Vertical text for Japanese, Chinese and Korean

draw.io 08 Mar 2024

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Japanese, Chinese, and Korean texts can be written vertically, and read from right to left. draw.io can now display labels and text shapes vertically without rotating the characters, to be read top down, from the right to the left. Use the Text tab of the format panel to change the Writing Direction.
Change the orientation of Chinese, Korean and Japanese text to vertical, right to left in a draw.io diagram

Change the writing direction in draw.io

  1. Select the shape or text that you want to reformat.
  2. Click on the Text tab of the format panel.
    Change the orientation of Chinese, Korean and Japanese text to be vertical, and read right to left
  3. For Japanese, Chinese and Korean, select Vertical (Right to left) from the Writing Direction list.
    Change the orientation of Chinese, Korean and Japanese text to be vertical, and read right to left in a draw.io diagram

Here’s how all four of the writing directions would look in both English and Japanese, using the Textbox shape.

Examples of the four Writing Direction settings on English and Japanese text in a draw.io diagram

Tip: Choosing Automatic as the writing direction will orient text from left-to-right, unless it is in a language that is only read from right to left (such as Arabic).

You will notice more of a difference in text alignment when you mix scripts, for example, Arabic and Latin characters.
The change in alignment using right to left as the writing direction is more obvious with mixed scripts, such as English and Arabic

Writing direction vs vertical text

The Vertical button in the Text tab of the format panel can also orient text vertically. This button rotates the text so that it is read from the bottom up, whereas the Writing Direction vertical options are always read from the top down.

Comparison of using the Vertical button and the vertical Writing Direction settings on English text in a draw.io diagram

Diagramming in multiple languages

Switch the draw.io editor into another language via the draw.io settings.

  1. Select … > Settings > Language from the draw.io menu.
  2. Select the language you want to use, then refresh the browser tab to re-load the editor.

Alternatively, go directly to our web editor using the two-letter language code as a URL parameter. For example: https://app.diagrams.net/?lang=ko
Go directly to the draw.io editor in your language using the two letter language code

Tip: If you don’t see your language, get in contact with our team. See how to help us translate draw.io and aid us in our mission to make diagramming available to everyone.

Add translations inside a diagram

URL parameters and shape properties can also be used to translate shape and connector labels into multiple languages and make your diagrams multi-lingual.

This method of in-diagram translation keeps all the translated strings in the one place - you don’t need to update multiple files to stay consistent when you want to make changes to a diagram.
Select Extras > Diagram Language and enter a two-letter language code to switch the diagram to another language using the shape properties for that language

Follow this tutorial to translate diagrams directly in the draw.io editor

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