w:bCs (Bold — Complex Script)

Applies bold formatting to complex-script (right-to-left and other bidirectional) text in a run.

Parent elements

w:rPr

Description

w:bCs is a toggle property that applies bold formatting to complex-script characters in a run. Complex script characters are those that require special shaping or directionality processing — primarily Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, and related scripts.

It is defined in ECMA-376 Part 1 §17.3.2.2.

This is the complex-script counterpart of w:b, which controls bold for Latin and East Asian text. Both properties can be set independently.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Possible Values	Description
`w:val`	`ST_OnOff`	`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`, `on`, `off`	Enables bold for complex-script characters. Omit to inherit.

Examples

<!-- Bold applied to Arabic text -->
<w:r>
  <w:rPr>
    <w:bCs/>
    <w:rtl/>
  </w:rPr>
  <w:t>نص عربي بالخط العريض</w:t>
</w:r>

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;

var run = new Run(
    new RunProperties(
        new BoldComplexScript(),
        new RightToLeftText()
    ),
    new Text("نص عربي بالخط العريض")
);

Notes

Use w:b for Latin/East Asian bold, w:bCs for complex-script bold. Both are typically set together for consistent styling.
In styles that apply to both script types, both properties are set simultaneously.
The complex-script counterpart for italic is w:iCs, and for font size is w:szCs.