Curly quotation marks may seem cool in your word document, but as soon as you open the .doc file on platforms other than Microsoft Word, a black diamond with a huge question mark ― � may appear on the document.
You never know the frustration of getting this ‘unrecognizable character’ sign if you’re not playing with words.
This happens if the other platform doesn’t support the character encoding.
However, in this article, we’ll cover how to avoid this type of situation by reversing the quotation mark in Word. And also how to change the quotation marks in Word that you’ve already written.
Let’s begin.
Curly Quotes Vs. Straight Quotes: When to Use?
Using different styles of quotation marks didn’t matter when most of the writers used to compose their thoughts in MS Word. Now, as Microsoft Word isn’t the only big player in the documentation world, exceptional characters are shown broken on other platforms.
Having said that, two types of quotation marks/speech marks are available for you. And from the heading of this passage, you can guess what those are. One of those is referred to as curly (“) quotation — the often used one. And the latter is a straight inverted (“) comma ― the earlier version of the smart quotation.
Generally, there’s no grammatical restriction for using any of these inverted quotations. You can use them whenever you feel like using them, wherever you please, to see their place.
Trouble begins when you change the reading platform rather than MS Word. Alternative platforms such as google docs, Zoho writer, and WPS software sometimes fail to recognize the character encoding of Microsoft Word. Hence, the black block of unidentifiable character.
And you can resolve that issue by attending to a few changes to your Word client. Check out the following passage to figure out how to do that.
Check out our separate post on how to insert word page numbers in MS Word.
How to Change Quotation Marks Style in MS Word
Let’s get straight to the changing of quotation marks. But before commencing that point, you need to discover with which quotation mark you’re getting the block � .
What you can do is, type the quotation mark on your Word document along with some sentences. Save the file in Docx format and open that file with Google Docs. Notice any irritating changes?
Yes, you need to change that exact quotation mark style from your Word document. The procedure? Read along to find out.
Here are the steps to flip quotation marks in Word:
- Launch Microsoft Word from your computer.
- Move to the File section from the dashboard.
- Find out the Options menu from the left pane and click on it. A popup window will appear.
- Select proofing from the left pane.
- Click on the Autocorrect Options from the proofing menu. Another window will pop up.
- Go to AutoFormat as you type tab.
- Tick on “straight quotes” with “smart quotes” in the replace as you type section.
- Move on to the AutoFormat tab if you are done.
- Mark the “straight quotes” with “smart quotes.”
- Click Ok to save the changes.
That’s how you change quotation marks in Microsoft Word. It’s the standard procedure to follow if you want to modify your writing style in advance.
But, what happens to the article that you wrote earlier applying this modification? Check out the next section to clear that up.
Here’s a complete guide on how to set background image on MS Word.
How to Flip the Existing Quotation Marks in Word
In case you wrote some words before even comprehending this issue, don’t think you can’t undo the errors. There’s a straightforward way to flip the quotation marks of your current writings.
Here’s the procedure to change the existing quotation marks:
- Open the document with Microsoft Word.
- Press Ctrl + H to launch the find and replace section.
- Go to the replace tab.
- Write down the quotation mark in the Find What As the screenshot.
- Scribble the other quote that you want to switch with in the Replace with box, e.g. (“)
- Click on the Replace All button.
- Save the document and exit.
Note: You can also convert the document from a source that doesn’t support the smart quotations in this manner.
I suppose you got all the information that you were seeking from this article. But, would you like to know about keyboard shortcuts for quotation mark symbols? Have a look at the following segment.
Also, check out our separate post on how to make only one page landscape in Word.
How to Create Smart Quotation Marks in Microsoft Word
Though you can easily access all the symbols and quotation marks from the insert tab in MS Word, utilizing a keyword shortcut can be proven handy. Especially if you don’t want to move the fingers from the keyboard.
In this section, I’ll add some shortcut keys for producing quotation marks in Microsoft Word. Bookmark this page if you tend to forget the basic shortcuts like me!
Here is the quotation marks shortcut for Microsoft Word:
| Symbol Name | Symbol | Shortcut Key (Windows) | Shortcut Key (Mac) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smart Quote/ Curly Quote (Single) | ‘ | Alt +0145 | Option + ] |
| Smart Quote/ Curly Quote (Single) | ’ | Alt + 0146 | Shift +Option + ] |
| Smart Quote/ Curly Quote (Double) | “ | Alt +0147 | Option + [ |
| Smart Quote/ Curly Quote (Double) | ” | Alt + 0148 | Shift +Option + ] |
That’s how you can use the speech quotation in your Word document. Have further queries regarding this matter? Jump to the subsequent section. I’ve arranged that segment with relevant questions along with the appropriate responses.
Quickly check out our epic guide on how to enable word wrap in notepad.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my quotation marks backward on Word?
Most probably, you’ve enabled the left-to-right text on Microsoft word. Also, after installing particular softwares, viewing some texts can be inverted.
How do you flip the quotes on a keyboard?
Press and Alt on your keypad > Type 34 consecutively. You’ll be able to flip the quotes.
How do you change curly quotes to straight quotes in word?
Go to AutoFormat tab > tick on “straight quotes” with “smart quotes” > Click ok.
The Bottom Line
Changing the quotation mark to the right direction won’t be an issue if you’ve read this article till this point. It may seem complicated at first, but the more you concentrate on the content that I’ve put here, the easier it’ll be.
However, in case you still have some confusion regarding this matter, feel free to write your queries in the comment section. My team will be happy to assist you.
