Hi Mark

Thanks for your reply. I see that I left out a crucial bit of information
from my original post. I'm using Word for Windows, which definitely is
bidirectionally aware. I think, too, my use of the term "freeze" may be too
vague. I'm trying to capture the text from Microsoft Word as it reads on the
page from left to right so that I can use a non-bidirectional program
(InDesign) to typeset the pages, but when I export the text from Word, it
flips the right-to-left text, as one would expect. I had hoped that printing
a PDF file would effectively freeze the order of the characters on the page
so that I could then export the text from Acrobat. That process creates its
own set of problems (the Arabic is lost on export). I was hoping, therefore,
that someone could point me in the direction of a VBA-based solution.

In the end, I think I'm going to have to go with my backup plan--using the
unfortunate MS Publisher to set the book.

Thanks again.

m.