Likhari

1. Getting started

Likhari opens with a blank page in a tabbed editor — you can have several documents open at once. Documents are saved as .lkhdoc files, which embed your images so a document is fully self-contained.

A 60-second tour

1. Pick your language keyboard in Format → Keyboard Layout (or leave it on “Direct” to use your OS keyboard).
2. Start typing — Urdu/Pashto/Sindhi text shapes into Nastaliq as you go.
3. Use the toolbar for bold, italic, colour, font and size on the selected text.
4. Add columns, tables and images from the menus.
5. Save (Ctrl+S), then Export to PDF or PNG — what you see is what you get.

2. Keyboards & languages

Format → Keyboard Layout opens a picker with a live on-screen keyboard preview so you can see what each key produces before you commit:

• Phonetic (Roman → Urdu) — type the sounds in Roman letters and Likhari converts them to Urdu script.
• Positional layouts for Urdu, Pashto and Sindhi — the traditional key positions for each language.
• Direct — no translation; type through your own Windows input method (the default).

Your choice becomes the default for new documents and is shown live in the status bar. The same translation applies inside dialogs — table cells, headers/footers and Find & Replace — not just the main page.

3. Typing Nastaliq & mixed text

As you type Urdu, Pashto, Arabic or Sindhi, letters join and stack into proper Nastaliq shapes with correct dot placement. You can freely mix right-to-left script with left-to-right English words and numbers on the same line — each runs the correct direction automatically.

Kashida (kasheeda) justification

Set a paragraph to justified and Likhari fills each line by stretching the connecting strokes (kashida/tatweel) of the script, the way authentic Nastaliq typesetting does — rather than opening large gaps between words.

4. Formatting text

• Bold / Italic — Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I, applied to the selected text.
• Text colour — a colour dialog with hex input and presets.
• Font & size — the toolbar pickers apply to the current selection; with nothing selected, they set the document default.

5. Columns

Format → Columns sets the body text to one, two or three newspaper-style columns with a configurable gutter. Text fills the first column top to bottom, then continues at the top of the next column on the same page — ideal for newsletters and bulletins.

6. Tables

Insert → Table… adds a table; choose its placement:

• Inline — sits in the text flow at the cursor as its own block and moves as you edit around it.
• Float left / Float right — sits at a fixed spot with body text wrapping around it.

Set border style (none / solid / dashed / dotted), weight and colour. Click a cell to edit it in place; Tab / Shift+Tab move between cells, and typing translates through your active keyboard. A table taller than a page splits between rows across pages, closing each fragment with a bottom border and continuing with a top border. Insert → Edit Table… resizes or deletes whichever table you last clicked into; you can have several tables in one document.

7. Images

Insert → Image… picks an image, embeds it in the document, and opens a placement dialog:

• Inline — the image becomes its own centered block in the text flow and moves with your edits; Backspace/Delete removes it like a character.
• Floating — the image sits at a fixed position with text wrapping around its left or right side, or jumping above and below it. Click a floating image to select it, then Delete to remove it.

Insert → Edit Image… resizes, repositions or rewraps the selected image via numeric fields.

8. Headers, footers & page setup

• Headers & footers — add repeating header/footer text with automatic page numbering.
• File → Page Setup — choose A4, Letter or a custom paper size, and set margins.
• Rulers — the View menu toggles a horizontal (top) and vertical (side) ruler to help you place things precisely.

9. Find & Replace

Ctrl+F opens a non-modal Find & Replace panel with Find Next, Replace, Replace All and an optional match-case toggle. Its text boxes use whichever keyboard the active document is set to, so you can search in Urdu, Pashto or Sindhi as easily as in English.

10. Exporting & printing

File → Export writes a PDF or PNG that matches the screen exactly — the same columns, tables (including tables split across pages), inline and floating images, per-character formatting and header/footer bands with page numbers. PDF pages are sized to your paper choice; PNG stacks the pages as they appear in the editor.

11. Free vs Pro

Likhari is free to use — the entire word processor is unlocked, in every language, with no time limit. The only difference is a small export watermark that a one-time Pro purchase removes.

The free watermark is a discreet “Created with Likhari” line centered along the bottom of exported/printed pages; Pro removes it everywhere. Upgrade any time from the Upgrade to Pro toolbar button or Help → Upgrade to Pro. Pro is a one-time purchase (not a subscription) and re-unlocks automatically on your other Windows devices signed in to the same store account.

12. Saving, recovery & recent files

• Save / Save As (Ctrl+S) writes a self-contained .lkhdoc (text, formatting, tables, images, columns and page setup).
• File → Open Recent lists your last ten documents.
• Unsaved-changes warning — closing a tab or the window prompts you to save any document with unsaved edits.
• Crash recovery — open documents are snapshotted periodically; after an unexpected close, the next launch offers to recover them.

13. Keyboard shortcuts

14. Troubleshooting

• Typing produces English instead of Urdu/Pashto/Sindhi. Pick the right layout in Format → Keyboard Layout — “Direct” passes your keystrokes straight through with no translation.
• A dialog (table/header/find) types in English. Dialog boxes follow the active document’s keyboard — set the layout on the document first.
• A font/size change hit the whole document. Select the text first; with nothing selected, the pickers set the document default by design.
• A floating image or table landed on the wrong page. Floating items are positioned by a fixed coordinate set when inserted — use Edit Image / Edit Table to reposition, especially in multi-column documents.
• My export has a watermark. That’s the free tier’s “Created with Likhari” mark — the one-time Pro unlock removes it from all exports and prints.