How to fix smart quotes not working?

Roman 0 Reputation points
2026-07-31T03:21:43.45+00:00

Hi, I use Microsoft Word online and it started doing something about three days ago that it has never done before: the straight quotes aren't being replaced with smart quotes, so they're all coming out straight. This wouldn't usually be important, but I'm about sixty pages into a project and deeply want to fix the quotes to match the rest of it. I've tried restarting my computer, closing the website and opening it again, and manually clicking and unclicking the "smart quotes" button under autocorrect. Please help me!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows
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  1. Charles Kenyon 169.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-07-31T03:35:48.2166667+00:00

    First, the online version of Word is inferior. It really should not be used to edit important projects, IMO.

    As far as I know, AutoFormat as you type is not part of Word Online, but is part of the desktop application.

    If you use the desktop application, you can, with the smart quotes activated in AutoFormat as you type options, replace " with " and ' with ' to apply smart quotes to everything.

    https://addbalance.com/word/download.htm#MicrosoftWordPrograms

    It is possible that the AutoFormat/AutoCorrect is coming from a browser. If you absolutely need to use the online Word version, try changing browsers.

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  2. Stefan Blom 347.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-08-02T08:32:23.9633333+00:00

    @Roman

    Since the issue is document-specific (or seems to be), verify that the proofing language is correctly set for your text. You can select all the text in the document and then go to the Review tab. Click the Spelling & grammar icon User's image and then click the option to change the proofing language. In the dialog box, choose the correct language, even if it is already appears to be selected, and confirm with OK.

    Word should apply the correct quotation marks for your selected language, when you continue typing. Changing the language won't change anything in existing text, though.

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  3. Jada 0 Reputation points
    2026-08-01T20:36:06.4933333+00:00

    I am having this exact same issue on the Word online desktop browser. If you type AutoCorrect Options in the searchbar it shows you the list of features you can toggle off or on, including one called "Straight quotes" to "smart quotes". However, this being toggled does not actually make it work. What I have noticed is that if you refresh your page and type ", the smart quote feature works momentarily! Then it does a little glitch thing where the font jigs and it no longer works.

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