Why Kruti Dev Text Shows English Letters (and How to Fix It)

What is really in the file

Kruti Dev is a legacy font. When a typist presses H, k, k, j, r, the file stores exactly those five English letters, and Kruti Dev 010 draws them as भारत. The Hindi was never in the file - it was in the font.

So when the font is missing, or the text is set in another font, you see the stored letters. The same file opens correctly on the typist's computer and wrongly on yours, which makes it look as if something broke on the way. It did not.

Three ways to fix it

1. Install Kruti Dev 010

If you need to keep working in Kruti Dev - an office template, an exam, a court filing - install the font and reopen the file. The installation guide takes you through it. This is the only fix that leaves the file exactly as it is.

2. Put the font back on the text

Sometimes the font is installed but the text is not using it. That happens after pasting with "Keep Text Only", after changing a template, or when a file typed in a variant ("Kruti Dev 011", "Kruti Dev 010 Condensed") is opened where only 010 exists. Select the text and choose Kruti Dev 010.

3. Convert it to Unicode

If the text has to read correctly everywhere - on phones, in email, in Google Docs, on a website, in a search box - convert it to Unicode Hindi. Paste it into the Kruti Dev to Unicode converter, or upload the whole .docx. The result is real Devanagari that any Hindi font can show.

Which font is the text really in?

Before fixing anything, click inside the English-looking text and read the font box on Word's Home tab.

• It says Kruti Dev 010, but you still see English letters: the font is not installed on this computer. Install it, or convert.
• It says Calibri, Arial or another English font: the text lost its font. Select it and choose Kruti Dev 010 (fix 2 above).
• The box is empty when you select a paragraph: the paragraph mixes fonts. Select a single word at a time to find the Kruti Dev parts.

Excel and PowerPoint behave the same way: the font belongs to each cell or text box, so a sheet can show Hindi in one column and English letters in the next. Select the column and set Kruti Dev 010, or convert the cells.

Documents that mix English and Kruti Dev

Office letters often have English headings and Kruti Dev body text in the same file. The Word file converter on this site changes only the text set in Kruti Dev and leaves everything in English fonts alone, so a mixed document comes out right without any sorting by hand. See how to convert a whole Word file.

Recognising Kruti Dev

Once you know it, Kruti Dev is easy to spot: lots of k (the ा sign), f before consonants (the ि sign), and patterns like dk (का), gS (है) and vkSj (और). If you see boxes or question marks instead, that is a different problem - see why Hindi shows boxes or question marks. If it converts but many letters are wrong, the file may be in another legacy font such as Chanakya, which uses different keys. The list of converters shows what is supported.

Stopping it happening again

• Send a PDF when the other person only needs to read the document.
• Keep a Unicode copy of anything that will be emailed, uploaded or published.
• When a Kruti Dev file must go out, tell the recipient the font: "Kruti Dev 010".