Straight quotes (Word SP SR1)

[richardbarrett]

Our users generally have Smart Quotes turned on. We occasionally want to use "straight" quotes (for ditto marks), but they always turn into "curly" quotes which requires that the user Undo the action. Is there a character that will always give us straight quotes and not be affected by the Smart Quotes setting?

Thanks
Richard Barrett

[jscher2000]

I don't think so, unless you want to go fishing in exotic character sets. How about a macro that turns off smart quotes, enters the quotation mark, then turns it back on? Maybe it would be necessary to add a space or move the insertion point before turning it back on. Hmmm... haven't tried it.

[macropod]

Richard,
I can think of a cure, but it's probably worse than the disease:
Insert a field with {QUOTE 34} or {SYMBOL 34}
Other than 'Undo', which you already know about, you could also try temporarily turning off the option to replace "straight quotes" with "smart quotes" via Tools|Auto Correct|Autoformat as you Type.
Cheers

[AndrewO]

I agree that the cures may be worse than the problem.
You could also use insert symbol or autocorrect to change the text such as ('ditto' or something else) into ".

[TimNott]

I've always hoped that MS would make this part of a style, so when typing code fragments into a normal document you could go straight to , say Courier + No proofing + No smart quotes.
However, this seems to work:
Insert, symbol, choosethe straight quotes, then assign it a key combo -- say Control + "
Except that Control + ' is already in use, so perhaps Alt +' would be better. Alt + " seems to be assigned to some outline view thing, but that seems a small loss.

[richardbarrett]

Even assigned to a key combo, the straight quotes seem to switch to curly quotes if that setting is on under AutoCorrect.

I think that training users to use Ctl-Z when they want straight quotes is best. Not everyone turns Smart Quotes on, so it's not going to be a consistent issue.

Thanks to everyone.

[TimNott]

I've just tried the insert symbol from a key combo in various versions of Word for Windows It works OK in 2000, XP, and the Office 11 beta. It don't work in '97

[TimNott]

And furthermore, I've just realised I screwed up there. It doesn't work if you don't specify a font: that is if you have (normal text) in the Insert Symbol font dialog. Sorry about that, folks. Back to the drawing board...

[jscher2000]

I had the AutoCorrect epiphany this morning, and assigning q to " works (it doesn't curve) in Word 2000 patched up to SP2. A lower case q followed by a space would seem to be fairly rare, so I think this is a relatively safe choice.

My guess as to why this works but the keystroke combination doesn't is that Word doesn't "double-process" the q. That is, you type q then space, Word replaces it with " and space, and then doesn't go back and curve the " character, likely because it was not "typed" by the user. Using a key combination to enter a character would seem to be the same as typing it, so Smart Quotes kick in. But that's just a theory.

[AndrewO]

Yes Word doesn't double process - but that is by design - it specifically overrides default processing. <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>
Autocorrect is used to apply spelling, formatting and other special features.
For instance we had a project that used a logo that was bold, with half the word in italics - autocorrect was great - we typed the word and it automatically reformatted itself.
The " is simply an example of this kind of "do what I want" designed functionality.

[macropod]

<hr>A lower case q followed by a space would seem to be fairly rare<hr>

Not much hope for Iraq then?

[jscher2000]

I think you need some kind of joking smiley there... you know I meant q by itself. [rolling-eyes-exhaling]

[DaveA]

How about qq and then a space, you will have a tough time having an error with this <img src=/S/evilgrin.gif border=0 alt=evilgrin width=15 height=15>