Arabic Keyboard Online

This is a free Arabic keyboard online. Press keys on your normal English keyboard and they turn into Arabic letters. Then copy the text into WhatsApp, Word or email.

What do you need?

How do I type Arabic with this online keyboard?

1. Click the big box. Text grows from the right, because Arabic runs right to left.
2. Type by sound. a gives ا, b gives ب, m gives م.
3. Hold Shift for heavy letters. Shift h gives ح, Shift s gives ص.
4. Or tap the keys on screen. Hover over a key to see its name.
5. Copy your text. Press Copy text, then paste it where you need it.

Try these words

• A capital letter means hold Shift. Lowercase needs no Shift.
• Skip short vowels. Habibi is just H b y b y.
• ع sits on e because English has no matching sound.
• Need س then ه? S then H makes ش. Type s, then click the ه key on the screen.

Which Arabic keyboard layout should I pick?

You get three. They all type the same Arabic. Only the key positions change. Not sure? Stay with the first.

Using a Mac? Apple's Arabic keyboard is not the same as the Windows one. Check which you use before you practise 101.

Transliteration: the keys that are not obvious

Two keys can join into one letter. Type s then h and the s becomes ش. Same for kh, th, dh and gh.

Phonetic: the Arabic phonetic keyboard

One key per letter, no pairs. Heavy letters use Shift.

Standard Arabic (101): where each letter sits

Letters are placed by position, not sound. The small text under a key is what Shift gives.

Why a lam-alif key? It comes from old Arabic typewriters. Today your device joins ل and ا for you, so you can skip it.

What are the Arabic keyboard letters, and which key types each?

Arabic has 28 letters. Each tile shows the key to press in Transliteration, then the key in Standard (101).

How do I use an Arabic keyboard with harakat (tashkeel)?

• Type the letter first, then the mark.
• Most online Arabic has no harakat. You need them for the Quran, children's books and study notes.

• Phonetic uses the same keys as Transliteration. Shadda is the apostrophe key.
• The dagger alif, as in هٰذا, has no key. Switch to Transliteration and click it in the key panel.
• A mark can look different in another font. The text is the same.

How do I type hamza, lam-alif and tatweel?

Example: خائف (afraid). Press k h a E f. You get خائف.

Tatweel stretches a letter, like الســـلام. It looks nice in titles and does not change the word.

Should I use Arabic digits or normal numbers?

Use the switch above the keyboard. Both are correct.

• Adding numbers up in Excel? Use normal digits.
• Persian and Urdu write ۴ ۵ ۶ differently. Do not mix them. For Urdu digits, see the Urdu keyboard.

How do I use my Arabic text on a phone, in WhatsApp, Word or Docs?

Press Copy text, open the other app, paste. These are the app-specific notes.

Can I use it on a school, library or work computer?

Yes. You cannot install anything on those PCs, so this page is a common fix. It runs in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.

1. Type your text in the box.
2. Copy it and paste it into your email or document.
3. Press Clear, then close the tab.

Tip: Save .txt downloads a file to that PC. On a shared computer, copy and paste instead.

How do I add a real Arabic keyboard to my device?

Worth doing if you type Arabic every day. Menu names change a little between versions.

Windows also lists Arabic (102) and Arabic (102) AZERTY. Most people want Arabic (101).

Online keyboard or built-in keyboard?

My laptop has no Arabic letters on the keys. What can I do?

This happens a lot with laptops bought abroad or online. All the fixes are cheap.

Whatever you stick on the keys, Arabic input must be on. The printed letters do not change what a key types.

How do I type my name in Arabic?

• Say your name out loud. Type the consonants and long vowels you hear.
• Skip short vowels. Omar is e m r, which gives عمر.
• Names have more than one spelling. Muhammad, Mohamed and Mohammed can all be right.
• Planning to print it, tattoo it or put it on a document? Ask an Arabic speaker to check it first.

What do 3, 7, 5 and other numbers mean in chat Arabic?

Chat Arabic, also called Arabizi or Franco, uses numbers for letters English does not have. There is no official standard, so a few change by country.

• 7abibi is حبيبي. Type H b y b y.
• 3arabi is عربي. Type e r b y.
• Skip the short vowels. Real Arabic script does not write them.

Which extra letters do Gulf, Egyptian and Maghreb typists use?

The alphabet is the same everywhere. Some dialects add letters for their own sounds. You will find them in the extra row of the key panel.

• In Egypt, ج is said as a hard g.
• In Cairo, ق is often said as a stop in the throat.
• The spelling stays the same. Only the speech changes.
• Typing Urdu? It has more letters than this key panel. Use the Urdu Keyboard Online.

What if something does not work?

How can I get faster at Arabic keyboard typing?

It feels slow at first. That is normal. Free Arabic lessons and a speed test are being built.

Why you can trust this page

Sources used

• Windows keyboard layouts (Microsoft Learn)Used for the names of the Windows Arabic layouts: Arabic (101), (102) and (102) AZERTY.
• Unicode Arabic block, U+0600 to U+06FF (Unicode Consortium)Used for letter and mark names, such as tatweel and the dagger alif.

About the layouts: Standard (101) follows the Windows Arabic (101) letter positions. Transliteration and Phonetic are our own sound-based layouts, so they differ from other sites.

Frequently asked questions about the online Arabic keyboard

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