How to Move Urdu Text from InPage to Word, WhatsApp and Websites

InPage is still where a great deal of Urdu is written: news reports, books, exam papers, wedding cards and shop signs. But the people reading that text are on WhatsApp, Facebook, websites and Word. This guide walks through moving text out of InPage into each of those places, and back again, without retyping and without losing the look of your Urdu.

Every route starts with the same first step: turning InPage’s private encoding into Unicode. If you want the background on why that is needed, read InPage vs Unicode: why your Urdu text breaks.

Step 1 (always): convert InPage text to Unicode

1. In InPage, click inside the text box and press Ctrl+A to select the whole story, or drag to select part of it.
2. Press Ctrl+C.
3. Open the InPage to Unicode converter, click the left box and press Ctrl+V. Garbled symbols are expected.
4. Check the Urdu on the right. If anything is highlighted in yellow, note it and fix it after pasting.
5. Press Copy.

You now have Unicode Urdu on your clipboard. Every destination below starts from here.

Using InPage 3 or later? Newer versions can often copy Unicode directly. Paste into the converter anyway: if your text is already Unicode, the converter says so and leaves it unchanged, so you know you can skip this step next time.

Microsoft Word

Word handles Unicode Urdu well once two settings are right: font and direction.

1. Paste with Ctrl+V. If Word offers paste options, choose Keep Text Only so no odd formatting comes along.
2. Select the pasted Urdu and choose a Nastaliq font from the font list. Common choices are Jameel Noori Nastaleeq, Noto Nastaliq Urdu or Urdu Typesetting, which ships with Windows.
3. Set the paragraph direction to right-to-left: press Ctrl + Right Shift, or use the Right-to-Left Text Direction button on the Home tab. (Ctrl + Left Shift switches back.)
4. Align the text right if it is not already.
5. Optional: under File → Options → Language, add Urdu as an editing language for Urdu proofing tools and the right-to-left buttons.

Tip: Nastaliq needs generous line spacing. If lines collide, set Line spacing to Multiple at 1.5 or more.

Google Docs

1. Paste the Unicode text.
2. Open the font menu, choose More fonts, search for Noto Nastaliq Urdu or Gulzar, and add it. Both are free Google Fonts that display properly in Docs.
3. Set File → Language to Urdu. The right-to-left and left-to-right paragraph buttons then appear in the toolbar.
4. Select the Urdu paragraphs and click the right-to-left button.

Google Docs is a good place to proofread converted text with colleagues, because everyone sees the same font without installing anything.

WhatsApp

On a computer with WhatsApp Desktop or WhatsApp Web: paste straight into the chat box and send. WhatsApp detects Urdu and sets the direction automatically.

To get the text onto your phone: send it to yourself on WhatsApp Web (your own number appears as “Message yourself”), or email it to yourself, then copy it on the phone.

WhatsApp chooses its own Urdu font, usually a Naskh style, so your message will not look like InPage’s Nastaliq. The letters are identical; only the style differs. If the look matters, for example for a poem or an announcement, turn it into an image with Urdu Poetry on Image and share that instead.

Facebook and Instagram

Paste the converted text into a post or caption. Both apps detect Urdu and display it right-to-left. A few tips:

• Keep each paragraph short. Long Urdu blocks are hard to read in a mobile feed.
• Hashtags in Urdu work, for example #اردو_ادب. Use an underscore rather than a space inside the tag.
• For poetry, an image almost always gets more engagement than plain text.

Gmail and other email

1. In Gmail, open Settings → See all settings → General and turn on Right-to-left editing support.
2. In a new message, paste the Urdu text, then use the right-to-left button in the formatting toolbar.

Outlook detects Urdu automatically in most versions, and the paragraph direction buttons are on the Format Text tab.

Websites, WordPress and other CMSs

Unicode Urdu works in every modern CMS. What matters is how the page presents it.

WordPress:

1. Paste the converted text into a Paragraph block.
2. If the whole site is in Urdu, set Settings → General → Site Language to Urdu. WordPress then switches the theme to right-to-left automatically, if the theme supports it.
3. If Urdu is only part of an English site, give Urdu blocks a CSS class that sets the direction and font, for example:

.urdu {
  direction: rtl;
  text-align: right;
  font-family: 'Noto Nastaliq Urdu', serif;
  line-height: 2.2;
}

Any website: mark Urdu sections with lang="ur" and dir="rtl". The lang attribute helps browsers choose the correct Urdu digit shapes and lets search engines index the language properly. Load a Nastaliq web font such as Noto Nastaliq Urdu; otherwise visitors see whatever default font their device has.

Because your text is now real Unicode, search engines can read and index it. That is not possible with images of InPage pages, which is one more reason to convert rather than screenshot.

Excel and Google Sheets

Paste into cells as usual. To make the whole sheet read right-to-left in Excel, use Page Layout → Sheet Right-to-Left. In Google Sheets, use Format → Direction → Sheet right-to-left. Numbers keep working as numbers, so you can still sum a column of amounts.

And back again: Unicode into InPage

When text arrives by email or WhatsApp and has to go into an InPage 2000 page, reverse the process:

1. Copy the Unicode Urdu.
2. Paste it into the Unicode to InPage converter.
3. Press Copy under the right-hand box. The result looks like symbols, which is correct.
4. In InPage, click inside a text box in Urdu mode and press Ctrl+V.

If the source was typed on an Arabic keyboard or copied from a PDF, run it through Fix Broken Urdu Text first, so InPage receives proper Urdu letters.

A checklist for large jobs

Moving a whole book or a year of newspaper archives is a project, not a paste. These habits help:

• Work in sections. Convert one chapter or one day’s pages at a time and save each result straight away.
• Keep the original .inp files untouched. They hold layout that text cannot.
• Proofread poetry and special symbols. Ornaments and custom glyphs are the most likely to need manual attention.
• Check the count. Paste a converted section into the Urdu Word Counter and compare it with the original length to spot missing pages.
• Name files predictably, for example chapter-03_unicode.docx.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Symbols such as ƒœ’„ after pasting	Skipped the conversion	Convert with InPage to Unicode first
Urdu appears left-aligned and the full stop is on the wrong side	Paragraph direction is left-to-right	Set right-to-left (Ctrl + Right Shift in Word)
Urdu in a plain, unjoined font	Font lacks Urdu support	Choose a Nastaliq or Naskh Urdu font
Lines overlap	Line spacing too tight for Nastaliq	Increase line spacing to 1.5 or more
Question marks after pasting into InPage	Unicode pasted into old InPage	Use Unicode to InPage

Once your text is in Unicode, it is no longer tied to one program. It can be searched, shared, edited on a phone, translated and archived, which is the real reason to make the move.