleague in Jerusalem just sent me an article of his in a Word 
> document. The Hebrew comes out quite legibly (Times New Roman font), but it 
> goes from left to right. I guess his computer runs Hebrew Windows.
>
> Is there a way to switch the direction of the document, or will I need to 
> look for somebody with Hebrew Windows here in Copenhagen (or just read it 
> from left to right, which actually is rather fun)?
>
> kol tuv
> Soren
>
>  
What version of Windows and Word do you have? In any case you don't need 
to find Hebrew Windows as you can view this document in Word 2000 or 
later with Windows 95 or later. But there are a few things you need to 
do first.

1. You need to enable right-to-left language support in Windows. In 
Windows 95/98/ME you first need to install Internet Explorer (5.5 or 
later I think). Then, in all versions of Windows, you need to install 
support for one or more RTL languages (in your case obviously Hebrew) 
using Start - Settings - Control Panel - Regional Options - Language 
Settings (for Windows 2000, may be different in other versions). Ignore 
any comments about Hebrew not being fully supported, there is enough to 
support reading basic documents.

2. You then need to enable Hebrew support in Word. For this, you run a 
small program called Microsoft Office Language Settings, which you can 
find from the Start - Programs - Microsoft Office Tools.

You need Windows 2000 or XP to edit the document conveniently with 
Windows standard tools. Keyman, from www.tavultesoft.com, provides a way 
to edit Hebrew documents with Word 2000 or later on Windows 95/98/ME.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/