RTL on Office 2016 Mac – Syriac Users Don’t Upgrade to Version 15.20

Yes, there is another issue with Office 2016 Mac. But there is hope! Microsoft has responded to my queries in their forum, and are very interested in making RTL work properly on Office 2016 Mac. Thanks to MVP John McGhie for getting things rolling. Fingers crossed.

Conclusion

To save you going through the detail, here is the bottom line: if you intend to include Syriac in your documents using a font OTHER than Estrangelo Edessa, then I recommend that you DO NOT update to Version 15.20 of Office 2016 Mac. The Meltho fonts do not display or save properly. If you have already updated, then reinstall Office 2016 from a backup. As of last evening, uninstalling and reinstalling Office 2016 Mac also works; it is still Version 15.19.1. Complete uninstall instructions are here: https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Uninstall-Office-2016-for-Mac-eefa1199-5b58-43af-8a3d-b73dc1a8cae3

Why? – And now for the details

When you use the Syriac fonts I listed from Meltho (e.g. Serto Batnan), then save and reopen the document with an RTL language activated (the LTR/RTL buttons show), the original fonts will not be displayed, but appear as Estrangelo Edessa. No doubt the reason is that Estrangelo Edessa, although one of the Meltho fonts, is also in the Apple Bundle.

Here is what happens in screenshots.

When you first type in one of the Syriac fonts with RTL activated, all is well. Here is an example Serto Batnan font. I have set it as a Character Style. One red arrow points to the text using the font, one shows the activated Character Style, and one to the Font identification in the ribbon. The font is displaying correctly and is correctly identified as Serto Batnan. The blue arrow shows that the LTR/RTL buttons are showing, which means RTL is activated.

If I save the document and reopen it with an RTL language activated, i.e. with the buttons showing, this is what is displayed.

The Serto Batnan font is now displayed and identified as Estrangelo Edessa! For whatever reason, Word cannot ‘see’ the Serto Batnan font and is defaulting to something it can. Estrangelo Edessa, though one of the Meltho fonts, is also a font in the Apple Bundle, so Word 2016 Mac seems to default to it.  

The ‘Current Style’ now reads Serto Batnan + (Complex) Estrangelo (Red Arrows) in Current Style. The Font is identified as Estrangelo Edessa in the Ribbon (Red Arrow). The Estrangelo Edessa font as noted above, is in the Apple bundle, which no doubt explains why it defaults to this display. The blue arrow shows that RTL is activated.

Now, if I deactivate (no buttons, blue arrow) all Apple RTL languages (Language & Regions) and all Apple RTL Keyboards (Input Sources), the Serto Batnan font, ironically enough, displays correctly and is correctly identified as Serto Batnan (Red arrow).

 Syriac Font Saving

Saving the document with Syriac fonts is a bit tricky. You can save the reopened document with the ‘wrong’ Estrangelo Edessa font displayed as long as you save it to the same named file. When you reopen with RTL deactivated, it will be correct. However, you cannot save it to a file with a different name, or to one with another extension, like a pdf.

Font Workaround

The best workaround is to revert to 15.19.1. Even though there are no buttons, RTL works correctly. The Syriac fonts display correctly even with an RTL file activated, and can be saved as another file name or a pdf.

Miscellaneous Benefit

Reverting to 15.19.1 allows you to use a Macro to directly set a font with the font window rather than styles.

I’ll let you know as soon as Microsoft corrects the issues and fingers crossed that they do, and it is soon.