Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 22, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365
Mina's document uses smart quotes. This means that apostrophes after digits (such as 27' meaning 27 feet) need to be manually changed to prime marks. Mina wonders if there is a way, using Find and Replace, to change all apostrophes after digits to primes and all quote marks after digits to double primes.
The easiest way to do this is to follow these steps:
Figure 1. The AutoFormat As You Type tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.
These steps effectively turn off smart quotes, but it doesn't change any smart quotes already existing in your document. (It is step 5 that controls the option.) Now you are ready to do your find and replace operation:
Figure 2. The Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
Note that in step 2 there is a trailing apostrophe, along with the same in step 3. This means you are first replacing any number followed by an apostrophe with that original number and apostrophe followed by another (a second) apostrophe. This is why you need to perform steps 6-8, to get rid of the extra apostrophe.
When done, you can repeat the same steps, but using quote marks in steps 2, 3, 6, and 7. Close the Find and Replace dialog box, and then repeat the earlier steps to turn smart quotes back on (step 5). The result is that you end up with primes instead of smart quotes (or smart apostrophes) after your digits.
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