photo credit: Eric F Savage

One of the most annoying things in Microsoft Word that bloggers run into, is that it uses fancy curly quotes that aren’t supported in the default character set of WordPress and other blogging platforms.  If you copy and paste directly from MS word into WordPress or your blogging platform of choice you’ll end up with weird &@39; and other character numbers inserted to replace single and double quotes.

The result looks terrible, like there’s some coding mistake, is distracting as hell and looks like a mistake.  There is an easy fix, just turn off the curly quotes in MS word and have it use staright blogging and html friendly quotes.  Alternatively you can also find and replace, but that is very tedious.  If you can’t modify the preferences of your MS office (like if it’s a locked down work computer), I’d highly recommend not using word to compose your blog entries.

In fact there are better alternatives anyways, but people like to compose things in programs they’re use to and feel very comfortable with so they can focus on the content instead of the software, so let’s change those quotes to make sure your blog articles aren’t chuck full of strange codes.

In Microsoft Word 2007 – paraphrased from (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101732421033.aspx)

Step 1.  Click the Microsoft Office Button in the left hand corner and select ‘Word Options’ in the lower right hand corner near ‘Exit Word’

Step 2.  Click Proofing and then AutoCorrect Options

Step 3.  In the AutoCorrect Dialogue Window

Click the AutoFormat as you Type tab and under Replace as you type, clear the “Straight quotes” with “Smart quotes” check box.

Click the Autoformat tab, and under Replace select or clear the “Straight quotes with smart quotes” check box.

In Microsoft Word 2003 – quoted from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP051901241033.aspx

“Microsoft Word automatically changes straight quotation marks ( ‘ or ” ) to curly (smart or typographer’s) quotes as you type.

To turn this feature on or off:

1. On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect Options, and then click the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
2. Under Replace as you type, select or clear the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box.

Note You can find and replace all instances of single or double curly quotes with straight quotes in your document. To do this, clear the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box on the AutoFormat As You Type tab. On the Edit menu, click Replace. In both the Find what and Replace with boxes, type ‘ or “, and then click Find Next or Replace All.

To replace all straight quotes with curly quotes, select the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box, and repeat the find and replace procedure.