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Unwanted spaces before and after apostrophes in emails - help needed
Thread poster: philgoddard
philgoddard
philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
Jan 28, 2013

When anyone gets an email from me, it always has spaces inserted before and after the apostrophes, like this:
didn ' t

I think this may be something to do with using an international keyboard, where the apostrophe is used to insert acute accents. I don't want to stop using this. Is there any quick and easy way around this problem?

I use Yahoo email. I don't know if that's relevant.

[Edited at 2013-01-28 16:14 GMT]
 
Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 04:14
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Workaround Jan 28, 2013

Could you try entering your apostrophes using the Alt+ Num code? Alt + 0146 gives you a normal closing single quote / apostrophe ’, while Alt + 0145 gives you an opening quote ‘. Can't remember what the code is for the 'neutral' typewriter quote '
 
philgoddard
philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Jan 28, 2013

I'm sure that would work, but it's a bit of a pain if an email contains ten apostrophes. There must be an easier solution.
 
wotswot
wotswot  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 04:14
Member (2011)
French to English
@phil Jan 28, 2013

FYI, the "straight" apostrophe (which should work anywhere) is Alt-0039.

I suspect the problem is that you've got "smart" (aka curly) quotes set somewhere.
I don't know Yahoo e-mail, but it may offer you equivalent options to Outlook with Word as default editor.

In Word (2010), I uncheck "Replace" "Straight quotes with smart quotes" in Options, Proofing, Autoformat options (can't remember where this is in Word 2003), and likewise in "Autoformat as you type".
... See more
FYI, the "straight" apostrophe (which should work anywhere) is Alt-0039.

I suspect the problem is that you've got "smart" (aka curly) quotes set somewhere.
I don't know Yahoo e-mail, but it may offer you equivalent options to Outlook with Word as default editor.

In Word (2010), I uncheck "Replace" "Straight quotes with smart quotes" in Options, Proofing, Autoformat options (can't remember where this is in Word 2003), and likewise in "Autoformat as you type".

Also, Outlook gives you the choice of "Plain text", "Rich text" or "html").
If you have the choice in Yahoo mail, I reckon that "Plain text" is the safest bet.

Keep us posted!

Richard ▲ Collapse
 
John Holland
John Holland  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 04:14
French to English
Contextual spelling? Jan 29, 2013

This seems similar to what you're describing, although it's about Outlook (MS Office):
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/email/marks-are-inserted-with-extra-spaces/

Do you happen to be using any kind of "contextual spelling" with French language settings when writing email?
 


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Unwanted spaces before and after apostrophes in emails - help needed






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