#2310: PDF: lam-alef drawn as two glyphs at the same x extracts in reading order

Some fonts (the static Noto Naskh Arabic builds) draw لا as a lam and a
zero-advance alef with their own clusters at one x. visual_order kept the
tie in logical order, so the right-to-left run's ranges didn't decrease,
krilla dropped /ReversedChars and السلام extracted as السالم. Ties between
clusters now go in reverse text order when right to left (text order
otherwise).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

ROADMAP.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 **Stage: alpha** · next: beta, ~15 points (60% → 75% ready for real work) and ~150–230 h away
 
 > **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-14 · **Change:** trivial (table style editor formats every part, #714); previously trivial: VML freeforms read and kept on save; previously trivial: progress log: consistent preferred cell widths; previously trivial: multi-paragraph field instructions no longer add blank lines; previously trivial: page-break-only list paragraphs hide their labels; previously trivial: progress log: grouped `flowChartOr` shapes draw their circle and crossing spokes; previously trivial: progress log: copies keep their formatting in other programs, #1523; previously trivial: progress log: privacy options on save, #1062; previously trivial: progress log: equation pictures in theme colours on Windows, #1002; previously trivial: symbol fonts, #776; previously trivial: the save prompt answers from the keyboard, #861; previously trivial: table column and row markers on the rulers, #700; previously trivial: table borders and the resize handle drag on the page, #217; previously trivial: formatting revisions landed, #41; previously trivial: Draw tab ink, #307, and Draw Table and Eraser, #303, landed: catalog 402/434; previously minor: readiness table with hours per audience; full number back to the additive weighted sum, 60%; mainstream and essentials numbers added; alpha gate checked; previously major: full re-measure against Word for Mac 16.113.4; restructured to the craftrules progress-docs standard) · **Target:** Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365) for Mac 16.113.4
-> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-14 · **Change:** trivial (progress log: print-area strings translated in every catalog; previously trivial: progress log: ODT sections, #1379; previously trivial: progress log: table deletes, Change Case and Unlink Fields respect Track Changes and locked content controls, #1329; previously trivial: progress log: rounded rectangle corners, #1476; previously trivial: progress log: Save As type list, #1399; previously trivial: progress log: privacy options on save, #1062; previously trivial: progress log: equation pictures in theme colours on Windows, #1002; previously trivial: symbol fonts, #776; previously trivial: the save prompt answers from the keyboard, #861; previously trivial: table column and row markers on the rulers, #700; previously trivial: table borders and the resize handle drag on the page, #217; previously trivial: formatting revisions landed, #41; previously trivial: Draw tab ink, #307, and Draw Table and Eraser, #303, landed: catalog 402/434; previously minor: readiness table with hours per audience; full number back to the additive weighted sum, 60%; mainstream and essentials numbers added; alpha gate checked; previously major: full re-measure against Word for Mac 16.113.4; restructured to the craftrules progress-docs standard) · **Target:** Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365) for Mac 16.113.4
+> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-16 · **Change:** trivial (progress log: lam-alef in exported PDFs extracts whole with fonts that draw it as two glyphs, #2310; previously trivial: progress log: print-area strings translated in every catalog; previously trivial: progress log: ODT sections, #1379; previously trivial: progress log: table deletes, Change Case and Unlink Fields respect Track Changes and locked content controls, #1329; previously trivial: progress log: rounded rectangle corners, #1476; previously trivial: progress log: Save As type list, #1399; previously trivial: progress log: privacy options on save, #1062; previously trivial: progress log: equation pictures in theme colours on Windows, #1002; previously trivial: symbol fonts, #776; previously trivial: the save prompt answers from the keyboard, #861; previously trivial: table column and row markers on the rulers, #700; previously trivial: table borders and the resize handle drag on the page, #217; previously trivial: formatting revisions landed, #41; previously trivial: Draw tab ink, #307, and Draw Table and Eraser, #303, landed: catalog 402/434; previously minor: readiness table with hours per audience; full number back to the additive weighted sum, 60%; mainstream and essentials numbers added; alpha gate checked; previously major: full re-measure against Word for Mac 16.113.4; restructured to the craftrules progress-docs standard) · **Target:** Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365) for Mac 16.113.4
 > **Printing update:** 2026-10-12 · direct desktop printing through craft-print; details below.
 
 WordCraft aims for complete parity with Microsoft Word, then goes further on speed, openness and
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@ Ranked, to beta (detail and remaining milestones in [docs/roadmap.md](docs/roadm
 | 2026-10-14 | RTF keeps tracked changes (gap 19): insertions and deletions open as tracked changes with their authors and dates (`\revtbl`, `\revised`, `\deleted`, `\revdttm`) instead of plain text, so deleted text no longer reappears as normal text; saving to RTF writes them back, and Accept All / Reject All work after reopening |
 | 2026-10-14 | Alignment guides: moving a picture, shape or text box snaps its edges or centre to the page's edges and centre, the margins and the other floating objects on the page, with a thin line across the page for each guide while dragging; Alt moves freely; File › Options › Advanced › Editing turns them off (`ui.alignmentGuides`). Our own design: Word for Mac shows no guides |
 | 2026-10-14 | ODT files open with their sections (#1379): a paragraph that switches to another page style starts a new section on a new page, with that page's size, orientation, margins and columns and, when the file asks, page numbering restarting; a two-column `text:section` becomes a continuous two-column section. Before, the whole document was one portrait section, so landscape pages, columns and restarts were lost on open and on save to DOCX |
+| 2026-10-16 | Arabic words with lam-alef copy and search whole in exported PDFs with fonts that draw لا as a lam and a zero-width alef at one spot, such as the static Noto Naskh Arabic builds (#2310): السلام no longer reads back as السالم. Clusters drawn at the same place now go in reverse text order, so viewers reverse the run as a whole again. The page looks the same |
 | 2026-10-14 | Hebrew and Arabic in exported PDFs copy and search as whole words (#1383): right-to-left glyphs are written left to right as they appear, the order Chrome and Edge (PDFium) and poppler read text back from (checked by hand), instead of in reading order, which they reversed (`שלום` came back as `םולש`, Arabic in pieces). Lam-alef stays whole and vowel marks follow their letters, though Chrome and poppler can still break a fully vowelled word with spaces. The page looks the same. Readers that take glyphs strictly in file order get only plain Hebrew runs right, through `/ReversedChars`; screen readers are unverified |
 | 2026-10-14 | HTML import (#1381): header cells (`<th>`) are bold unless their own CSS says otherwise, and `text-align` on a cell, its row, row group or table aligns the cell's paragraphs (a paragraph's own alignment wins), so `wordcraft-cli convert page.html out.docx` writes the bold header and `w:jc` right-aligned cells. HTML, Markdown and plain text, which give no page size, open on the region's paper (A4 in Italy, Letter in the US) like a new blank document, in the app and in `wordcraft-cli`; documents with their own page size keep it |
 | 2026-10-14 | Custom page sizes (#1433): Layout › Size ends with More Paper Sizes…, which opens Page Setup's new Paper group — a Paper size list (the named sizes, or Custom size) and Width and Height in the measurement unit; OK sets the size only when it changed, and a wider-than-tall size comes out landscape. `layout.size` now clamps each side to Word's 0.1"–22" and refuses a page the margins don't fit (the margins rule: 36 pt of text room), and Page Setup checks the size and margins together before applying either |
@@ -457,6 +458,7 @@ Ranked, to beta (detail and remaining milestones in [docs/roadmap.md](docs/roadm
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | Progress log: alignment guides while dragging pictures and shapes |
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | Progress log: ODT sections on import (#1379) |
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | Progress log: right-to-left text in exported PDFs extracts as whole words (#1383) |
+| 2026-10-16 | trivial | Progress log: lam-alef drawn as two glyphs at one x extracts whole from exported PDFs (#2310) |
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | Progress log: HTML header cells, cell alignment and region paper for opened HTML/Markdown/text (#1381) |
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | Progress log: custom page size from More Paper Sizes… and Page Setup (#1433) |
 | 2026-10-13 | trivial | Progress log: highlighted text on a dark page (#1252) |

crates/pdf/src/lib.rs

@@ -335,8 +335,15 @@ fn visual_order(text: &str, glyphs: &[(u32, f32, f32)], clusters: &[std::ops::Ra
             _ => groups.push((*x, vec![i])),
         }
     }
-    // Stable: clusters at the same x keep their order, as do glyphs sharing their text.
-    groups.sort_by(|a, b| a.0.total_cmp(&b.0));
+    // Clusters at the same x go in text order, reversed when right to left: some fonts draw
+    // lam-alef as a lam and a zero-width alef at one x, and a right-to-left run whose ranges
+    // don't decrease loses its reading order (#2310). Stable for glyphs sharing their text.
+    let tie = |idx: &[usize]| -> i64 {
+        let Some(r) = idx.first().and_then(|&g| clusters.get(g)) else { return 0 };
+        let start = i64::try_from(r.start).unwrap_or(i64::MAX);
+        if text.get(r.clone()).is_some_and(|t| t.chars().any(wordcraft_fonts::is_rtl)) { -start } else { start }
+    };
+    groups.sort_by(|a, b| a.0.total_cmp(&b.0).then_with(|| tie(&a.1).cmp(&tie(&b.1))));
     groups
         .into_iter()
         .flat_map(|(_, mut idx)| {

crates/pdf/src/tests.rs

@@ -1394,6 +1394,21 @@ fn left_to_right_glyphs_keep_their_order() {
     assert!(left_to_right(&glyphs));
 }
 
+/// A lam-alef some fonts draw as a lam and a zero-width alef at the same x goes in reverse
+/// text order, so the run's ranges still decrease and viewers read لا, not ال (#2310).
+/// Left-to-right clusters at one x keep their text order.
+#[test]
+fn clusters_at_the_same_x_go_in_reading_order() {
+    let text = "سلا";
+    let glyphs = [(3, 20.0, 10.0), (1, 10.0, 10.0), (2, 10.0, 0.0)];
+    let ranges = [0..2, 2..4, 4..6];
+    assert_eq!(visual_order(text, &glyphs, &ranges, &ranges), [2, 1, 0]);
+    let text = "ab";
+    let glyphs = [(1, 10.0, 0.0), (2, 10.0, 5.0)];
+    let ranges = [0..1, 1..2];
+    assert_eq!(visual_order(text, &glyphs, &ranges, &ranges), [0, 1]);
+}
+
 /// Right-to-left glyphs (reading order, drawn right to left) are written left to right a
 /// cluster at a time. A letter's vowel mark takes its own character and goes before the letter,
 /// so a viewer reversing the word reads letter then mark; a lam-alef drawn as two glyphs keeps

docs/file-format-parity.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # File-format parity with Microsoft Word
 
-> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-11 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-14 · **Change:** trivial (every table style part round-trips, #714); previously trivial: VML freeforms read and kept on save; previously trivial: multi-paragraph field instructions no longer add blank lines; previously trivial: `flowChartOr` draws its circle and cross spokes, as in Word; previously trivial: RTF: Mac OS Roman and DOS text, #1653; previously trivial: VML text boxes keep their internal margins, fit to their text and vertical alignment; hidden drawings not shown; previously trivial: PDF export draws horizontal and vertical lines inside groups, #1474; previously trivial: symbol-font text exported as Unicode, #776; previously trivial: text-box margins, Resize shape to fit text and freeforms in groups, #743; previously trivial: formatted paste from the system clipboard's HTML and RTF, #687; previously trivial: independent complex-script formatting inheritance and round-trip regression tests; previously trivial: import/export fixes for TXT, RTF, ODT, HTML and LaTeX, #433–#440; previously major: first version; every format Word reads or writes, measured from the readers and writers on origin/main) · **Target:** Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365) for Mac 16.113.4, plus Word for Windows' extra formats
+> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-11 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-16 · **Change:** trivial (PDF export: lam-alef drawn as two glyphs at one x extracts in reading order, #2310); previously trivial: every table style part round-trips, #714; previously trivial: VML freeforms read and kept on save; previously trivial: multi-paragraph field instructions no longer add blank lines; previously trivial: `flowChartOr` draws its circle and cross spokes, as in Word; previously trivial: RTF: Mac OS Roman and DOS text, #1653; previously trivial: VML text boxes keep their internal margins, fit to their text and vertical alignment; hidden drawings not shown; previously trivial: PDF export draws horizontal and vertical lines inside groups, #1474; previously trivial: symbol-font text exported as Unicode, #776; previously trivial: text-box margins, Resize shape to fit text and freeforms in groups, #743; previously trivial: formatted paste from the system clipboard's HTML and RTF, #687; previously trivial: independent complex-script formatting inheritance and round-trip regression tests; previously trivial: import/export fixes for TXT, RTF, ODT, HTML and LaTeX, #433–#440; previously major: first version; every format Word reads or writes, measured from the readers and writers on origin/main) · **Target:** Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365) for Mac 16.113.4, plus Word for Windows' extra formats
 
 Every format Word opens or saves, what WordCraft does with it, and how it's tested. Fidelity is the
 share of a typical real-world file's content and formatting that survives (read: shows correctly;
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Weights are the share of a Word user's file traffic (estimate). Read/write: ✅
 | `.docx` Strict Open XML | 1% | R/W | ✅ (namespace mapping in `xml.rs`) | ❌ | ~60% | 2–4 | one fixture | Writing Strict is rare |
 | `.docm` / `.dotx` / `.dotm` | 3% | R/W | ✅ | ✅ | ~65% | incl. above | `macro_packages.rs` | Macros and signatures kept on save (#172); macros never run |
 | `.doc` Word 97-2003 (and `.dot`) | 8% | R/W | 🟡 | ❌ | ~60% | 25–40 | `crates/docbin/src/tests.rs`, `tests/drawing.rs` | Spec-based reader ([MS-DOC]): text, formatting, styles, sections, headers/footers, tables, lists, notes, fields, bookmarks; inline and floating pictures (PNG, JPEG, DIB, TIFF, EMF, WMF; Macintosh PICT as a sized placeholder) with crop, alt text, position and wrap; basic shapes, lines, groups and text boxes ([MS-ODRAW]). Table cell shading from every SHD record (`sprmTDefTableShd`, `sprmTDefTableShdRaw` and their 2nd/3rd ranges, with the Word 97 `Shd80` as fallback; a clear pattern shows its background colour); the row-end mark is not a cell, and each table has its own grid and properties (#1380). Horizontally merged rows stored as fewer, wider cells come with #1123. Freeform shapes, z-order and Word 6/95 files are dropped or refused. Password-protected files (XOR obfuscation, RC4, RC4 CryptoAPI) open after a password prompt, from the public specs; not yet tried on a file Word wrote (AES-encrypted ones are refused). No writer. DIB conversion caps BMP bytes (header included) and encoded PNG at the supplied BLIP byte limit, and uses it as the decoder's allocation limit; a BMP fallback is kept if it fits (related #1334 and #1554). |
-| PDF export | 8% | W | — | ✅ | ~80% | 6–10 | `crates/pdf/src/tests.rs` | krilla: embedded subsets, selectable text incl. field results (#133); Hebrew and Arabic copy and search as whole words (right-to-left glyphs written in visual order, #1383); All Caps and Small Caps text extracts as the capitals shown, as from Word's PDFs, and never changes the case of other text (#1473), links, outline, tagging. Fonts it can't subset become outlines (#132). Print Markup (#589): comments in balloons beside each page (scaled to its paper) and tracked changes; HTML/Markdown/text copies end with a comment list. Horizontal and vertical lines inside groups are drawn (#1474). No PDF/A option, no "best for printing/online" choice |
+| PDF export | 8% | W | — | ✅ | ~80% | 6–10 | `crates/pdf/src/tests.rs` | krilla: embedded subsets, selectable text incl. field results (#133); Hebrew and Arabic copy and search as whole words (right-to-left glyphs written in visual order, #1383, also with fonts that draw lam-alef as two glyphs at one x, #2310); All Caps and Small Caps text extracts as the capitals shown, as from Word's PDFs, and never changes the case of other text (#1473), links, outline, tagging. Fonts it can't subset become outlines (#132). Print Markup (#589): comments in balloons beside each page (scaled to its paper) and tracked changes; HTML/Markdown/text copies end with a comment list. Horizontal and vertical lines inside groups are drawn (#1474). No PDF/A option, no "best for printing/online" choice |
 | PDF open (PDF Reflow, Word for Windows) | 1% | R | ❌ | — | 0% | 30–50 | — | Converting a PDF into an editable document. A sibling app (PdfCraft) may supply the parser |
 | `.rtf` Rich Text Format | 3% | R/W | 🟡 | 🟡 | ~50% | 10–15 | `crates/formats/src/tests.rs` | ~1,500 lines: text, character/paragraph formatting, styles, lists, tables, pictures (`\shppict`, #154), fields, bookmarks. 8-bit text in the document's code page (`\ansicpg`) or the current font's (`\fcharset`, `\cpg`): Cyrillic, Central European, Greek, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic, Baltic, Vietnamese, Thai (was Windows-1252 only), Mac OS Roman (`\mac`, `\fcharset77`) and DOS code pages (`\pc` 437, `\pca` 850, `\cpg` 437/737/850/852/857/866, `\fcharset254`) (#1653). Double-byte East Asian code pages (Japanese `\fcharset128`, Chinese, Korean) not decoded yet. Pasted from the system clipboard where the platform offers it (Windows, Wayland) when there is no HTML (#687). Tracked insertions and deletions read and written (`\revtbl`, `\revised`/`\deleted`, authors, `\revdttm` dates), so Accept/Reject All work after opening or a round trip; paragraph-mark and formatting revisions not yet. Sections on import (#1378): each `\sect` ends a section with its own page size and orientation, margins, header/footer distance, columns, break type, page-number restart, start and format, title page and headers/footers (those it leaves out link to the previous); export still writes one section. Thin: comments, notes, section export, RTL |
 | `.odt` OpenDocument Text | 2% | R/W | 🟡 | 🟡 | ~50% | 8–12 | `crates/formats/src/tests.rs`, `crates/formats/src/odt.rs` unit tests, `crates/engine/tests/odt_sections.rs` | Styles, lists (#87), tables, pictures, headers/footers, page breaks (#86), page size, orientation and margins (#810), sections: one per master-page change on a paragraph or table (next page, with its own page size, orientation, margins, columns and page-numbering restart) and per columned `text:section` (continuous, with its columns and separator line) (#1379); tracked insertions and deletions with author and date, inserted and deleted paragraph marks and text inserted then deleted included (ODF change tracking; format changes read as none; pictures and tables inside a tracked deletion are dropped). No footnotes, comments, fields or RTL |
@@ -238,6 +238,7 @@ attributes inside stories and style or list definitions; a regenerated theme. Te
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | RTF reads and writes tracked insertions and deletions with their authors and dates (gap 19); deleted text no longer opens as normal text |
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | ODT import reads sections: a paragraph naming another master page starts a new-page section with that page's size, orientation, margins and columns, and its `style:page-number` restart; a columned `text:section` is a continuous section with its columns (#1379) |
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | PDF export writes right-to-left runs' glyphs in visual order, so Chrome, Edge (PDFium) and poppler extract Hebrew and Arabic as whole words (vowelled words keep their letters in order but may extract with spaces inside), and Ctrl+F finds them (#1383). `/ReversedChars` (for strict file-order readers) covers plain runs and vowelled runs whose marks split into their own glyphs, not runs with ligatures or mixed directions |
+| 2026-10-16 | trivial | PDF export: right-to-left clusters drawn at the same x (lam-alef as a lam and a zero-width alef, as in the static Noto Naskh Arabic builds) are written in reverse text order, so the run keeps `/ReversedChars` and السلام no longer extracts as السالم (#2310) |
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | HTML: `<th>` bold, cell `text-align` (own or inherited) reaches the cell's paragraphs; HTML, Markdown and plain text open on the region's paper, in the app and `wordcraft-cli` (#1381) |
 | 2026-10-13 | trivial | PDF export draws horizontal and vertical lines inside groups (#1474) |
 | 2026-10-14 | trivial | RTF import keeps sections: page size and orientation, margins, columns, break type, page numbering and each section's headers and footers (#1378) |