I copyedit articles for a psych journal using Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac. I occasionally get articles with right-to-left formatting (in English), and I can't seem to rid the doc of this format.
Rather than using iWork, a common office solution for Mac OS X is Microsoft Office: Mac 2011. If you move the Microsoft Office 2011 folder to another location on your computer, or if you rename or modify any of the files in the Microsoft Office 2011 folder, you cannot install product updates.
Bad enough that I can't get it out of the original (or copies of the) document, but it then ends up in my template and any other documents I copy and paste to, even when I think I've removed it. The only work-around I've found is to ask the author to send me a new copy of the article, but I'm bound to run into a non-tech-savvy author at some point. Any suggestions? Too long for a comment so I suggest:. For a misbehaved document, check Word Options, Advanced, Show document content, Document view: Left-to-right. Also, Customize, Home Tab, select Left-to-Right Text Direction, Add, OK.
I don't have Word 2011 to check this so may not work even if it would have done for a different version! May be sufficient for the sample document (or at least rule out a possible fix) and Step 2. Is intended to make it easier to switch RTLLTR at will by making visible little pilcrows with arrows in the Paragraph section of the Home tab.