How to use these tools
Each converter works the same way: type or paste on the left, copy from the right. The details below cover the parts that catch people out.
Unicode to Preeti
Paste your Nepali Unicode text into the left pane. The right pane fills in as you type. Copy the result, paste it into your document, select what you pasted, and set the font to Preeti.
The order matters: paste first, then apply the font. Applying Preeti to an empty selection and then pasting can produce different results depending on the application.
Roman to Nepali
Type Nepali words in English letters and Devanagari appears as you go. Aspirated consonants take a following h, so kha gives ख andchha gives छ. Retroflex consonants use capitals:T for ट, D for ड. Long vowels double up, soee gives ी.
The Roman to Nepali page has the full table of spelling conventions.
Getting the Preeti font
Preeti is a third-party font, not something bundled with Windows or macOS, so it has to be installed before Preeti text will display. On Windows, right-click the font file and choose Install. On macOS, double-click it and confirm in Font Book. Applications already open need restarting before they see a newly installed font.
If you are choosing between the two encodings for new work, prefer Unicode. It needs no font, it survives being emailed, and it can be searched.
Common questions
- Why does the Preeti output look like English letters?
- Because that is what Preeti text is. The font maps Nepali shapes onto English codepoints. Paste the text into your document, select it, and set the font to Preeti — the shapes appear then. If they do not, Preeti is not installed on that computer.
- Is my text sent anywhere?
- No. Both converters run in your browser using tables built into the page. Nothing is uploaded, and the tools keep working if you go offline after the page loads.
- Will this work with Kantipur or other old Nepali fonts?
- No. Kantipur, Sagarmatha, PCS Nepali and similar fonts each use their own mapping. Text typed in those fonts needs a converter built for that specific mapping.
- Is there a length limit?
- No. Conversion happens locally, so the only real limit is your device. Very long documents are best converted a few pages at a time so you can check the result as you go.
- Why did one word convert incorrectly?
- Usually a substituted character in the source, or a Preeti variant that remaps a key. Both panes are editable and re-convert as you type, so you can correct it in place.