Fixing problems

Arabic, Hebrew and Right-to-Left Text in a WhatsApp PDF

Chats written in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian or Urdu flow from right to left, and a PDF has to get that direction right. Here is what happens to those messages and what to check.

How right-to-left text is stored

A WhatsApp export saves every message as Unicode text. Unicode records each letter as a character and does not store the direction it should be read in. The direction is decided at display time by the Unicode bidirectional algorithm, which knows that Arabic and Hebrew letters run right to left while Latin letters and digits run left to right. This is why the same file can look correct in one app and wrong in another that does not apply the algorithm properly.

The practical rule is that the export is usually fine. Problems tend to appear when the text is saved in the wrong encoding, or when a viewer lacks the font needed to draw the letters.

Why mixed lines look odd

Most real chats mix scripts. A message in Arabic may include an English company name, a phone number, a web address or a number such as a price. Each of these runs in its own direction inside the line, and the result can look reversed to a reader who expects the line to be simple. A number like 2024 or a phone number will usually appear in the normal left-to-right order even inside an Arabic sentence, and that is correct behaviour rather than a fault.

If a whole line looks backwards, check whether the whole message is in one script. If it is, the viewer may be applying the wrong direction. If only the English or numeric parts look out of place, the line is probably displayed as intended.

Check the export encoding

Encoding is the most common real cause of broken Arabic or Hebrew. WhatsApp writes its exports as UTF-8. If the .txt file is opened in an editor that assumes an older Windows code page, the letters turn into question marks or unreadable symbols. Open the file in a plain text editor that can show UTF-8, and confirm that the script appears correctly before converting.

1. Open the exported .txt in Notepad or another editor that supports UTF-8.
2. Look at a few Arabic or Hebrew lines and confirm they show letters, not symbols.
3. If they show symbols, reopen the file and choose UTF-8 as the encoding, then check again.

How ChatIntoPDF handles it

ChatIntoPDF is built for multilingual chats. It handles right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew, and it renders the rest of the text through a proper Unicode font. Emoji and accented letters are drawn correctly as well, so a chat that mixes Arabic, English and emoji can stay readable in one PDF. The converter runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded, and the free preview shows the first pages so you can check the direction before paying.

Because the exact display of mixed-direction lines follows the standard bidirectional rules, you should still look at the preview with a message you know well. That is the quickest way to confirm that names, numbers and Arabic or Hebrew sentences appear as you expect.

What the result should look like

• Arabic and Hebrew sentences read from right to left, with the first word on the right.
• Numbers, phone numbers and English names keep their normal order inside those sentences.
• Emoji and accented Latin letters are drawn, not replaced by boxes.
• Timestamps and sender names keep the layout used for the rest of the chat.

If something still looks wrong

Start with the source file. If the .txt shows the letters correctly in a UTF-8 editor, the export is sound and the issue is in how a viewer displays it. If the .txt is already garbled, the file was saved or transferred with a wrong encoding, and a fresh export is the cleanest fix. The 24-hour pass from $1.99 covers unlimited chats with no account, so you can convert again while you test. ChatIntoPDF is independent and is not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta.