Xarab.shx Autocad Font May 2026

Prior to AutoCAD 2008, support for complex RTL scripts was poor. Xarab.shx was the only reliable way to get Arabic text into a drawing without using 3rd party plugins (like Kasheeda). If you open a DWG file from the early 2000s, it almost certainly relies on Xarab.shx.

You have three options to resolve this: Substitution, Conversion, or Recreation.

For CAD managers maintaining legacy drawings, simply substituting the font is not enough. You need a robust replacement that supports SHX Big Fonts for multilingual drawings. Xarab.shx Autocad Font

AutoCAD 2021 and later have improved Unicode support. To replace Xarab.shx without losing data:

To understand the reverence for Xarab.shx, one must understand the history of CAD in the Middle East. Prior to AutoCAD 2008, support for complex RTL

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Autodesk did not natively support Arabic. Engineers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt had to rely on "localized" versions of AutoCAD. These were often modified by third-party developers.

During this era, Xarab.shx became the industry standard. It was the default font for governmental architectural standards, municipality submission drawings, and construction documents. Even today, many large consultancy firms in the Gulf region have drafting standards that explicitly mandate the use of Xarab.shx to ensure that legacy drawings (dating back 20 years) remain editable and consistent. If Xarab

If Xarab.shx fails to produce satisfactory connected Arabic text, replace it with:

To use a TTF font in AutoCAD:
STYLE → New style → Font Name → select Simplified Arabic → Apply → use normally with RTL text entry.

Visually, Xarab.shx is the Arabic equivalent of the standard Simplex.shx. It is a single-stroke, simplex-style font. It does not have varying line weights (bold/italic) in the traditional sense. Instead, it relies on line thickness determined by the plot style or layer settings.