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Switch text direction from ltr to rtl and vice versa in Google Chrome

Shobhit Kumar Prabhakar

June 28, 20121 min read

Today, I accidentally found two keyboard shortcuts in Google Chrome to switch text direction in Address bar from rtl (Right to Left) to ltr (Left to Right) and ltr to rtl.

This quite simple and can be used as a prank on friend’s systems. 😉

Here you go:

Open Google Chrome..
Click on Address bar.
Press [Right CTRL] + [Right Shift] and the text direction will become LTR.
You can press [Left CTRL] + [Left Shift] keys together to switch it back to RTL.

I also noticed one thing. If you have Google Chrome window opened and you open another Chrome window, then it will not work in second window. This may be a bug.

Try this and have fun. 🙂

Shobhit Kumar Prabhakar

Shobhit Kumar Prabhakar, known online as GeekLord, is a software developer and the founder of Cyber Mitra Solutions in Lucknow, India. He has worked on websites, applications, and data systems since 2005, with experience spanning more than 800 web projects and over 600 survey instruments. His work includes custom WordPress themes and plugins, web applications, e-commerce, and multilingual field surveys built with ODK, SurveyCTO, KoboToolbox, and XLSForm. Survey projects involve skip logic, repeat groups, randomisation, validation, multimedia, and offline data collection. He also works on data cleaning, analytics, reporting, APIs, Linux and cloud deployments, and AI tools and automation using PHP, Python, and JavaScript. He holds a B.Tech in Information Technology from Uttar Pradesh Technical University and a diploma in Electrical Engineering from Hewett Polytechnic, Lucknow. On GeekLord.com, he shares practical guides, code, troubleshooting notes, and experiments in programming, web development, AI, and useful software, alongside photography and personal writing. His fuller background and project examples are on the About Shobhit page and shobhit.net.

3 technical comments on “Switch text direction from ltr to rtl and vice versa in Google Chrome”

Ebrahim Byagowi says:
April 21, 2013 at 04:00
Hi. This will not work on Linux and Mac but with this tiny extension https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/switch-direction/fldkjfjmcadcklboajlnclnfjpdopcce you can! 🙂
Reply
berrada says:
June 13, 2019 at 05:45
thank you so much you saved me, iwa very frustrated
Reply
Uri Weiner says:
February 21, 2023 at 16:11
Very useful for me Thank!
Reply

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