Hi. I just downloaded OpenOffice Writer primarily to allow my son to write assignments in Hebrew for school. I have never used OO before, and though the English seems quite intuitive, I haven't the faintest clue how to get Hebrew to work. I've seen references to language packs, but cannot find one for the life of me. I've downloaded the Hebrew dictionary, but now I'm stuck. Any help would be appreciated.
I don not yet have a Hebrew keyboard, but one is on the way.
Writing in Hebrew
Writing in Hebrew
OpenOffice 3.1.0 on MacOS 10.5
Re: Rank beginner Q: Writing in Hebrew
Corollary question - I can't even find a Hebrew font for OO. I am well and truly lost.
OpenOffice 3.1.0 on MacOS 10.5
Re: Rank beginner Q: Writing in Hebrew
These days, you don't necessarily need separate fonts for Hebrew. With the development of Unicode, fonts may include both Latin and Hebrew letters.
You don't need a Hebrew language pack. That adjusts the language of the interface (i.e. the menu names, etc.), but not the language you are typing in.
You will need to alter some settings both in OpenOffice.org and on your Mac. In OpenOffice.org, go to the Tools menu and choose Options.... Click on the disclosure triangle next to "Language settings"
Click on "Languages" make sure that "Enabled for Complex Text Layout" is checked
Set the CTL dropdown (under Default Languages for Documents) to Hebrew
Click OK
Now, on your Mac, go to System Preferences (probably on your Dock)
Choose "International"
Click on the "Input Menu" tab
Scroll through the list of "keyboards" until you get to the Hebrew ones.
Determine if you need Hebrew or Hebrew-QWERTY; the latter assigns Hebrew letters to the most similar letter (in sound, usually) to the roman alphabet. Put a check in the box of the one you need; check both of them if you are not sure.
Also check "Show input menu in menu bar"
Now, go back to OpenOffice.org and create a new Text document (unless one is already open).
On the menu bar, to the right, you should see a flag. Mine is a US flag because my primary language is US English. Yours may be different. Click on the flag, and you should see the Hebrew keyboard you chose listed, next to a corresponding flag. Click on it.
If you start typing in OpenOffice, you should now be typing Hebrew.
NOTE: Some of the menu names may be a little different because a) I use NeoOffice, an independent Mac port/fork of OpenOFfice.org and b) I'm still using TIger (Mac 10.4).
kabing
You don't need a Hebrew language pack. That adjusts the language of the interface (i.e. the menu names, etc.), but not the language you are typing in.
You will need to alter some settings both in OpenOffice.org and on your Mac. In OpenOffice.org, go to the Tools menu and choose Options.... Click on the disclosure triangle next to "Language settings"
Click on "Languages" make sure that "Enabled for Complex Text Layout" is checked
Set the CTL dropdown (under Default Languages for Documents) to Hebrew
Click OK
Now, on your Mac, go to System Preferences (probably on your Dock)
Choose "International"
Click on the "Input Menu" tab
Scroll through the list of "keyboards" until you get to the Hebrew ones.
Determine if you need Hebrew or Hebrew-QWERTY; the latter assigns Hebrew letters to the most similar letter (in sound, usually) to the roman alphabet. Put a check in the box of the one you need; check both of them if you are not sure.
Also check "Show input menu in menu bar"
Now, go back to OpenOffice.org and create a new Text document (unless one is already open).
On the menu bar, to the right, you should see a flag. Mine is a US flag because my primary language is US English. Yours may be different. Click on the flag, and you should see the Hebrew keyboard you chose listed, next to a corresponding flag. Click on it.
If you start typing in OpenOffice, you should now be typing Hebrew.
NOTE: Some of the menu names may be a little different because a) I use NeoOffice, an independent Mac port/fork of OpenOFfice.org and b) I'm still using TIger (Mac 10.4).
kabing
NeoOffice 2022.7 LibreOffice 24.8.4 on (Intel) Mac OS Ventura
Re: Rank beginner Q: Writing in Hebrew
Here are some Unicode Fonts that include Hebrew; I'm pretty sure these were all part of my base Mac OS X installation:
Arial
Arial Hebrew
Corsiva Hebrew
Lucida Grande
New Peninim MT
Raanana
You can find more by Googling "Hebrew Unicode Fonts Mac OSX"
you don't have to have a physical Hebrew keyboard to type Hebrew. You can use a roman-letter keyboard. If you're not sure how to know which key is which, post back and I'll provide instructions.
Arial
Arial Hebrew
Corsiva Hebrew
Lucida Grande
New Peninim MT
Raanana
You can find more by Googling "Hebrew Unicode Fonts Mac OSX"
you don't have to have a physical Hebrew keyboard to type Hebrew. You can use a roman-letter keyboard. If you're not sure how to know which key is which, post back and I'll provide instructions.
NeoOffice 2022.7 LibreOffice 24.8.4 on (Intel) Mac OS Ventura
Re: Writing in Hebrew
The problem with OO is that if you write in combined English and Hebrew, the alignment on the right side will never be correct (before saving and after opening again). I have filed this as an issue. Thus, I cannot use OO whenever I work with Hebrew. For that I use NeoOffice 3.0 (based on OO.org 3.0) which does handle it properly.
Not sure if Snow Leopard will help in this regard.
Not sure if Snow Leopard will help in this regard.
Mac OS X 10.7.3 Lion
LibreOffice 3.5 / Symphony 3
Scrivener 2.2 / Tinderbox 5.10
LibreOffice 3.5 / Symphony 3
Scrivener 2.2 / Tinderbox 5.10
Re: Writing in Hebrew
Thank you all so much! I will experiment with these solutions.
At least for now, I don't have to worry about combined Hebrew and English documents, as the main need for it is Hebrew-only writing and homework assignments.
Y'all are lifesavers.
At least for now, I don't have to worry about combined Hebrew and English documents, as the main need for it is Hebrew-only writing and homework assignments.
Y'all are lifesavers.
OpenOffice 3.1.0 on MacOS 10.5
Re: Writing in Hebrew
As I noted here, with 10.6 and OO.org 3.1.1 Hebrew now correctly aligns and spaces!
Mac OS X 10.7.3 Lion
LibreOffice 3.5 / Symphony 3
Scrivener 2.2 / Tinderbox 5.10
LibreOffice 3.5 / Symphony 3
Scrivener 2.2 / Tinderbox 5.10