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Sometimes I want to type up tests into Google Docs and share with colleagues. But I find myself having to send these texts as .txt files later, after replacing these fancy " and ' characters.

I want the straight "normal" kinds, so I can feed the typed text into a shell, or script, and so on. An example:

What I want when I type using the " / ' key:

requests.get("http://example.com")
requests.get('http://example.com')

What google drive gives me:

requests.get(“Example.com”)
requests.get(‘Example.com’)

See how there are SIX types of quote marks? I want to make it so when I type ", I get " and not “ or ” ... the difference may be easier to see l larger:

yes: " ' no: “ ” ‘ ’

Man I hate these curly slanty quote things.

I would honestly like to ban them on any editor I use - trying to debug one of these weird quote marks isn't always easy! If you don't do any scripting/programming, the need for this won't likely make sense.

Is there a way to stop Google Docs from inserting these slanted quotes instead of the straight, shell-recognized type? Or am I stuck emailing plain text files in both line endings so I can send out my tests to the team?

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
9

Click on "Preferences" under the "Tools" menu in an open document, then uncheck "Use Smart Quotes".

This setting is global, so it will affect all of your documents in Google Docs.

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  • 2
    That's it! Smart quotes... And here I've been calling them "those dumb quotes" this whole time. Thanks.
    – Rick Page
    Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 15:36
  • The setting is global, but it's only checked when you type a quote character. So toggle it off and on as needed
    – Matthew Leingang
    Commented Aug 15 at 19:17

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