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Smart quotes / apostrophes - AP


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I have lots of text for a book that has the straight line apostrophes. 

Is there a simple find and replace option to change them all to curved apostrophes?

Word has this function, but I'd love to skip that whole operation if Publisher already has it.

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Publisher can convert straight quotes/apostrophes to typographic quotes/apostrophes as you type the text; it's part of the Auto-Correct preferences. However, that applies only to text as you type it, and if you're getting the text into a document in some other way (copy/paste, Place, etc.) it does not apply.

If you already have them as straight apostrophes, you can use Text > Find... to find them and change them to the form you want. Note that this can be tricky, especially if you have a mix of straight quotes and straight apostrophes. But it can be done.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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@walt.farrell When I type: The man said: "Watch out!", autocorrect inserts lower opening apostrophes and upper closing apostrophes.

image.png.fb4e96adcd44e58fd14f2127c364d214.png

In Dutch language opening and closing apostrophes are both of type upper.
Is there a way to setup autocorrect such that it inserts user defined opening and closing quotes?

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1 hour ago, StephanP said:

In Dutch language opening and closing apostrophes are both of type upper.
Is there a way to setup autocorrect such that it inserts user defined opening and closing quotes?

It should be automatic if you have the proper spelling language specified for the text. If you put the text cursor in that text, and look in the Character panel, what Spelling language do you have selected?

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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There is no Dutch language spelling checking, so I left it at default English.

Is there a way to create one's own spelling checking configuration?
I could start with setting the desired typographic quotation marks and add common typo's as I go.

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BTW, I did a small experiment where I added an autocorrect to the English language: replace „ with “
But this did not change a thing.

Apparently the autocorrect into typographic quotes is executed after the autocorrect from the list.

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4 hours ago, StephanP said:

There is no Dutch language spelling checking, so I left it at default English.

Is there a way to create one's own spelling checking configuration?
I could start with setting the desired typographic quotation marks and add common typo's as I go.

You'll need to install a set of Dutch dictionaries. There's a FAQ article about that:

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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I've got the Dutch spelling checking in place now according to FAQ, but the typographic quotes are stil wrong.

image.png.16f036a2a0e364d84bdef2e8df9b12e7.png

If this is something that could be fixed in the editable .aff file, then I'd be happy to learn.

Edit: Note that I in fact completely lost the typographic quotes.

Edit2: Correction. The typographic quotes are there alright. it's the Arial font that doesn't have 'sexy' quotes.

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4 hours ago, StephanP said:

I've got the Dutch spelling checking in place now according to FAQ, but the typographic quotes are stil wrong.

And you have Dutch specified for that text, and showing up in the Character panel

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Yep, once Preferences - Spelling checking is set to Dutch language, Dutch is also the set language in the Character panel. "It's all Dutch to me"

I suspect a bug and opened a new query, as this thread initially started about search and replace in existing text.

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25 minutes ago, StephanP said:

once Preferences - Spelling checking is set to Dutch language

There is no Preferences setting for Spelling, Stephan. The Preferences setting are for the UI Language, though you're right that if you have a particular UI language set, and its dictionary is available, it may will also become a default for the Spelling language. (There are also the Auto-correct settings, but they do not influence the Spelling language at all.)

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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  • 2 months later...
On 6/5/2020 at 1:28 PM, walt.farrell said:

Publisher can convert straight quotes/apostrophes to typographic quotes/apostrophes as you type the text; it's part of the Auto-Correct preferences. However, that applies only to text as you type it, and if you're getting the text into a document in some other way (copy/paste, Place, etc.) it does not apply.

If you already have them as straight apostrophes, you can use Text > Find... to find them and change them to the form you want. Note that this can be tricky, especially if you have a mix of straight quotes and straight apostrophes. But it can be done.

Hi Walt

Can you please expand on 'it's tricky but it can be done'? I am working on a document which has texted copied & pasted from a variety of different sources and have a mix of straight and typographic. I would like to find/replace all the straight with typographic but am not sure how.

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25 minutes ago, SarahB said:

Can you please expand on 'it's tricky but it can be done'?

The problem lies in the ambiguity about whether a straight quote or apostrophe should become an opening or closing form.

It's easy, usually, for a human to recognize. And it's possible, usually, for a special program to recognize. But it's harder to get it right using Find/Replace, and will take multiple operations to get all the cases.

A " preceded by a space is probably an opening quote mark. One followed by a space is probably a closing quote.

The same is true for the ' character, but becomes more complex when you consider that it might be either a single quote or an apostrophe.

Some cases are obvious: letter ' letter should be an apostrophe. 

But a ' preceded or followed by a space might be an apostrophe, as in 'tis, or it might be an opening single quote mark. And for that case they need to point in different directions.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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19 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

The problem lies in the ambiguity about whether a straight quote or apostrophe should become an opening or closing form.

It's easy, usually, for a human to recognize. And it's possible, usually, for a special program to recognize. But it's harder to get it right using Find/Replace, and will take multiple operations to get all the cases.

A " preceded by a space is probably an opening quote mark. One followed by a space is probably a closing quote.

The same is true for the ' character, but becomes more complex when you consider that it might be either a single quote or an apostrophe.

Some cases are obvious: letter ' letter should be an apostrophe. 

But a ' preceded or followed by a space might be an apostrophe, as in 'tis, or it might be an opening single quote mark. And for that case they need to point in different directions.

Of course! I'm aware of all the possible iterations, but it is very useful to have a reminder, thank you.

How about the mechanics of doing the searches? Will typing ' or " in Find find both straight and typographic, or is there some way of distinguishing between the two? Does Publisher use the same wildcards as Word? This is the first time I have used F&R in Publisher.

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48 minutes ago, SarahB said:

How about the mechanics of doing the searches? Will typing ' or " in Find find both straight and typographic, or is there some way of distinguishing between the two? Does Publisher use the same wildcards as Word? This is the first time I have used F&R in Publisher.

You're welcome.

If you type a ' that's all it will find. Similarly " will only find the straight version. If you wanted to find one of the typographic ones I think you would need to figure out a keyboard sequence to type it, or copy one from the text and paste it into the box in the dialog.

Publisher has a standard Perl-compatible regular expression processor (from Boost), but some of the handling is a bit tailored for Publisher-specific usages(break characters, end-of-line and paragraph, etc.). I'm not sure how it might differ from Word, as there are several similar but not quite identical Regular Expression engines used in different programs.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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  • 3 years later...

I have been having this problem of finding and replacing straight quotes with curly quotes in Affinity Publisher from the very beginning. In the end, I resorted to using MS Word to do the find and Replace, then reimport back to Affinity Publisher after everything was fine and proper. Affinity really needs to look into this weakness, for their software to be fully accepted as a serious professional DTP software.  Affinity Publisher desperately needs to be a truly standalone application, and not have to depend on Microsoft to do part of their dirty work for them. If the Microsoft suite of editing software can do this task without even raising a sweat, I cannot understand why Affinity just cannot seem to get it right.  We are already in version 2.2 and still no improvement.

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You could have a look at the Preflight check function, as there is an option (see Editing the  Preflight profile in help) to identify and fix (one by one, fingers on the keyboard and eyes on screen) straight quotes instead of curly quotes. 

https://affinity.help/publisher2/en-US.lproj/pages/Publishing/preflight.html

 

 

Affinity Suite 2.4 – Monterey 12.7.4 – MacBookPro 14" 2021 M1 Pro 16Go/1To

I apologise for any approximations in my English. It is not my mother tongue.

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I managed to get Preflight to check for Straight Quotes, but the Fix button does not appear.

2 hours ago, Oufti said:

You could have a look at the Preflight check function, as there is an option (see Editing the  Preflight profile in help) to identify and fix (one by one, fingers on the keyboard and eyes on screen) straight quotes instead of curly quotes. 

https://affinity.help/publisher2/en-US.lproj/pages/Publishing/preflight.html

 

 

 

Edited by GMNIMan
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You have to do it by hand: double click on a line in the left panel brings you to the text, with the quote selected. Then you have to press the keyboard to insert a new quote that will be smart, as defined in the Settings > Auto correct.

https://affinity.help/publisher2/en-US.lproj/pages/Text/autoCorrect.html

Not automatic but very quick and it lets the possibility to check each instance. I do it with one hand on the keyboard and the other ready to double click. ;) 

Affinity Suite 2.4 – Monterey 12.7.4 – MacBookPro 14" 2021 M1 Pro 16Go/1To

I apologise for any approximations in my English. It is not my mother tongue.

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Oh, I have already been using the AutoCorrect settings to instantly make the change as you type along. The Preflight is new to me, but not much of a help when you have a hundred pages of text I grab from the web.  Can be extremely tedious.  However, it does help to use on short documents. Thanks for your help and suggestions, and I will definitely be using this technique.  For large documents, I will stick to the MS Word way and re-import back to Affinity Publisher when done. We need to be resourceful and adapt to the limitations of our tools.

If the Affinity suite of applications does not have a better Find and Replace functionality in the next version update of Affinity, I will skip the upgrade and wait until they do.

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36 minutes ago, GMNIMan said:

If the Affinity suite of applications does not have a better Find and Replace functionality in the next version update of Affinity,

What function of Find/Replace are you using in Word that does not exist in Publisher?

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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11 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

What function of Find/Replace are you using in Word that does not exist in Publisher?

In Word (old time souvenir…), if the smart quotes option is activated in the preferences, you just put straight quote in both Find & Replace fields, click on Replace all and all quotes were replaced by curled quotes, in the same way as if you typed them directly.

This differs from what happens in Affinity:

On 9/9/2020 at 5:32 PM, walt.farrell said:

If you type a ' that's all [Affinity] will find. Similarly " will only find the straight version. If you wanted to find one of the typographic ones I think you would need to figure out a keyboard sequence to type it, or copy one from the text and paste it into the box in the dialog.

Word's behaviour is very easy for simple situations. But a bit tricky when you have multi-signs quotes (like thin unbreakable spaces inside French guillemets) or, as stated above, when a confusion is possible between single opening quote and apostrophe.

PNG50-Capturedcran2023-09-2013_13_21.png.abfb1a9795d6934b63600016eb8e6c2b.png

In these cases, or you have defined a robust F&R algorithm — where you know which combinations can be automatically replaced and those that must be checked one by one — or you still have to check each instance, at replacement time or later… 

Affinity Suite 2.4 – Monterey 12.7.4 – MacBookPro 14" 2021 M1 Pro 16Go/1To

I apologise for any approximations in my English. It is not my mother tongue.

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Thanks, @Oufti. While reading this thread I was thinking it would be nice if Publisher's Find/Replace provided some way of replacing quotes with smart quotes. I wasn't aware of the Word functionality in that area.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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