Changing Some Smart Quotes to Non-Smart Quotes

Bill likes using smart quotes, but there are times when straight quotes should be used. He wonders if there is a way to change all quote marks or apostrophes to non-smart versions if they immediately follow a digit.

This can be done using a wild card search in Word. The key, though, is that before searching you need to make sure that you turn off Word's smart quote feature. If you don't, then when making a replacement, Word may turn your straight quote (the replacement text) into a smart quote automatically. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 and later versions display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
2. At the left side of the dialog box click Proofing.
3. Click AutoCorrect Options button. Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.
4. Make sure the AutoFormat As You Type tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The AutoFormat As You Type tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.

5. Make sure the Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes option is cleared.
6. Click OK to dismiss the AutoCorrect dialog box.
7. Click OK to dismiss the Word Options dialog box.

Now you are ready to do your actual finding and replacing:

1. Press Ctrl+H. Word displays the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
2. Click the More button, if it is available. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. The Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

3. Make sure the Use Wild Cards radio button is selected.
4. Put the following in the Find What box: ([0-9])[^0145^0146]
5. Put the following in the Replace With box: \1'
6. Make sure you aren't searching for any formatting or using any formatting in the replacement text.
7. Click Replace All

This sequence of steps works because of the patterns you use in steps 4 and 5. Step 4 means that you want to find any digit ([0-9]) followed by a character having the ANSI code 0146 or 0146. These two codes are used for opening (0146) or closing (0147) smart apostrophes. In step 5, you are replacing what is found with the digit that was found (\1) followed by an apostrophe. Since you previously turned off smart quotes, this replacement is a straight apostrophe.

You can now do another find and replace, but this time for double quotes (quote marks). The only difference in the steps is that you need to use this as your search string in step 4:

([0-9])[^0147^0148]

This search pattern uses the ANSI codes for open (0147) or closing (0148) smart quote marks. For your replacement pattern, in step 5, use this:

\1"

Note that the only difference is that you've swapped out the apostrophe for a regular quote mark.

There is one thing to be aware of in performing the replacement steps outlined above—all instances of the Find What pattern are replaced. If you believe that there are any possible instances in your document where a digit is correctly followed by a smart apostrophe or smart quote, then you'll want to use the controls in the Find and Replace dialog box to steps through the matching instances and make replacements only as necessary.

When you are done with your replacements, you can again go through the steps at the beginning of this tip to turn automatic smart quotes back on. The only difference in the steps is that you select the Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes check box in step 5.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13998) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365.