17.3.1.41 textDirection

This element specifies the direction of the text flow for this paragraph.

If this element is omitted on a given paragraph, its value is determined by the setting previously set at any level of the style hierarchy (i.e. that previous setting remains unchanged). If this setting is never specified in the style hierarchy, then the paragraph shall inherit the text flow settings from the parent section.

[Example: Consider a document with a paragraph in which text must be oriented vertically, flowing from left to right horizontally on the page.This setting would be specified with the following WordprocessingML:

<w:pPr>
  <w:textDirection
</w:pPr>

The textDirection element specifies via the lr value in the val attribute that the text flow must be oriented vertically, with subsequent lines stacked from left to right. end example]

Attributes

val (Direction of Text Flow)

Specifies the direction of the text flow for this object.

[Example: Consider a document with a section in which text be oriented vertically, flowing from left to right horizontally on the page.This setting requires the following WordprocessingML:

  <w:sectPr>
    …
    <w:textDirection w:val="lr" />
  </w:sectPr>

The textDirection element specifies via the lr value in the val attribute that the text flow must be oriented vertically, with subsequent lines stacked from left to right. end example]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_TextDirection simple type (17.18.93).

[Note: The W3C XML Schema definition of this element’s content model (CT_TextDirection) is located in A.1. end note]