The Typographical Swap
Google Docs aims to make your writing look professional. When you type a standard, straight quotation mark (” or ‘) using your keyboard, Docs automatically intercepts the keystroke and replaces it with a “smart quote” (also known as a curly quote, which slants inward toward the text). While this looks elegant in a novel or a formal essay, it is catastrophic if you are using Google Docs to write HTML, Python, or command-line scripts. Programming languages require standard, straight ASCII quotation marks; inserting curly quotes will instantly break your code and cause syntax errors when you copy and paste it into a terminal.
Reverting to Straight Quotes
To ensure your raw text remains untouched and stop Google Docs from automatically inserting curly smart quotes, you must disable the specific typographical preference.
Open your Google Docs document. Navigate to the top menu bar and click on Tools. From the drop-down menu, select Preferences. A dialogue box will appear; ensure you are on the General tab. Look for the checkbox labelled Use smart quotes. By default, this box is checked. Click the checkbox to remove the checkmark. Click the blue OK button at the bottom right. From now on, whenever you type a quotation mark or an apostrophe, Google Docs will leave it as a perfectly straight, code-compliant ASCII character.