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When I type can't I get can’t. This is extremely irritating to me because when I spell check things for a blog entry and then paste it into the blog form, all my contractions have boxes (or question marks) for the unknown font value of the apostrophe.

4 Answers 4

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Here are the steps to disable Word from formatting the ' to a .

  • Click the Office Button in the top left corner, open Word Options
  • Go to Proofing then to AutoCorrect Options...
  • Click on the AutoFormat tab
  • Under Replace uncheck the box labeled : "Straight Quotes" with "Smart Quotes"
  • Click on the AutoFormat As You Type tab and uncheck a similar box to previous one.

I tested and Word does not replace my single quote with an apostrophe for contractions.

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  • Hmm, even after restarting word it is still using the "smart quotes," despite disabling it. May 13, 2011 at 18:32
  • I restarted once and it reverted back to the old setting, then I set the settings again and after a few restarts, its retaining the settings that I set. Try setting them again and see if it helps by closing and opening it.
    – paradd0x
    May 13, 2011 at 19:11
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I've just struggled with the same problem but found the definitive solution: What the guides don't say is that the "smart quotes" option appears in two different places: one tab called "AutoFormat" (which I think we were all going for) and another tab called "AutoFormat As You Type" (which I had not noticed). You have to disable it for both tabs if you really want it to stop.

Open the MS Word options by clicking on the Office icon in the upper left corner. Click on the smaller "Word Options" button in the lower right portion of that menu. This will open a new window. Click on the "Proofing" tab on the right, and finally click on the AutoCorrect Options button to reach the options window shown below:

enter image description here

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  • 2
    It might help if you indicate how you bring up that dialog box in Word 2007.
    – Ramhound
    Nov 8, 2017 at 16:11
  • I had presumed that information was given in the other answers. But here it is again: MS Office icon >> Word Options button >> "Proofing" tab on the right >> AutoCorrect Options button.
    – T White
    Nov 10, 2017 at 14:48
  • Don’t care about a YouTube video. Incomplete answers here at Superuser are not helpful. I personally didn’t need the information others might. When your answer is edited and includes the information suggested I will be reverse my vote.
    – Ramhound
    Nov 10, 2017 at 14:57
  • I didn’t remove your comment. If you had just made your answer complete I could have reversed my vote, 2 days ago. I had issued a downvote to your answer after you replied with that YouTube comment. Only method I have to persuade you into improving your answer
    – Ramhound
    Nov 11, 2017 at 14:49
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You are referring to "Smart Quotes"

Here is an article that will explain how to turn them off: http://www.howtogeek.com/wiki/Disable_Smart_Quotes_in_Word_2007

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It's just words formatting for letters etc. I'd prefer it to do that actually. If it's annoying you then just use an online based spell checker? What's the difference?

http://www.spellcheck.net/

& Grammar: http://www.spellchecker.net/grammar/

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