You don’t need to purchase expensive software for offline work with Hebrew — not since the amazing open source programmers behind LibreOffice, the Document Foundation, developed a free and open source solution for working with Right-to-Left texts like Hebrew.[1] Until the Open Siddur web application is available for crafting siddurim and other curricular resources on Jewish liturgy, we recommend LibreOffice.
LibreOffice is a free/libre office suite containing a powerful and user-friendly text editor: LibreOffice Writer. LibreOffice is cross-platform — it can be installed and run on Linux, Macintosh, and Windows operating systems.
Unlike many other text-based applications LibreOffice natively supports open standards and document formats. That way, what you type today should still be readable in the digital world twenty or a hundred years from now. Also, unlike many other text editors it correctly positions niqqud/vowels and ta’amim/cantillation when using Hebrew fonts that correctly support the full range of Hebrew diacritics.
In order to get to work working with Hebrew in LibreOffice, follow the following steps:
- Download our Open Source Unicode Hebrew Font Pack and install the fonts on your operating system. There are six fonts that support the full range of Hebrew diacritics (niqqud/vowels and ta’amim/cantillation): Ezra SIL/SR, Cardo, Taamey Frank CLM, Keter YG, Keter Aram Tsova, Taamey David CLM, and Taamey Frank CLM.
- Set up a Hebrew Keyboard Layout for your operating system supporting the full range of Hebrew diacritics.
- For Windows, a keyboard layout installer is included inside the font pack — look inside the directory named “Keyboards.” Once installed, press Alt-Shift to switch between languages.
- For Macs, download this keyboard layout and install. Then follow these instructions from Apple.
- Download and install LibreOffice
- Open LibreOffice Writer. Select Options –> Language Settings –> Languages.
- Under “Enhanced Language Support” check the checkbox “Enabled for Complex Text Layout (CTL).”
- Under “Default Languages for Documents” see the option for CTL, and select Hebrew from the drop menu.
- Select the Hebrew Font you’d like to type in.
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Set the text direction on the toolbar by clicking on the following toolbar button (or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+D) - Begin typing.
Notes:
- LibreOffice is a fork of the OpenOffice suite containing many improvements including increased support for RTL languages. ↩
“How to Work with Hebrew in LibreOffice” is shared by The Hierophant with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
Good to know but I hate the name “LibreOffice.”
Tell me more. Is it the CamelCase, the Office, or the Libre?
Marc, the name “LibreOffice” is beautiful, precisely because “libre” is a highly recognizable international word in several world languages. This program is being developed for humanity, not primarily for the USA. That’s what makes it beautiful.
Regarding fonts, I think it would be very important to change this article and say that LibreOffice is usable immediately in Hebrew, right after installation, even without installing special fonts. That is because some people will get scared away by the very need to install special fonts :-) It is really great that the Open Siddur Project provides the font package, and it should get a big mention, but just don’t scare people away…
The problem as I see it, is that LibreOffice isn’t immediately useful for working with the full range of Hebrew diacritics since 1) it doesn’t install any one of six open source Unicode Hebrew fonts that support the full range of Hebrew diacritics, and 2) it requires a user to enable Complex Text Layout (CTL) in its settings. Imagine a user copying and pasting text with niqqud and ta’amim from the Open Siddur Project only to see LibreOffice display a whole bunch of gibberish with whatever default font it’s using. This isn’t some fanciful scenario, this is the reality today.
Might be worthwhile to submit a bug report to the LibreOffice developers on why they should bundle at least one Hebrew font that support the full range of Hebrew diacritics.
It’s the two vowels next to each other. I find it painful to pronounce and even though I mostly read it, I find myself straining to subvocalize it every time I see it. I am reading it as “LEEB-ruh-AW-feese.” How do you pronounce it?
“LEEB-reh” Office. Not so different from you but I’m not trying to pronounce LibreOffice as a single, four-syllable word.
I downloaded the newest LibreOffice for Mac OSX and found that the nikud and ta’amim positioning is still quite disappointing (I was using the EZRA SIL SR font). For example, the dagesh is placed after and not within the base character.
In linux on the other hand the dagesh is placed perfectly and text in general looks pretty good. Still room for a lot of improvement though.
Must to submit a bug report.
Thanks, I just referred to this in setting up my new computer after discovering the MS Word for Mac doesn’t support Hebrew. (Fortunately I was still on the trial version. The Windows version supports Hebrew quite well.)
However, when I told my wife I was going to try to stick with LibreOffice, she said, “you mean Libra, like my astrological sign?” See, that is what I mean about it being not a great name for marketing to the average user.
I found this aid good but incomplete. I had assumed that if I selected a Hebrew Typeface and then hit a key, one or another Hebrew character would pop up. It didn’t. I later learned that in Mageia’s Control Center (Mandriva and PCLinuxOS are similar) I had to go to Hardware->Configure mouse and keyboard and set Keyboard layout to either Israeli or Israeli (phonetic) and press OK. I was then presented with a set of hotkey options to switch from Latin to Israeli. Following which I was able to handle typefaces (fonts), L->R and R->L just as I had hoped. Brilliant!
Thanks for adding that Alan! As you point out, you also need to enable Hebrew in the OS if it’s not already. Windows, Macs and various Linuxes all do support Hebrew input although the location of the control panel you use to enable it varies.
There is only one holdover. I use UK English but LO has reverted to switching between US English and Hebrew. I haven’t had time to investigate tha yet.
hi need help.”enabled for complex text layout” box is greyed out.i am using arch linux..
LibreOffice provides support here. They will want to know what version of Arch Linux and LibreOffice you are using.
thank for the reply.I am using libreoffice3.6.Archlinux as far as i know does not have version.i am using all the latest packages of arch repo
Excellent article! Thankyou. I’m using Hebrew with LibreOffice right now. I wonder if you might be able to help me? Whenever I switch to the Hebrew keyboard, LibreOffice automatically selects ‘Mangal’ font. Is there somewhere I can change this so that it automatically selects my preferred Hebrew font?
I’m actually using the Tyndale Hebrew Keyboard, if that makes any difference.
Thanks!!
LibreOffice’s default CTL font is Mangla. To change this, Go to Tools –> Options –> Select LibreOffice Writer –> Basic Fonts (CTL). Then choose what you would prefer to be your default CTL font.
Thanks so much! That worked perfectly :) I can even select a larger font size for my default Hebrew text (I need it bigger to make out the vowel markings). Perfect! Thanks again!!!
Ctrl+Shift+D or Ctrl+Right Shift Key – switch to right-to-left text entry does not work.
Make sure you’ve already completed steps 4 through 7 before trying out any keyboard shortcuts. They won’t work until you’ve enabled Hebrew for Complex Text Layout (see above.)
Able to add linux install instructions? There are references to “this can be installed on linux” but it doesn’t give a step-through… maybe you’re thinking that if I’m using linux I’ll be able to figure it out :)
(I hope I can)
Install instructions for LibreOffice are available on their website for Linux, Macintosh, and Windows.
I was referring to setting up a Hebrew keyboard layout (which has windows and mac instructions)… my linux came with libreoffice.
תודה!
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