Smart quotes → straight quotes
Convert curly “smart” quotes and apostrophes from Word, Google Docs, and email into the straight quotes that code, JSON, CSVs, and web forms expect — along with the dashes and hidden characters that ride along with them.
About this tool
Word processors auto-replace straight quotes with typographic curly quotes as you type. Beautiful in a document; a syntax error the moment that text lands in code, a JSON payload, a SQL string, a YAML file, or a CSV import. This converter maps every quote variant — left and right single and double quotes, low quotes, guillemets, primes, and the modifier apostrophe — back to plain ' and ". It never touches backticks, so Markdown and shell snippets survive intact. Working with source code? The Code-safe preset limits cleaning to invisible characters only and leaves all visible punctuation exactly as written.
Questions, answered
Why do smart quotes break code and JSON?
Parsers only recognize the straight ASCII quote characters ' (U+0027) and " (U+0022). Curly quotes are entirely different codepoints, so strings won't terminate and JSON won't parse — often with a confusing error, since the quotes look right.
How do I stop Word or Google Docs from making smart quotes?
In Word: File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect → AutoFormat As You Type, untick 'Straight quotes with smart quotes'. In Google Docs: Tools → Preferences, untick 'Use smart quotes'. For text you already have, paste it here.
Does it convert single quotes and apostrophes too?
Yes — left/right single quotes, the curly apostrophe (U+2019), low and reversed variants, single guillemets, and prime marks all become a straight apostrophe.
All tools
Same engine, tuned starting points: