Searching for straight or curly quotemarks

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alan
  • Start date Start date
A

Alan

When searching I can't find any way to make Word distinguish between
leftquote (‘), rightquote (’) and quote ('), (or the three
doublequotes “, ”, ".). Often I want to check that all the
straightquotes have been converted correctly to typographic quotes.
I know that I can simply search for (') and replace with (') and with
smartquotes enabled most of the quotes will be correctly converted --
but there are special cases (as words beginning with an apostrophe,
like ’til) which I need to fix manually.

So far I can only do this by copying and pasting the entire document
into something like Wordpad, which does let me search for these
characters separately.

I'm mostly using Word 97 and Word2000.
 
I have no difficulty doing this in Word 2003 provided I enter the specific
character. You can either copy/paste it in or use the built-in keyboard
shortcuts (Ctrl+', ' for an apostrophe, for example).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
It seems to manage this all on its own with Word 2003 at least, if you paste
the character in the search box; however you could search for the ASCII
codes ie

Apostrophe ^39
Double straight quote ^34
Left single curly quote ^145
Right single curly quote ^146
Left double curly quote ^147
Right double curly quote ^148

See also http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
It seems to manage this all on its own with Word 2003 at least, if you paste
the character in the search box; however you could search for the ASCII
codes ie

Apostrophe ^39
Double straight quote ^34
Left single curly quote ^145
Right single curly quote ^146
Left double curly quote ^147
Right double curly quote ^148

See also http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks, and yes, I CAN find the individual typographic quotes; however
typing (or pasting or any other way) the straight quotes finds the
typographic ones as well, even if I've turned off the smart quotes in
the autoformat settings.

I'm usually only looking for those straggling straight quotes to fix;
finding 10,000 apostrophes as well doesn't make this easy.

So reduce the focus to "How do I find straight quotes only?"
 
By searching for the first two of the codes I posted earlier as appropriate!
Enter the code as typed in the find box.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
By searching for the first two of the codes I posted earlier as appropriate!
Enter the code as typed in the find box.
Click to expand...

It works!!
Sorry, I didn't realise you meant those literally.

Thanks again;
Rhetorical question: where the hell is this documented?
Even knowing the answer now I can't find this in the online help.
 
See "WD97: Control Codes to Use with Find and Replace (Edit Menu)"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=197855

You find the ASCII codes from Insert | Symbol.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
I don't know how long it's been in the Help, but Word 2003 has a Help topic
"Find and replace text or other items" that includes a section on "Search
by using codes" with a subsection for "Codes for items you want to find and
replace" that is fairly complete.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Additional tip: If you check "Match wildcards", Word is also much more
literal about the things it finds.
Searching for straight quotes then also will only match straight quotes.

A similar problem often occurs with regular spaces and non-breaking spaces:
If you check "Match wildcards", searching for spaces will not find the
non-breaking spaces too.

Regards,
Klaus
 
Additional tip: If you check "Match wildcards", Word is also much more
literal about the things it finds.
Searching for straight quotes then also will only match straight quotes.
Click to expand...

Thanks; saves having to remember ASCII numbers.
 
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