[ID-4258070]Disappearing Punctuation Marks in Hebrew RTL Justified Text in Exported PDF
Severity Level: Critical
Impact: Severe disruption to Hebrew text layout workflow and document integrity
Bug Description
Punctuation marks are randomly disappearing in justified Hebrew text blocks (RTL direction), specifically at:
- Paragraph endings
- Forced line breaks
- Last lines of justified paragraphs
Technical Context
- Text Direction: Right-to-Left (RTL)
- Language: Hebrew
- Text Alignment: Justified
Affected Punctuation Marks
- Periods (.)
- Semicolons (;)
- Commas (,)
- Colons (:)
Specific Behavior in RTL Context
- When Hebrew text is set to justified alignment, punctuation marks vanish:
- At the end of paragraphs
- Before forced line breaks
- Exception: Punctuation marks remain visible if the last line is explicitly right-aligned
- The issue appears to be specific to RTL text direction and does not occur in LTR text
Known Workarounds and Their Limitations
Legacy Composition Engine Option:
- While switching to the legacy composition engine in preferences resolves this specific issue
- We strongly advise against this solution due to:
- Previously reported bugs and limitations in the legacy engine (see bug reports #ID-4245219)
- Performance issues documented in our earlier reports
- Compatibility concerns with newer features
- We require a proper fix in the current composition engine rather than reverting to legacy solutions
Temporary Layout Workaround:
- Right-align the last line of affected paragraphs
- This is not viable for production as it:
- Affects layout consistency
- Requires constant manual intervention
- Disrupts automated workflows
Technical Impact
- Compromises Hebrew document accuracy
- Requires constant manual checking and fixes
- Disrupts automated workflows for Hebrew text processing
- May lead to incorrect final output in published Hebrew materials
Priority Level
Immediate attention required as this bug:
- Affects core Hebrew typography functionality
- Creates significant quality control issues in RTL text layouts
- Requires time-consuming manual verification
- May result in incorrect published content
Steps to Reproduce
- Set paragraph direction to RTL
- Create a Hebrew text block with justified alignment
- Type a paragraph ending with any punctuation mark
- Add forced line breaks within the paragraph
- Observe the disappearance of punctuation marks at:
- Paragraph endings
- Before forced line breaks
Technical Investigation Request
Please investigate:
- RTL text rendering engine behavior
- Interaction between justified alignment and RTL text direction
- Potential conflicts between Hebrew text processing and punctuation handling
- Implementation of punctuation handling in the current composition engine
Request
Immediate investigation and hotfix needed in the current composition engine. While we acknowledge the existence of a legacy engine workaround, we require a proper fix in the current engine to maintain workflow efficiency and compatibility with modern features.
Hi,
We have been able to reproduce the issue and it is currently under investigation.
—
Adobe InDesign Team
-
חיה מושקא קופציק commented
I've noticed a consistent problem where characters, especially those following an opening quotation mark, are disappearing when exporting to PDF. This happens regardless of the font or font size used. I've attached a sample document to illustrate the issue. I'm using InDesign [your version] on [your operating system]. Could you please advise on how to resolve this?
-
שושי אקשטיין - צלמת ניו בורן commented
very important
-
איתמר כהן commented
very important
-
יעל מרציאנו commented
Very important
-
Silvy Nassrat commented
Same in 20.x update and in Arabic too.
-
Silvy Nassrat commented
Two Letters after drop cap disappear in PDF export in 20.x ME (Arabic) too.
-
Anonymous commented
Very very critical!!
-
נעמה מדר commented
Please fix it 🙏
-
הרשי הלברשטאם commented
Please fix it!
-
הרשי הלברשטאם commented
I'm paying for the program and it has to be fixed. this is the main program I use. this is absurd that it's not fixed yet.
-
כולל אברכים עצי חיים בני ברק commented
critical
-
בניה נצח מורג commented
It is very important to me, and it is impossible to work on the software without it. Let the Hebrew speakers also progress and don't leave us in "legacy".
-
InDesign Tips commented
InDesign version: v20 (both Mac & PC)
When the text is in Hebrew, a letter after drop cap is missing after export to PDF
Critical because it is not possible to see the problem before the export, sometimes you'll find it only after printing....
(We know the solution of changing the text shaping engine to legacy, but it is not the default, and we want it to be solved in the standard engine 'harfbuzz')
-
Eli Geller commented
I've this issue as well (Indesign 19.5.
I'm using Hebrew and this happens even if Kashida's are turned off.
I also have an instance where a few of words are alined to the left which causes the last letter to disappear from the PDF file.
Aligning this to the center or to the right solves the issue.
Never the less, I still have a whole book with missing dots at the ends of sentences because of this. -
eli lev commented
For right-to-left writers, this is very critical!!!!!
-
Joel Cherney commented
Here's another thread about what I suspect is the same issue:
-
Joel Cherney commented
Still trying to get an INDD sample uploaded here, six months later
-
יחזקאל גרין commented
קריטי
-
gil commented
this is insane and will cost us in print!!!!!
-
רונן אלמסי commented
מציע שתשתדלו לא להוציא גרסאות לא מתוקנות, זה מונע מאתנו את המעבר לגרסאות החדשות