How to Use Smart Quotes with Adobe FrameMaker and MS Word (with a WARNING)
First let’s define our terms.
These are called (left and right) Smart Quotation marks (or, “Smart Quotes” for short):
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in contrast to these, (left and right) Standard (or, Straight) Quotation marks (or, again “Standard Quotes” or “Straight Quotes” for short):
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A good reason to use smart quotes is because they look pretty. They should’ve called them “pretty quotes”, actually…
To display smart quotes in MS Word:
(Click images to enlarge them)
1) Select File > Options > Proofing > Auto Correct Options to display the AutoCorrect dialog box:
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2) If not selected, select the “Replace as you type Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes” check-box in the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
3) Click and select the AutoFormat tab.
4) If not selected, select the “Replace Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes” check-box in the AutoFormat tab:
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5) Click OK. Back at Word Options dialog box, click OK once again.
Now, whenever you type a quotation mark, it’ll be printed as a smart quote.
To remove the smart quotes and replace them with standard quotes, clear the check-marks in the above tabs. Do the reverse of what you did in steps 1 through 5.
To display smart quotes in Adobe FrameMaker:
1) Select Format > Document > Text Options from the menu to display the Text Options dialog box:
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2) Select the SmartQuotes check-box.
3) Click the Apply button.
Warning:
Although smart quotes look great in PDF and print documents, they create “rendering problems” in HTML.
If you are planning to copy and paste your content from MS Word or Adobe FrameMaker, get ready to see some ugly looking symbols instead of smart quotes, depending on the browser and operating system you are using.
For example, here is how smart quotes may get displayed in the browser:
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So, if you are intending to copy and paste your text into a blog or article publishing interface, never use smart quotes. Always use Standard (Straight) quotes.
