Subject: Request for Improved Persian Half-Space (Zero-Width Non-Joiner) Support in Adobe InDesign

Dear Adobe Support Team,

I am reaching out to highlight some significant issues with Adobe InDesign’s handling of the Persian half-space character, also known as the zero-width non-joiner (ZWNJ), encoded as \u{200C} or typed as ~j. InDesign currently does not fully recognize this essential character, which causes difficulties for Persian-language users in multiple aspects of document creation and layout.

Issues Experienced with Persian Half-Space
Text Import from Microsoft Word: When importing Persian text from Word documents that contain ZWNJs, InDesign often fails to interpret the half-space correctly. This results in formatting issues, broken words, or incorrect joining of letters, which disrupts the integrity of the Persian script.

Header Usage: If the half-space character is used within headers, InDesign sometimes does not display or handle it correctly. This can lead to incorrect alignment or missing characters in headers, impacting the overall appearance and consistency of the document.

Index Creation: When generating an index, InDesign does not recognize the half-space character within Persian words, which creates errors in indexing. This is particularly problematic for Persian-language publications, as incorrect or missing entries make the index unreliable.

Dictionary Recognition: Despite the presence of the ZWNJ in our custom Persian dictionaries, InDesign often fails to recognize words containing this character, marking them as errors. This results in a frustrating experience for users relying on accurate spell-checking and proofreading tools.

The half-space character is crucial for accurate Persian typography, and the issues listed above affect both the usability and professionalism of the final product. Resolving these issues would greatly enhance the software’s utility for Persian-speaking users and improve the accuracy of Persian typesetting in Adobe InDesign.

Thank you very much for your attention to these issues. I hope the Adobe team can prioritize support for the Persian half-space character in future InDesign updates. Your attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated by Persian-language users worldwide.

Sincerely,

"When the Persian dictionary is fully added to the software through the method explained on your website, the software incorrectly identifies words that use the half-space character (‌) or its Unicode value (\x{200c}) or the grep code (~j) as incorrect, even though the exact word exists in the .DIC file and the spelling rules are defined in the .AFF file. Please investigate this issue as it is very important.

Thank you."