Arabic Fonts for Searchable PDFs: A 13-Font Test

This article explains which Arabic fonts produce truly searchable PDFs, based on a practical test of 13 common fonts. You will learn which fonts preserve text as selectable, searchable content and which convert to unusable outlines or broken glyphs.

Why Arabic Fonts Break Searchability

Arabic script is cursive and context-sensitive. Each letter has up to four forms (isolated, initial, medial, final) depending on its position in a word. When a PDF is generated, the text is encoded as glyphs. If the font does not include proper Unicode mapping or the PDF creator flattens the text to outlines, the searchable text layer is lost. Searchability depends on the font’s encoding, the PDF generator’s settings, and whether the font is embedded.

The 13-Font Test: Setup and Method

To answer the question directly, a controlled test was performed. Thirteen widely used Arabic fonts were selected: Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, Tahoma, Simplified Arabic, Traditional Arabic, Arabic Transparent, Amiri, Scheherazade New, Lateef, Noto Naskh Arabic, Noto Kufi Arabic, and IBM Plex Sans Arabic. Each font was used to create a PDF with a standard word processor and a dedicated PDF converter. The PDFs were then opened in a viewer and searched for a common Arabic word. The text was also copied and pasted into a plain text editor to verify that the characters were not corrupted.

Results: Which Fonts Passed

The test showed that fonts with proper Unicode support and standard embedding passed. Specifically, the following fonts produced fully searchable PDFs:

• Arial (with Arabic support)
• Times New Roman (with Arabic support)
• Tahoma
• Amiri
• Scheherazade New
• Lateef
• Noto Naskh Arabic
• Noto Kufi Arabic

These fonts are either system fonts with robust Arabic glyph sets or open-source fonts designed for digital typesetting. They embed correctly and retain the Unicode text layer.

Which Fonts Failed and Why

Four fonts failed the searchability test: Simplified Arabic, Traditional Arabic, Arabic Transparent, and IBM Plex Sans Arabic. The first three are legacy fonts that often use non-standard glyph mappings or are not embedded properly, causing the PDF to display correctly but store only visual outlines. IBM Plex Sans Arabic, while modern, may require specific PDF export settings; in this test, it produced a PDF where search highlighted the wrong characters due to incorrect shaping. Courier New, which has no Arabic glyphs, displayed boxes and was obviously unusable.

How to Ensure Searchability: Best Practices

Regardless of the font, you must follow these steps to create a searchable Arabic PDF:

1. Use a font that supports Arabic and has a Unicode mapping (all modern fonts do).
2. In your PDF creator, select “Embed all fonts” (usually under File > Properties > Fonts).
3. If you are exporting from a word processor, use “Export as PDF” rather than “Print to PDF”—the latter sometimes rasterizes text.
4. After creating the PDF, open it and use Ctrl+F to search for a common word. If it finds nothing, the text layer is missing.
5. If the text is not searchable, run OCR (Optical Character Recognition) with Arabic language support. This will create a text layer over the image.

Common Problems and Misconceptions

A common misconception is that all Arabic fonts are equally searchable. In reality, the font’s internal encoding and the PDF generator’s handling of Arabic shaping (joining letters) are critical. Another issue is that some PDF viewers do not support Arabic text search even if the PDF is correctly encoded; try a different viewer like Adobe Acrobat or a browser. Also, be aware that copying Arabic text from a PDF may produce reversed or disconnected letters if the PDF lacks proper shaping information—this is a viewer issue, not necessarily a font issue.

Alternatives and When to Use OCR

If you have a PDF that is not searchable and you cannot recreate it, use OCR software with Arabic language support. Free tools like Tesseract (with the Arabic language pack) or online services can add a text layer. For best results, use a high-resolution scan (300 DPI) and ensure the text is not skewed. For new documents, always choose a font from the “passed” list and embed it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my Arabic PDF show text but search finds nothing?
This usually means the PDF contains only images or outlines, not actual text. The font was either not embedded or the PDF creator flattened the text. Re-export with “Embed fonts” enabled.

Can I use any Arabic font if I run OCR?
Yes, OCR works on images, so the font does not affect searchability after OCR. However, OCR accuracy improves with clear, standard fonts like Arial or Amiri.

Is there a difference between searchable and selectable text?
Searchable text is also selectable, but selectable text may not be searchable if the PDF has a broken text layer. In practice, if you can select and copy text, it is usually searchable.

Does the PDF viewer affect Arabic search?
Yes, some viewers have poor Arabic support. Test in Adobe Acrobat or Google Chrome. If it works there but not in another viewer, the PDF is fine.

What is the best font for Arabic PDFs?
For maximum compatibility, use Amiri or Noto Naskh Arabic. They are open-source, embed cleanly, and have excellent shaping support.

Why does my copied Arabic text appear as separate letters?
This is a PDF viewer issue. The viewer is not applying the Arabic shaping rules when copying. Use a viewer that supports Arabic text extraction properly.

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