1-minute answer
Straight quotes (" ') are the plain ASCII marks used in code and URLs. Curly quotes (“ ” ‘ ’) are the typographic marks used in prose — most word processors convert straight to curly automatically as you type.
01 Step by step, per platform
A real, followable procedure for every platform — not a thin restatement of the shortcut.
When to use straight quotes
- Code, JSON, HTML attributes, URLs, file paths — always straight. Curly quotes will break parsing.
When to use curly quotes
- Body text, headlines, any prose meant for human reading.
- Word/Google Docs do this automatically by default ("AutoFormat" or "smart quotes").
Forcing one or the other
- To force straight quotes in Word, undo immediately after autocorrect fires, or disable smart quotes in AutoCorrect options.
- To insert curly quotes manually: “ ” ‘ ’ in HTML, or copy them directly.
02 FAQ
Why did my code break after pasting from Word?
Word silently converted straight quotes to curly ones. Curly quotes aren't valid string delimiters in most programming languages — always paste code into a plain-text editor first, or disable AutoCorrect's smart quotes.
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