I'm designing a printed café price menu and want the numbers in Arabic-Indic style; how do I convert them from my existing text?
Paste the menu text into the digit converter and choose Arabic-Indic as the target: 25 becomes ٢٥, 7 becomes ٧, and the drink names stay as they are. Copy the result straight into your design file, with no price retyped by hand.
Why the prices start out in Western digits
Menu text usually comes from the price list in a point-of-sale system, or from a file someone typed on a laptop with an English keyboard, so the digits come out as 0 to 9. That suits the system, but plenty of café owners prefer printed prices to sit naturally with the Arabic typeface, showing ٢٥ next to ريال rather than 25.
Switching the font in a design app does not always solve this, because many apps display the character exactly as stored. The reliable route is for the text itself to be in Arabic-Indic digits before it enters the design.
A small menu, converted
The menu text as it came from the sheet:
قهوة عربية 25 ريال
كرك 7 ريال
After converting to Arabic-Indic digits:
قهوة عربية ٢٥ ريال
كرك ٧ ريال
Only 3 digits changed. Not one letter of the drink names moved, and neither did the currency word.
Prices with halalas
Add a third line with a fraction: كيكة 18.50 ريال. With the defaults it becomes ١٨.٥٠ with a Western point between the digits, and the tool tells you one decimal separator would change if you switched the option on. Turn on 'Convert the separators between digits too' and the price becomes ١٨٫٥٠ with the Arabic decimal separator, and the total of changes rises from 7 to 8.
Which should you pick? That is a design decision, not a rule. Some print work uses the Arabic decimal separator to match the digits, and some keeps the point because everyone knows it. What matters is choosing on purpose and checking the prices afterwards, because the option swaps any point or comma that sits between two digits.
The steps
- Copy the full menu text from the sheet or file.
- Open the Arabic/Persian/Western digit converter, paste it, and choose 'Arabic-Indic ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩'.
- Decide on the separator option as above, and leave the percent option off unless the menu has a percentage discount.
- Check the 'Digits converted' count, then copy or download the result and paste it into the design.
If the text arrived from the sheet with doubled spaces or stray blank lines, tidy it first with the Whitespace cleaner before converting, so the mess does not end up in print.
Keep two copies
One Arabic-Indic copy for print, one Western copy for the system. Do not paste the converted text back into your point-of-sale system or a sheet that adds up prices, since some systems will not treat ٢٥ as a number. When a price changes, edit the original and convert it again; that is quicker and safer than editing Arabic-Indic digits by hand.
Common questions
Will the phone number or website at the bottom of the menu change?
The phone number converts like any other number. A link starting with https:// or www. stays exactly as it is while protection is on.
Can I convert to Persian digits instead?
Yes, choose Persian as the target. Arabic-Indic digits are the usual choice for Saudi and Gulf print, though.
Are hidden direction marks added that could upset the layout?
No. The tool adds no direction marks; it only swaps the digits.