Copying and pasting Arabic text in InDesign CS4 ME

[iolacarambola]

We have an arabic document in pdf and word formats and we have InDesign CS4 ME and we are trying to copy and paste text from the pdf/word document but the font isn't transferring, there is nothing only boxes. We have turned on the arabic keyboard and that didnt help either. Working on a mac.

Can anyone help us? What is the solution?

[eugenetyson]

Try saving the PDF as RTF or something.

I don't really know the answer. I know that there are some ME users on the Adobe User 2 User Forums that specialise in ME text and workflows though, I know Harbs of In-Tools spends time on there and is a massive help when it comes to ME workflows.

[iolacarambola]

Thanks a lot!

Let me look for Harb in the main time if someone knows a solution please let me know here.

[garricks]

Do you have the typeface that was used to create the original documents, and is it installed on your Mac?

The series of boxes leads me to believe that the default InDesign typeface doesn't support Arabic. Try opening the Glyphs panel and looking for Arabic characters.