Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Adding Quotes.

Adding Quotes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 10, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


2

Normally, you add quote marks to your text as you type. There may be times, however, when you want to add the quote marks at a later time. For instance, while editing your document you may select some text and then want quote marks added around the selected text. You can accomplish this task with the following macro:

Sub AddQuotes()
    Dim sBegQ As String
    Dim sEndQ As String

    If Len(Selection.Range.Text) > 1 Then
        If Right(Selection.Range.Text, 1) = " " Then
            Selection.End = Selection.End - 1
        End If

        If Options.AutoFormatAsYouTypeReplaceQuotes Then
            sBegQ = Chr(147)
            sEndQ = Chr(148)
        Else
            sBegQ = Chr(34)
            sEndQ = Chr(34)
        End If

        Selection.InsertBefore sBegQ
        Selection.InsertAfter sEndQ
    End If
End Sub

The macro checks to make sure you have more than a single character selected. If so, then it makes sure the last character in the selection isn't a space, then determines the proper type of quote marks to use, based on whether you have Word's SmartQuotes turned on or not. The proper quotes are then placed before and after the selection.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13326) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Adding Quotes.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Excluding Some Data from a Chart

Excel is a whiz at creating charts from your worksheet data. When the program tries to determine what should be included ...

Discover More

Automatically Printing an Envelope

When you create a letter, you may want to have Word print a single envelope for that letter. You can do so by following ...

Discover More

Splitting Sentences to Cells

If you have a lot of text in your workbook, at some point you might want to split out sentences into individual cells. ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Deleting a Page

Want to delete the current page? There is no automatic command to perform this task in Word, but you can create your own ...

Discover More

Not Selecting Images when Selecting Text

When selecting text in a document that contains images, it is important to understand the relationship of those images ...

Discover More

Inserting a Non-Breaking Space

In Word a non-breaking space will help you keep two words together on the same line. Here's two different ways that you ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is nine minus 1?

2025-06-10 09:35:47

Timothy J. McGowan

For court reporters and others who work with monospaced fonts or otherwise routinely use two or more spaces to separate sentences, a small tweak might be helpful.

Replace this...
If Right(Selection.Range.Text, 1) = " " Then
Selection.End = Selection.End - 1
End If

...with this.
While Right(Selection.Range.Text, 1) = " "
Selection.End = Selection.End - 1
Wend


2021-11-27 10:35:39

Karen Schouest

Thanks so much for this macro, Allen. I love it! In addition to the original code to use for manually selected text, I have also modified it to add numerous versions to automatically select from one to five words to the left or right and add the quotes. I then added those shortcuts to my text expander (I use InstantText, but this shortcut will work with any text expander that allows the use of commands). So, for example, I press the IT shortcut ql3 plus my marker key (semicolon for me), and it runs the macro, which automatically selects the 3 words to the left of my cursor, adds the quotes, and then unselects the text. Likewise, ql2 selects 2 words ("q" for "quotation marks"; "l" for "left"), qr2 adds quotation marks to the 2 words to the right of the cursor, etc. That's quicker and easier than remembering and pressing the numerous shortcut keys. Super-quick and easy! I think anything beyond 5 words is just as quick to manually select it rather than keep counting the words, and in that case, I use the original AddQuotes macro. Easy-peasy. Thanks for another great macro! :)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.