April 30, 2005

For a while now, we have been using MS Word for English documents. However, what most of us don’t know is that it can be used for documents in Urdu as well. For this, you will require Windows XP, MS Word, an Urdu font, and a phonetic keyboard installed on your computer.

Installing fonts
1. Click on Start and then click on Control Panel.

2. Look for the Fonts folder and click on it.

3. Now click on the File menu and choose Install New Font. The Add Fonts dialog box will appear.

4. Under Drives and Folders, select the appropriate drive and folder that contains the font.

5. Under the List of Fonts, click on the font name and then click OK. A new font will be installed.

Installing the keyboard
1. Extract the compressed downloaded file named “phonetic” by right-clicking its icon and choosing Extract All.

2. Now double-click on the uncompressed “phonetic” folder and then double-click the executable file which has the same name as the folder. Within a few seconds, you will get the message Installation Complete.

Installing system support
1. Click on the Start menu and then click on Control Panel.

2. Double-click the icon labeled Regional and Language Options.

3. Click the Languages tab (if it is not already selected).

4. Select Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai). Click OK.

5. Now click on Apply or OK to continue installation. Note that setup might ask you for the Windows XP installation CD. Once the installation is complete, Windows will need to restart.

Setting keyboard layout
1. Click on the Start and then Control Panel buttons.

2. Double-click the icon labeled Regional and Language Options.

3. Click the Languages tab and then click on Details.

4. Now click on Add.

5. Under Input language, click the dropdown menu and select Urdu. Then under Keyboard layout/IME, click the dropdown menu and select Phonetic.

6. Click OK.

Congratulations, you are now ready to type Urdu in MS Word. To start typing, do the following:

1. Launch MS Word.

2. On the language bar, click the button representing the language and then click Urdu.

3. From Font, Select Nafees Nastaleeq (for example) and start typing.

Typing in Urdu in MS Word is quite simple and saves a lot of time. So, the next time you want to prepare a report in Urdu, use MS Word instead of other complicated software.

The writer holds an MCS from the University of Management and Technology, Lahore

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