What are Smart Quotes?
By default, when you type quotation marks in Google Docs, the software automatically intercepts your keystrokes and replaces the standard, straight, vertical quotation marks ( " " ) with “Smart Quotes.” Smart quotes are typographically curved quotes ( “ ” ) that lean inward toward the text they are enclosing. It does the same thing for single apostrophes.
If you are writing an essay, a novel, or a formal letter, Smart Quotes look much more professional and aesthetically pleasing. However, if you are using Google Docs to write HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or command-line scripts, Smart Quotes are catastrophic. Programming languages strictly require straight, ASCII quotation marks. If you copy and paste a curved Smart Quote into a terminal or code editor, it will trigger a syntax error and break your code. You can disable this automatic conversion entirely.
How to Disable Smart Quotes in Google Docs
You can turn off this typographical substitution in the Google Docs Preferences menu.
- Open your web browser and navigate to any open document in Google Docs.
- At the top of the screen, click on the Tools menu.
- Scroll down the dropdown list and click on Preferences.
- A popup window will appear. Make sure you are on the General tab.
- Look down the list of checkboxes for the option labelled Use smart quotes.
- Click the checkbox to remove the checkmark.
- Click the blue OK button at the bottom of the window to save your changes.
From this point forward, whenever you hit the quotation mark key on your keyboard, Google Docs will leave it as a raw, straight ASCII character, ensuring your code snippets remain perfectly functional when copied into your development environment.