# How do I do a non-smart apostrophy on a mac? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-non-smart-apostrophy-on-a-mac/418156 "2007-09-05T19:45:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-non-smart-apostrophy-on-a-mac/418156/1 "2007-09-05T19:45:39Z")
How do I make a non-smart apostrophy on a mac? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-non-smart-apostrophy-on-a-mac/418156/2 "2007-09-05T21:07:58Z")
You’re going to have to tell us what program you’re typing in, on a Mac. Even if it’s Finder. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-non-smart-apostrophy-on-a-mac/418156/3 "2007-09-05T21:08:08Z")
In what application? A lot of things are standardized across the Mac OS, but I don’t think this is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-non-smart-apostrophy-on-a-mac/418156/4 "2007-09-05T21:12:33Z")
[QUOTE=Christopher] How do I make a non-smart apostrophy on a mac? [/QUOTE] It’s less a matter of “on a mac” and more a matter of what program you are in. If you are using Word: > [@](#): > > Change curly quotes to straight quotes and vice versa > Microsoft Word automatically changes straight quotation marks ( ’ or " ) to curly (smart, or typographer’s) quotes ( or ) as you type. You might not want curly quotes in some cases — for example, if you’re using quotation marks to designate feet and inches. To turn this feature on or off: > > 1. On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect, and then click the AutoFormat As You Type tab. > 2. Under Replace as you type, select or clear the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box. > Note You can find and replace all instances of single or double curly quotes with straight quotes in your document. To do this, clear the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box on the AutoFormat As You Type tab. On the Edit menu, click Replace. In both the Find what and Replace with boxes, type ’ or ", and then click Find Next or Replace All. > To replace all straight quotes with curly quotes, select the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box, and repeat the find and replace procedure. Also, in general smart quote settings are usually in the prefernces of any particular application. If you’re just looking to input a particular symbol in any application, you can use the character palette, which you can access by clicking on the flag in the menu bar. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-non-smart-apostrophy-on-a-mac/418156/5 "2007-09-05T21:13:53Z")
By hitting the ’ key? I’ve never had any problem with it. Is this some specific application which is giving you problems, or is it everything on the computer? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-non-smart-apostrophy-on-a-mac/418156/6 "2007-09-05T22:54:23Z")
**jackdavinci** got it. It’s word that was causing me problems. It makes the curly apostrophy.