Hi all, if it helps, I found the solution for this without reinstalling InDesign. You have to open other indd file where you have the paragraph style with the direction that you want and copy it to the current indd. Thus, if you have an indd file with Arabic direction in styles anf the other indd file with Roman direction you can just copypaste pieces of text to redefine the style features. I know this is bizarre, but worked perfectly for me withouit reinstallation. I have no idea why Adobe decided to get rid of that button, this is insane!

ADOBE YOU F**K UP AGAIN AND AGAIN

Choose your apps in Creative cloud to be English يدعم العربية
if not, uninstall inDesign and reinstall after you made the change in above

English (يدعم العربية ) it has to be

Here is how to use arabic text correctly in indesign and illustrator (you will want to rip off your head at how atrociously difficult these steps are, and inconsistent between the two apps...):

InDesign:

in the paragraph menu hamburger, select “world ready paragraph composer” and in Character panel “language -> arabic” then write or paste the text (if pasting / if non-arabic speaker, make sure it is visually similar to the text in the source)

illustrator:

in Preferences -> Type, tick “show indic options” (it’s a gross cultural mistake designed to confuse the users, indic meaning “relating to the subcontinent of India” - but whatever) then in the Paragraph panel’s hamburger menu, select “middle eastern and south asian every line composer”
In the Character panel, select arabic, then the font, then write or paste the text (if pasting / if non-arabic speaker, make sure it is visually similar to the text in the source)

Missing in my Indesign 2020 but my coworker has it in his. Indesign 2019 install has it too. It's def a bug.

Same here. I work in the UAE, Dubai; 50% of my work is in Arabic and I constantly have problems with the type... Either it's flipped or the punctuation doesn't work. I'm currently on CC 2020, how can I fix this problem?

with each new update adobe ***** **** up more and more. i spend more time dicking around with settings than ever. please adobe, stop fixing what is not broken! quit making things more difficult! if you have nothing to do, do nothing! jesus.

This problem is so annoying, please Adobe add this feature to the paragraph panel of English version...

Hi
I had this problem before. Of course in the Indesign CC2017,
It was solved in this way:
edit> preference> advance type> default composer> adobe word ready default composer

• Uninstall InDesign.
• Go to Adobe Creative Cloud
• Apps
• Preferences
• Creative Cloud
• Apps
App Language:
• English (Arabic)
• Re-Install InDesign
On the paragraph section you should now see the "paragraph orientation" icons (not the flush paragraph)
Voila!

I am using Middle East InDesign, with English/Arabic language app option.

I have been informed by Adobe Support that v14.0.1 has removed Paragraph Direction all together. Since I have to work with Arabic frequently, this is VERY disruptive. It seems that even Change Text Direction has even been removed from the Character window options, so I can't find any possible workaround.

I don't understand how your Arabic users will even be able to use your updated products anymore.

Please restore this feature or a feature that can achieve the same result.

Is there a reason why this feature would not be available in the English version? It is obviously a feature that can be included as it is available in other versions. Could we buy a plug-in? In our times it is rather common that users would deal with various different languages in their typesetting and I would have expected that feature to be standard by now.

is it possible to have it set in the Middle East and still use English as the language of the program?

RTL and LTR control are missing in Paragraph, Character, Story Panel of
English version of InDesign