How to Use Persian and Eastern Arabic Numerals for Zotero Citations in Microsoft Word

When writing academic papers and theses in Persian or Arabic using Microsoft Word, the Zotero plugin often renders citation reference numbers (e.g. [1], [2]) using Western Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3), even when Word's numeral display setting is configured to Context under File → Options → Advanced.

Goal: Automatically convert Zotero bibliography and in-text citation numbers into Persian / Eastern Arabic digits (۱, ۲, ۳).

The Solution: Modifying the CSL Locale Style

Zotero determines numeral localization through its Citation Style Language (CSL) locale definition. You can enforce native localized digits across your document:

1. In Zotero, navigate to Preferences → Advanced → Config Editor.
2. Search for extensions.zotero.export.bibliographyLocale and set it to fa-IR (or your target RTL language code).
3. Alternatively, edit the CSL style file (.csl) by adding the xml:lang="fa-IR" attribute to the root <style> element:

   <style xmlns="http://purl.org/net/xbiblio/csl" version="1.0" xml:lang="fa-IR">

4. Return to Word and click Zotero Refresh. All bracketed citations will update to Eastern Arabic / Persian numerals smoothly.