WD6X: Straight and Smart Quotes Under AutoCorrect and AutoFormat

• Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0, 6.0a
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, version 6.0, 6.0.1

SUMMARY

Word provides two ways of automatically changing straight quotation marks (those entered from the keyboard) to smart quotation marks (the "curly", or "typographical" quotation marks). The two methods are found under different menus, and are independent of each other. One method changes the marks as you type them, the other changes them after they've been typed. This article describes the differences between the two.

MORE INFORMATION

AutoCorrect's "Change 'Straight Quotes' to 'Smart Quotes'"

All items listed in the AutoCorrect dialog box are changes Word makes to the document as you type it. An "x" in the "Change 'Straight Quotes' to

'Smart Quotes'" box means that when you first type a quotation mark, Word 

To find this dialog box, click AutoCorrect on the Tools menu.

If AutoCorrect is selected and the font in use does not support the "smart quotes", a pipe symbol (vertical line) appears in the document or on the printed page, instead of quotation marks.

AutoFormat's "Replace Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes"

Everything listed in this dialog box is a change that takes place when you run the AutoFormatter. The AutoFormat feature makes a guess as to what your document ought to look like and applies new formatting. This feature is generally used after a document has been typed, or to format a document that was created in another format, such as ASCII or Word for MS-DOS.

To find this dialog box, click Options on the Tools menu, then select the AutoFormat tab.

To automatically format a document, either click the AutoFormat button on the Standard toolbar or click AutoFormat on the Format menu.