---
title: baseWritingDirection
framework: appkit
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Property
path: appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/basewritingdirection
---

# baseWritingDirection

The base writing direction for the paragraph.

## Declaration

```swift
var baseWritingDirection: NSWritingDirection { get set }
```

## Discussion

Discussion If you specify NSWritingDirection.natural, the receiver resolves the writing direction to either NSWritingDirection.leftToRight or NSWritingDirection.rightToLeft, depending on the direction for the user’s language preference setting.

## See Also

### Setting style information

- [setParagraphStyle(_:)](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/setparagraphstyle(_:).md)
- [alignment](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/alignment.md)
- [firstLineHeadIndent](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/firstlineheadindent.md)
- [headIndent](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/headindent.md)
- [tailIndent](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/tailindent.md)
- [lineHeightMultiple](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/lineheightmultiple.md)
- [maximumLineHeight](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/maximumlineheight.md)
- [minimumLineHeight](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/minimumlineheight.md)
- [lineSpacing](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/linespacing.md)
- [paragraphSpacing](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/paragraphspacing.md)
- [paragraphSpacingBefore](appkit/nsmutableparagraphstyle/paragraphspacingbefore.md)