Arabic Keyboard Online

This virtual keyboard puts the full Arabic alphabet (العربية) in front of you, arranged on the standard Arabic 101 layout — the same key positions used across Windows, macOS, and most Arabic desktops. Every one of the 28 letters has its own key, plus the short vowels, the hamza carriers, and the ligatures that a US or Latin keyboard simply cannot reach. You do not need to relabel your keycaps or memorize a new layout to get started.

Arabic runs right-to-left, and its letters are cursive: each one changes shape depending on whether it starts, sits inside, or ends a word. You still press a single key per letter — the browser joins the forms together for you as you type.

Try it: مرحبا — hello · شكرًا — thank you · كتاب — book · القرآن — the Qur'an

Who Reaches for It

Messaging & Social

Reply to family and post in Arabic from a phone or laptop that has no Arabic input installed.

Study & Scripture

Add harakat while copying Qur'anic verses, poetry, or textbook drills that need full vowelling.

Names & Forms

Enter an Arabic name, address, or search term with the correct hamza and ta marbuta.

How to Type Arabic Text

1

Click or Type a Letter

Tap the on-screen keys with a mouse or finger, or place your cursor in the box and press physical keys — the QWERTY positions map straight onto the Arabic letters (F prints ب, J prints ت, and so on).

2

Watch It Flow Rightward

The text area is set to right-to-left, so the cursor sits on the right edge and new letters push leftward. Words connect automatically as you add each one.

3

Hold Shift for the Marks

Shift swaps the whole layout to its second layer: short vowels, tanwin, extra hamza forms, and Arabic punctuation. Type the consonant first, then Shift-press its diacritic.

4

Copy and Paste

The live counter tracks your character count. When the text reads right, hit Copy and drop it into a chat, document, or search bar.

A stray diacritic is easy to miss because it stacks on the previous letter. Use Backspace to peel off the last mark, or Clear to wipe the box and restart.

Right-to-Left Text and Letter Joining

Two behaviors surprise people coming from Latin keyboards. First, direction: because Arabic is written right-to-left, the caret anchors on the right and your sentence grows to the left. Paired symbols mirror to match — on the number row, pressing Shift over the 9 key gives ) and Shift over 0 gives (, so the brackets face the correct way in an RTL line.

Second, shaping: an Arabic letter has up to four contextual forms — isolated, initial, medial, and final. This keyboard sends one Unicode letter per key; the font decides which connected shape to draw based on its neighbors. That is why ب looks different at the start of a word than at the end, even though you always press the same key.

The dotless tatweel (kashida) ـ lives on Shift + the ت key (J). It stretches the connector between letters for justification or decoration — it is not a letter itself.
The lam-alef لا is a required ligature. It has its own dedicated key (B) rather than being built from ل + ا.
The number keys print Western digits 1 2 3… on this layout, not the Eastern Arabic-Indic set ١ ٢ ٣.

The Shift Layer: Harakat, Tanwin, and Hamza

Everyday Arabic is usually written without short vowels, but scripture, poetry, dictionaries, and beginner texts spell them out. All of those marks hide on the Shift layer, resting on the same keys as the letters you already know.

Short vowels (harakat)

Fatha ◌َ = Shift + ض (Q); damma ◌ُ = Shift + ث (E); kasra ◌ِ = Shift + ش (A); sukun ◌ْ = Shift + ء (X).

Shadda & tanwin

Shadda ◌ّ = Shift + the top-left ذ key. Nunation stacks: fathatan ◌ً (Shift + W), dammatan ◌ٌ (Shift + R), kasratan ◌ٍ (Shift + S).

Hamza carriers

Bare ء (X), أ = Shift + ا (H), إ = Shift + غ (Y), plus ؤ (C) and ئ (Z) on the base layer.

Arabic punctuation

The comma ، = Shift + ن (K), semicolon ؛ = Shift + ح (P), and question mark ؟ = Shift + ظ (the slash key).

Order matters for vowelling: to write كَتَبَ (kataba, "he wrote"), type ك then Shift-fatha, ت then Shift-fatha, ب then Shift-fatha. Each mark attaches to the letter that came just before it.

Where the Special Letters Sit

Beyond the plain consonants, a handful of characters trip up newcomers because there is no Latin equivalent. Here is exactly where they live on the layout:

Ta marbuta ة — the "tied ta" that ends most feminine nouns — sits on the M key. Compare it with the regular ت on J.
Alef maqsura ى — the dotless final ya — is on the N key, right next to the ligature key.
Alef with madda آ — the long "aa" opener, as in آية — is Shift + ى (Shift + N).
Lam-alef family: plain لا (B), with hamza above لأ (Shift + G), with hamza below لإ (Shift + T), and with madda لآ (Shift + B).
The two "heavy" letters ط and ظ sit at the far right of the home and bottom rows (the apostrophe and slash keys), keeping the emphatic pair together.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I add short vowels (harakat) to a letter?

Type the consonant first, then hold Shift and press the matching vowel key. Fatha, damma, and kasra live under Shift on the ض, ث, and ش keys. The mark drops onto the letter you just typed, so it looks stacked rather than inline.

Why do the letters change shape as I keep typing?

That is normal Arabic cursive behavior. Each letter has isolated, initial, medial, and final forms, and the font redraws the surrounding letters as you add more. You are still sending one fixed Unicode letter per key — the connected shapes are chosen automatically by the browser.

How do I type the different hamza forms?

The bare hamza ء is on the X key. ؤ (waw seat) and ئ (ya seat) are on C and Z. For the alef seats, use Shift: أ is Shift + ا and إ is Shift + غ. Pick the carrier that matches the surrounding vowel.

Where are the Arabic comma and question mark?

They are on the Shift layer so your punctuation faces the right way in RTL text. The reversed comma ، is Shift + ن, the semicolon ؛ is Shift + ح, and the mirrored question mark ؟ is Shift + ظ on the slash key.

Do the number keys give ١٢٣ or 1234?

This layout prints Western digits 1 2 3, which are widely used across the Arab world alongside the Eastern Arabic-Indic numerals. If a document specifically needs ١ ٢ ٣, paste those in separately — the on-screen number row here stays on the Western set.

Do I build lam-alef from lam plus alef?

No — press the single لا key on B. It produces the mandatory ligature in one stroke. Its cousins share the neighborhood: لأ, لإ, and لآ are reached with Shift on nearby keys, so you never have to combine them by hand.