Format tables for bidirectional text

Pages 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) in the same document. You can also use bidirectional text in table cells, and you can reverse the direction of tables to accommodate different languages.

The direction of text in table cells is based on the direction of the top-left cell in a left-to-right table, or the top-right cell in a right-to-left table. If one of those cells is empty, the direction is based on the current keyboard (set in the Input menu).

Change text direction in a table

You can change the direction of text in selected cells.

  • Select the cells, then in the Text pane of the Format inspector, click Paragraph direction button.

    You may need to click the Style button near the top of the pane to see the control.

    Bidirectional button

Reverse table direction

You can change the table direction so that header rows, column order, and other table elements are reversed.

  • Select the table, then do one of the following:

    • Choose Format > Table > Reverse Table Direction (from the Format menu at the top of your computer screen).

    • In the Table pane of the Format inspector, click a Table Direction button at the bottom of the pane.

When you reverse table order, cell alignment is affected as follows:

  • Text cells set to auto-align (the default setting) change their text alignment.

  • Number cells set to auto-align (the default setting) don’t change their number alignment. (Numbers always auto-align to be right-aligned.)

  • If a cell’s alignment is right, left, or center aligned, it retains that alignment.

  • If a cell’s alignment is justified, the gap for a partial line changes from being on the right to being on the left.