Use bidirectional text in a Numbers spreadsheet

Numbers supports bidirectional text, so you can enter and edit text written from left to right (such as in English or Chinese) and from right to left (such as in Arabic or Hebrew). You can use bidirectional text in paragraphs, shapes, and table cells.

To use another language in your spreadsheet, you must first set up an input source (a language-specific keyboard or character palette, for example) for the language.

Note: To use any template to create a bidirectional spreadsheet, but to see templates designed specifically for another language, you must first set the primary language of your computer to that language (in Settings, tap General, tap Language & Region, then set the language).

Use another language in Numbers

To use another language in your spreadsheet, first set up an input source (a language-specific keyboard or character palette, for example) for the language.

On the Home screen, tap Settings, then tap General.
Tap Keyboards, tap Add New Keyboard, then tap the keyboard you want to enable.
To learn about using different languages and keyboards, see the user guide for your device.
If Numbers is open, quit Numbers and reopen it so that it recognizes the source.
To switch to the other input source, tap at the bottom of the keyboard.

If you switch to a language written in a different direction from the current language, the insertion point moves to the side of the spreadsheet used by the new language. For example, if you switch the input source from English to Hebrew, the insertion point moves to the right side of the spreadsheet.

Change paragraph direction

The ruler and its tab stops always match the direction of a paragraph, so when you change the text direction for selected text, the ruler also changes.

Tap in a paragraph or list, or select text in a paragraph or list.
Tap , tap Style, then tap .
The insertion point moves to the other side, and the paragraph direction changes.
Enter text, then tap Return at the end of the paragraph.
The next paragraph continues in the same direction. To change its direction, tap .

If you select multiple paragraphs with different text directions and then tap , the paragraphs are formatted to match the first paragraph in the selection.