Writing Arabic for email: clear text for a small screen

A reader doesn't sit down with your newsletter the way they sit down with a book. They usually open it on their phone, between two other things, in a crowded inbox. That makes writing for email its own craft: the same ideas, but in shorter sentences, clearer paragraphs and a shorter path to what matters.

This guide is about the writing itself, and about the settings that make Arabic arrive the way you wrote it. For the editor's clicks step by step, see the Help Center.

Write for someone reading on a phone

Start with what matters to the reader, not with a warm-up. If the issue has one piece of news or one idea worth their time, put it in the first line. Long introductions belong in books; in email they are often the reason the message gets closed.

• One idea per paragraph, two to four sentences each. A long paragraph on a phone screen looks like a wall of text.
• Short sentences with a clear verb. If a sentence needs a second reading, split it.
• Cut what adds nothing: repetition, stock phrases, vague promises. Readers notice who respects their time.
• End with one step if you want the reader to do something: one clear link beats five competing ones.

There is no right length for every newsletter. A short news brief and a long essay both work when the reader knows what to expect. If your piece really is long, write it in Posts: it is emailed and also stays on your page, and you can add an “Email cut” so the email stops where you choose and the reader continues on the web.

The subject line and the first line

The editor has two different fields: “Newsletter Title”, the issue's title on your page and at the top of the email, and “Email Subject Line”, which is what readers see in their inbox. The subject decides whether the email gets opened, so write it like a headline: specific, honest, and saying what is inside.

• Say the thing, don't describe it: “Three Arabic books out this month” is clearer than “News from the book world”.
• Avoid ad language, hype and stacks of exclamation marks; they weaken trust and look like spam.
• If you are stuck, try the “AI Subject Line Generator” in the Settings step, then pick a suggestion with “Apply” or use it as a starting point and edit it yourself.

Headings and fonts

Subheadings let readers scan before they read, and find their way back to what they care about. Keep them short and meaningful: “What changed in the market” is more useful than “Part two”.

Fonts are set once for every issue in Newsletter Style, not issue by issue. Under “Font selection” switch to “Arabic Fonts”, then choose the “Headline Font” and the “Body Font”. The Arabic fonts are Cairo, IBM Plex Sans Arabic, Tajawal, Almarai, Amiri, Noto Naskh Arabic, Noto Sans Arabic, Noto Kufi Arabic, Scheherazade New, Readex Pro and Rubik, plus a “Typography preset” with ready choices such as “News Daily” and “Personal Essay”.

• For long text, choose a calm font with clear letterforms, Naskh or sans, and don't push the contrast between headline and body fonts too far.
• One font for headings and one for body text is enough. More fonts scatter the eye.
• Uploading your own font isn't possible yet; choose from the list.

Many inboxes don't display Arabic fonts the way you chose them. That is why “Pixel-perfect headlines” exists under “Advanced” in Newsletter Style, on every plan: headings arrive in your chosen font in every inbox, even Gmail, because they are sent as images, with the words kept for readers who block images. Details in Newsletter Style: fonts and colours.

Standard Arabic or dialect?

This is an editorial decision, not a technical one, and what matters most is consistency. Modern Standard Arabic reaches Arabic readers wherever they are, and suits news, analysis and writing people keep and come back to. Dialect can suit a personal newsletter for readers in one country, or a close, conversational tone.

Pick one register for your newsletter and keep to it; readers get used to your voice. If you mix, do it on purpose: a line of dialect in a quote, a short wry aside, not paragraphs that switch for no reason. If you write a quick draft in dialect, the AI menu on text in the newsletter editor has a dialect-to-MSA tool, and nothing changes until you choose “Replace” or “Insert below”. Always read the result yourself: the tool suggests, you are the writer. More in AI writing tools.

Arabic and English in one text

The direction of the whole issue comes from “Newsletter Language” in the editor's settings: Arabic runs right to left, English left to right. Set it before you write, because it controls block order and alignment.

• Brand and product names can stay in Latin letters if that is how your readers know them; don't translate what doesn't translate.
• An English phrase inside an Arabic sentence should stay short. A sentence that starts in Arabic and ends with a long English clause gets jumbled on screen.
• A full English paragraph belongs in its own paragraph. The Posts editor has “Direction” (Automatic, Right to left or Left to right) for each paragraph, so an English paragraph stays straight inside an Arabic article.

If you have two audiences, don't squeeze both languages into one issue. Write the issue in Arabic, use “Translate to English” on the issue's card on the Newsletters page, review the translation before sending, and send each version to its own list. Translation is on the Starter plan and up; see Duplicate and translate.

Numbers, punctuation and diacritics

Choose one set of digits and use it throughout: Eastern Arabic (٠١٢) or Western (012). Mixing them in one paragraph looks like a mistake even when every number is right. If you have many numbers, such as prices, percentages and dates, put them in short sentences or a list rather than a crowded paragraph.

The Posts editor has a layer made for Arabic, under “Arabic typing” in the Settings column:

• “Smart punctuation”: types the Arabic comma ، semicolon ؛ question mark ؟ and «» quotation marks instead of their Latin versions.
• “Numerals”: as typed, ٠١٢ or 012, with a button that converts every number in the post at once.
• These choices are saved in the browser you write in; on another device, set them again there.

Before every send, use “Send Test Email” to yourself and open it on your phone. What you see there is what your reader sees: paragraph length, line direction, the font and where the numbers fall.