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: Turning Off Word's Second Guessing with Quote Marks.

Turning Off Word's Second Guessing with Quote Marks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 18, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Andrew often needs, in the course of editing and writing, to put a digit or two in quotation marks in order to quote or cite it. He works in the UK where the preferred system of quoting is for single quote marks, with doubles for quotes within quotes. (The US prefers the opposite.) If Andrew types a single quote mark, then, say, the number 92, and type a closing quote mark, that opening quote mark immediately flips and becomes an initial apostrophe. This happens because Word thinks Andrew is typing a calendar year without the 19 (as in 1992). He is looking for a way to not have this "flip" happen.

Assuming that you have the correct language set for your document (UK English as opposed to US English), the flipping is occurring because AutoFormat is making a wrong assumption about what you are doing. The solution to such guessing is actually easier than you think: just use Ctrl+Z. When Word changes the opening quote mark, immediately press Ctrl+Z and the AutoFormat change is undone.

If you prefer not to have to press Ctrl+Z in those instances where AutoFormat guesses wrong, then you should consider turning off the Smart Quotes feature in AutoFormat and instead using the keyboard shortcuts for inserting just the quotes you want. You can discover these shortcuts by choosing Insert | Symbol and looking at the Special Characters tab. Near the bottom you will see the shortcut keys for all the quote marks. You can also find the shortcuts at this Word MVP page:

http://wordmvp.com/FAQs/General/InsertSpecChars.htm

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (449) 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: Turning Off Word's Second Guessing with Quote Marks.

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

Understanding Mirror Margins

Rather than have the margins of your documents always be the same, you can use what Word calls "mirror margins." Here's ...

Discover More

Dynamic Headers and Footers

Do you want to change the headers and footers that appear on different pages of your printout? Here's how you can get ...

Discover More

Detecting an Open Dialog Box

Macros can be used to perform all sorts of tasks within Word. Some tasks can even occur at whatever time interval you ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Replacing the Last Comma

When you need to perform certain editing tasks over and over again, you start to look for ways to make your work faster ...

Discover More

Using ASCII and ANSI Characters

Word natively supports several types of character sets. The most common characters sets are known as ASCII and ANSI ...

Discover More

Inserting Today's Date

When writing letters, reports, or other date-dependent documents, you need to regularly insert the current date in the ...

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 2 + 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon 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.