Hebrew keyboard

Free Hebrew Fonts: Typing Hebrew in Google Docs

Typing in Hebrew Using Free Hebrew Fonts

Initially, one of the most challenging aspects of creating this website was having absolutely zero clue how to type in Hebrew and how to seamlessly integrate Hebrew words with the rest of the English text. So, I went to the source and asked my rabbi who said he wrote most of his Hebrew in Google Docs. I had managed to find the way to change the language setting to Hebrew and pull up a Hebrew keyboard, but the vowels were not included in that keyboard. And, I specifically needed vowels to write out my Hebrew lessons. After some extensive trial and error, I finally figured out the perfect free Hebrew fonts to use and how to write Hebrew letters WITH vowels using Google Docs.

First things first, you need to open up Google Docs by either clicking on that link or by going to the url: https://docs.google.com. From there, you will want to click the rainbow + sign for a blank document which is the first option under “start a new document” at the top of the page.

how to add Cardo font in Google Docs

Best Free Hebrew Font: Cardo

Cardo is my favorite free font for Hebrew, however it doesn’t show up on the main font list in Google Docs. Luckily, there is an extremely simple solution to this problem. In order to access additional fonts that are already available in Google Docs but don’t appear in the main drop-down menu, click on the Arial font in the top toolbar and choose “More Fonts.” Type in Cardo in the top left search box, select Cardo when it appears, and press OK when finished. Cardo will be added to your main list of fonts.

Go to your font settings in Google Docs and change the typography from Arial to Cardo. I prefer to enlarge the font size from 11 to size 24 so that I can see the actually see the vowels on the page. Finally, change the alignment of the text so that it is aligned to the right. Your Hebrew text should look like the word Shabbat does below.

שַׁבָּת

Hebrew Typing Online With Vowels

Insert → Special Characters

Insert is the fourth menu option from the left.

Symbol → Middle Eastern Scripts → Hebrew

You will find Special Characters next to a horseshoe icon about halfway down the “Insert” list. Leave the Categories tab alone and fill out the second and third tabs with Middle Eastern Scripts and Hebrew, respectively.

Click on the Hebrew letter that you would like to type and then click on the vowel that is associated with it. Continue to type by clicking letter, vowel, letter, vowel, etc.

If you need to add a dagesh to a letter, click first on the Hebrew letter and then it doesn’t matter whether you add the dagesh or the vowel first, but make sure to click on both before continuing on to writing the next letter in the Hebrew word. The same goes for adding the dot for the Hebrew letter SHIN or SIN.

free Hebrew font

Type Hebrew Without Vowels

The great news is that you can literally just do exactly the same process as above and simply not add any vowels as you type in Hebrew. There is another way — it is kind of unnecessary to know — but I thought I would show you anyway for the sake of sharing all the possible options. You will want to go ahead and change the typography to Cardo and choose a slightly large font size like we did earlier, so that you can properly see the vowels as you type.

File → Language → Hebrew

File is the first menu option on the left. From there, choose Language which is the the fourth option from the bottom. You’ll see an arrow that allows you to scroll alphabetically until you come across Ivrit, the Hebrew language, written in Arial font. 

עברית

You will see an Ayin (ע) on the far right of the menu bar just to the left of the pencil icon or Editing Mode. If you hover on the Ayin (ע), the option will be called Input Tools. Click the down arrow and choose the middle option with the keyboard symbol. From there, a Hebrew keyboard should pop up on your screen. You can click on the Hebrew letters and write in Hebrew. 

Are you a fan of any other fonts for Hebrew? Send us a message and let us know!

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