About right-to-left features in data access pages

The feature described in this Help topic is only available if support for right-to-left languages is enabled through Microsoft Office Language Settings.

In addition, to enable the right-to-left features in Microsoft Access, you must be running a 32-bit Microsoft Windows operating system that has right-to-left support รน for example, the Arabic version of Microsoft Windows 2000.

Right-to-left features in data access pages are set according to a two-level hierarchy: page level and control level.

Page level

Initially, a new data access page will be displayed in the direction, either left-to-right or right-to-left, that is selected under Default direction on the International tab in the Options dialog box (Tools menu). That direction appears as a setting of the Dir property of the data access page.

Note   Data access page direction is included in the underlying HTML code of the data access page through use of the standard HTML Direction (DIR) attribute. For example, the code <HTML DIR=RTL> placed at the beginning of the <HTML> element identifies a right-to-left data access page.

Controls placed on a data access page inherit the directionality of the data access page itself, depending on whether the control has right-to-left features. Controls without right-to-left features are displayed in a left-to-right direction.

Control level

Controls with right-to-left features initially appear on a data access page according to the direction of the data access page. After you place a control on a data access page, you might be able to change the control display direction to give it right-to-left appearance and functionality. The property name that controls display direction varies with control type. The properties in the following table control directionality for data access page controls:

Control type Description
Office Web Component controls The Office Web Component controls are the spreadsheet, the PivotChart, and the PivotTable.

The direction setting property is RightToLeft.

Note   Office Web Component controls each have a property toolbox that can be used both while designing the control and in the browser; however, the right-to-left setting can't be changed in the browser.

Intrinsic browser controls Examples of intrinsic browser controls include Table, Label, TextBox, ComboBox, ListBox, OptionGroup, and ScrollingText.

The direction setting property is typically Dir.

ActiveX controls These are other controls that are available with Microsoft Office programs or Microsoft Visual Basic.

The direction setting property is typically RightToLeft.