Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Automatically Using Smart Quotes.

Automatically Using Smart Quotes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 8, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


"Smart quotes" is the Word phrase for what typographers call opening quotes and closing quotes. If you look at the quote marks in any printed book, you will notice that the quote marks at the beginning of a quote look different from those at the end; these are smart quotes, according to Word.

The opening quote is produced by holding down the Alt key and typing 0147 on the keypad. The closing quote is produced in the same fashion, only you type 0148 on the keypad. Since this can get rather tedious, Word has included an AutoFormat option that changes normal quotes with smart quotes. This option is set by default, but there may be times when you want to check the setting or turn off the option. You can find the option by following these steps:

  1. Select AutoCorrect or AutoCorrect Options (depending on your version of Word) from the Tools menu. Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.
  2. Click on the AutoFormat As You Type tab. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The AutoFormat As You Type tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.

  4. Make sure the Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes option is selected.
  5. Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (272) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Automatically Using Smart 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. ...

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