I converted «15% off» to Arabic-Indic digits and the % sign stayed the same; why, and how do I get the Arabic percent sign?

Two different percent signs

The sign on an English keyboard, %, is one character. The Arabic percent sign ٪ is a separate Unicode character, U+066A. It looks slightly different: the two circles are closer to dots and the stroke between them is slanted to sit well beside Arabic-Indic digits.

The tool swaps the ten digits and leaves every other punctuation mark alone. The percent sign is the one exception with an option of its own, and that option starts off because the Western sign is understood everywhere and some fonts or systems do not render ٪ the way you would expect.

The example both ways

The original promo line:

خصم 15% على كل الطلبات

With the defaults, Arabic-Indic target and the percent option off:

خصم ١٥% على كل الطلبات

Only two digits changed. Now turn on 'Convert the percent sign % ↔ ٪':

خصم ١٥٪ على كل الطلبات

The total of changes is now 3: two digits and one sign. The digits convert either way; the option decides the fate of the sign alone.

When to turn it on, and when not to

• Turn it on for text that will be printed or designed as an image: a sale banner, a shop poster, a Snapchat or Instagram post, where you want the sign to match the Arabic-Indic digits.
• Leave it off for text going into a system, a spreadsheet or a price field in your store dashboard, since systems usually expect the Western sign if they accept a sign at all.
• If you are designing, test the font first: type ١٥٪ in your design app and make sure your chosen typeface renders it well before converting a long text.

It works in reverse too

The same option runs the other way. If you have Arabic text containing ٪ and need it in a system that only accepts Western digits, choose Western as the target and turn the percent option on, and ١٥٪ becomes 15%. Without the option you get 15 followed by the Arabic sign, which a field may reject.

The steps

1. Open the Arabic/Persian/Western digit converter and paste the promo text.
2. Choose the target: Arabic-Indic for print, or Western for systems.
3. Turn on the percent option if the sign should change along with the digits.
4. Copy the result and check it where it will actually be shown.