The 4.3 Update and the Chronic RTL Issue in Markdown!

DEVONthink
1

Hello DEVONthink Team,

I was really hoping the new Markdown parser would finally solve the RTL issue on Mac, especially after experiencing the updated engine on iOS, which handles RTL editing beautifully.

However, after testing the new update on Mac, even the Preview still requires the old CSS workaround to display RTL text correctly.

More importantly, the Editor remains completely unusable for RTL languages, as it lacks RTL support entirely—unlike the native, smooth experience in DTTG (iOS).

Do you plan to bring proper, native RTL support to the Mac editor and preview soon, just like it currently works on iOS?

Thank you.

MacBook Pro 16″, M1 Pro, macOS Tahoe 26.5
DEVONthink 4.3

2

We’re aware of the issue. Does RTL work in case of plain text or rich text editing in DEVONthink as expected?

3

Thanks for the quick response, Christian.

Based on more than a year of testing, here is exactly how RTL behaves in DEVONthink compared to native macOS (TextEdit):

1. In DEVONthink:

  • Fail (No RTL layout/alignment at all): Markdown and Plain Text.

  • Success (Excellent RTL support): Rich Text (RTF), Formatted Note, HTML text, and Web archive.

2. In macOS (Native TextEdit app):

  • Success: All the file types mentioned above handle RTL editing perfectly, including Markdown and Plain Text.

This proves that the issue is strictly isolated to how DEVONthink’s editor renders Markdown and Plain Text, while the system itself is fully capable.

4

What’s selected in Format > Alignment > Writing Direction in case of plain text? The plain and rich text editors are actually the same.

5

Thanks, Christian.

As I detailed in my previous post here, I always make sure to select Right-to-Left (for both selection and paragraph) via Format > Alignment > Writing Direction. But even though I do this, Plain Text (.txt) and Markdown act completely different from Rich Text (RTF). While RTF works perfectly, Plain Text and Markdown do not change to RTL layout when editing.

The attached screenshot shows a Markdown file where Right-to-Left is already selected in the menu, but the text in the editor is still broken and forced to the left side.

Screenshot 2025-04-07 at 9.52.55 PM
Screenshot 2025-04-07 at 9.52.55 PM1694×1510 122 KB

6

Not sure how to describe this, but it seems the options in Writing Direction affect only the selected text. If no text is selected, then even if RTL is the option I check, the text does not appear RTL unless the text itself is selected.

7

Thank you.

Yes, I know this very well, but the issue arises after selecting the text and changing the writing direction. The direction is supposed to remain as it was when you started typing; otherwise, what’s the point of changing the direction if it reverts to the opposite direction as soon as you type a single letter?

If you have time, you can read my previous posts on this issue:

Is RTL Text Possible in Markdown Source Mode?

Follow-up: RTL support in Markdown Editor (still an issue?)