Arabic and Hebrew WPDOS on modern computers | Arabic and Hebrew WPDOS under Vista, Windows 7, or 64-bit Windows | TrueType for Arabic and Hebrew WPDOS | Printer drivers for HP LaserJets with Arabic and Hebrew fonts | Hebrew PostScript fonts and drivers for printing and PDF | Converting Arabic and Hebrew WP files | A simplified system for typing Hebrew with vowel points | A font-replacing macro for right-to-left documents | Home page
This page will contain information about utilities, printer drivers, and other features useful with the Arabic and Hebrew versions of WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS. If you know of material that belongs on this page, please feel free to send feedback.
Arabic and Hebrew WPDOS 5.1 work well on modern computers running Windows 2000 or XP, and are fully compatible with the Tame utility that helps make WPDOS work at full speed. , Arabic and Hebrew characters are only visible on screen when WPDOS is used in full-screen mode, so that it looks exactly as it did on an old MS-DOS-based computer. After creating a desktop shortcut that runs WPDOS, right-click on the shortcut, choose Properties from the pop-up menu, and go to the Screen tab. Near the top of the Screen tab, select Full-screen (not Window), and click OK.
Arabic and Hebrew WPDOS 5.1 use WordPerfect's 512-character text display mode, which is only usable when WPDOS is run in its traditional DOS-like full screen. Full-screen display of WPDOS is available under Windows XP (and earlier version) but not under Windows Vista (in most systems) or Windows 7 or any 64-bit version of Windows. To use Arabic or Hebrew WPDOS in any of these versions, you must use one of the complicated methods described on this site's page devoted to 64-bit Windows; these methods also work under 32-bit versions of Windows that otherwise cannot display full-screen WPDOS. See the descriptions of the advantages and disadvantages of each method on the linked page.
TrueType for WordPerfect was a program that made it possible to use TrueType fonts with WPDOS 5.1; a full copy may be downloaded from the section about TrueType for WordPerfect elsewhere on this site.
Hebrew and Arabic versions of TrueType for WordPerfect were designed for use with the WPDOS 5.1 Arabic Language Module dated 27 April 1993 and the Hebrew Language Module dated 19 May 1993. The TrueType fonts and programs seem to have been distributed with the separate packages of those two language modules, but were omitted from the CD issue of the WP Language Modules; they may be downloaded in this 750 KB self-extracting TTHebrew.exe archive and this 710 KB self-extracting TTArabic.exe archive. (The Arabic version may also be used for Farsi and Urdu.) After downloading one or the other, copy the downloaded program into a temporary directory; run it to extract the files, and then run the Install program that will be extracted from the archive. To use these programs, you must run TTWP.EXE, not WP.EXE, when launching WordPerfect (some explanations are included with the archives). These versions are useful only with the Hebrew and Arabic modules for WPDOS 5.1.
Note: Seven additional soft fonts were included the revised version of this package, posted on 14 February 2008. The package now includes thirteen Hebrew PostScript soft fonts and a printer driver that supports them.
The original WPDOS Hebrew Module included a driver and soft fonts for use with PostScript printers. This self-extracting WP51HEPS.EXE (793 KB; revised 23 January 2009 for better font management, and adding a PDF-writing macro) archive contains updated versions of the WP Hebrew PostScript driver and the original six PostScript soft fonts, plus six additional soft fonts (converted from the original TrueType for WP Hebrew module), and a newly-created WP-compatible version of the Ezra SIL Hebrew soft font. After downloading the archive, copy it to a temporary directory, run it to extract the files, and copy the .ALL file to your Hebrew WP printer file directory and the thirteen .PFB files to your WPDOS Hebrew PostScript soft font directory (which may be the same as your printer file directory). Depending on the printer you use, in WPDOS, choose either "PostScript (Hebrew) wpdos.org" or (if you use an HP LaserJet with PostScript support) "PostScript HP (Hebrew) wpdos.org".
The archive also contains PDFBZHEB.WPM, a macro used for this site's method for creating Hebrew PDF files (described immediately below); copy this macro file to your WPDOS Macro directory, which is typically the same as your main WordPerfect directory. Use Alt-F1/Location of Files to find the actual location of this directory.
The revised soft fonts included in this archive can be used either for printing or to create PDF files. Unlike the original versions of the PostScript fonts, the revised fonts make it possible to create Hebrew PDF files that can be searched for content, or which can be used for copying Hebrew text into other applications. The fonts contain support for the euro symbol (WP character 4,72) and the New Sheqel symbol (which in these fonts replaces the "currency" symbol as WP character 4,24).
How to create Hebrew PDF files from WordPerfect for DOS (Windows 2000 and XP only):
The following instructions are abridged from the instructions on a separate page about PDF creation. You should already have downloaded the WP51HEPS.EXE file described above and copied its files into the appropriate directories.
(1) Download and install the BullZip PDF Printer (click this link to download the installer; if the downloaded file is a ZIP archive, you will need to extract the installer from it and then run the installer program). If the installer presents an option to "Download and Install Ghostscript Lite," you must accept that option! (This option will only be displayed if no version of Ghostscript is already present on your system.)
(2) Test the BullZip PDF Printer by creating a PDF file from a Windows application. For example, use your browser's print menu to "print" to the BullZip PDF Printer, and make sure that a PDF file is created correctly. If no PDF file is created, then carefully repeat the preceding steps until you are certain that everything works.
(3) Use Start/Control Panel/Printers and Faxes (or Start/Settings/Printers and Faxes, or Start/Settings/Printers) and right-click on the BullZip PDF Printer. Select Sharing from the pop-up menu. Select "Share this printer," and accept the sharename suggested in the dialog box (probably "BullZipP", but the exact name does not matter). Click OK and exit the Sharing tab and the list of printers (if it is still visible).
(4) In WPDOS, create or open a document; specify the printer driver as "PostScript (Hebrew) wpdos.org" or (if you use an HP LaserJet with PostScript support) "Postscript HP (Hebrew) wpdos.org." Press Alt-F10 and enter PDFBZHEB to run the macro that creates a PDF file with the Bullzip PDF Printer.
For further information on WPDOS and PDF, see the page on PDF creation methods elsewhere on this site.
If you need similar fonts and drivers for Arabic WPDOS, please send feedback.
Note: If you create a PDF using this driver and system, the text can be copied from Adobe Reader (or a similar PDF reading application) and copied into another application. For the Hebrew text to appear in the correct right-to-left order in the application that receives the text, the following conditions are required. First, in the operating system itself, Hebrew language and input support must have been enabled; in other words, you should be able to type right-to-left Hebrew text in your applications. Next, in the application that receives the data, you must use Edit/Paste Special/Unformatted Text (or Text Only, or Unformatted Unicode Text) instead of the standard Paste function.
Higher-priced HP LaserJet printers issued in recent years include built-in scalable Arabic and Hebrew fonts. This site provides experimental drivers for such printers; the self-extracting files that contain the drivers also contain the original WP LaserJet scalable soft fonts for those languages, which are also supported in the drivers. After downloading and extracting the files, move the .ALL file into your WP printer file directory and the .SFS soft fonts into the directory in which you store printer fonts (use Shift-F7, Select Printer, Edit, and Path for Downloadable Fonts to specify a directory if you do not wish to use your WP51 directory.)
The driver with support for Arabic fonts may be downloaded in this self-extracting WP51ARAB.EXE archive file (updated 25 October 2007 to correct serious errors in all previous versions). It contains a driver for the LaserJet 1320, 2420, P3005, 4240, 4250, and 4350 and other printers that include Arabic support. It contains entirely new support for the proportional-spaced Ryadh font included in the LaserJet 2420 and above. Please send feedback if you use this driver, and please let me know of any errors that you may find in it.
The driver with support for Hebrew fonts may be downloaded in this self-extracting WP51HEBR.EXE archive file (updated 9 October 2007 to correct further errors in previous versions). It contains three separate drivers: HP LaserJet Hebrew LJ1320+ (PCL) for the HP LaserJet 1320 series (and possibly for the 1160), HP LaserJet Hebrew LJ2200+ (PCL), for LaserJets in the 2400 and P3005 series, and HP LaserJet Hebrew LJ4250+ (PCL) for LaserJets in the 4240, 4250, 4350 and later series. Please send feedback if you use this driver, and please let me know of any errors that you may find in it.
With Wp2Rtf: Files created in the Arabic and Hebrew versions of WPDOS 5.1 are unreadable by almost all other applications. The only program I know of that converts such files into a format usable by Microsoft Word is Wp2Rtf, by LionScribe. This US$49 program converts WP 5.1 files into RTF (Rich Text Format) files that can be opened in Word or almost any other word-processing software. It is highly effective and accurate for all WP files, not only those created in the Arabic and Hebrew versions. Read the help file for advanced options. A free demonstration version (limited to the first 250 characters of the file you wish to convert) is available for download from the author's web site.
Note: Unfortunately, the method described above for creating Hebrew PDF files from WPDOS cannot easily be used for transferring text from WPDOS to a word processor. The resulting PDF files can be searched, but if you copy text in Adobe Reader or Acrobat, and then paste the text into a word-processor, punctuation and roman text may appear in the wrong position on the line. This is the result of problems (with Unicode) that probably cannot be solved in an application as old as WordPerfect.
Smith's Simplified System, by Alan Smith, uses two custom keyboard definitions for greatly improved typing of Hebrew with vowel points in Hebrew WPDOS. The keyboard definitions and an explanation (in WP5.1 format) may be found in this self-extracting archive file. Download the file, copy it to a temporary directory, and run the program to extract the files. Copy the two keyboard files to your WP51 macros directory (use Ctrl-F1, Location of Files, if you do not know where it is). Open the file SSS-USER.WP in WordPerfect and print it as a reference guide.
Alan Smith has written font-replacement macros that can find and replace fonts in right-to-left or left-to-right text. FONTREP.WPM finds and replaces fonts of any point size; FTSZREP.WPM finds and replaces specific point sizes. Download the macros in this self-extracting archive file; extract the files; and store them in your WPDOS 5.1 macro directory.
Note: Other font-finding macros for WPDOS 5.1 may be found elsewhere on this site.