Autocorrect problem - straight apostrophes

[jw]

Word 2003
Windows XP

I have Autocorrect on; specifically, the following settings: Correct
two initial capitals, capitalize names of days, correct accidental use
of capslock key, replace text as you type.

When I type the following sequence, a capitalized word is converted to
lower case:
- space bar
- straight apostrophe
- Autocorrect entry, typed with capital letter (entry in Autocorrect
dialog is NOT specifically capitalized)
- space bar

The Autocorrect entry is converted to the full word, but in lower case.

Example:

teh → the
Teh → The
'Teh →'the

This happens at the beginning of a line, in the middle of a line, etc.

Is this just a bug? Or is there perhaps a setting I missed?

Thanks.

 

[TF]

Capitalise first letter of sentences should be enabled. Your examples all
work correctly for me.



Word 2003
Windows XP

I have Autocorrect on; specifically, the following settings: Correct
two initial capitals, capitalize names of days, correct accidental use
of capslock key, replace text as you type.

When I type the following sequence, a capitalized word is converted to
lower case:
- space bar
- straight apostrophe
- Autocorrect entry, typed with capital letter (entry in Autocorrect
dialog is NOT specifically capitalized)
- space bar

The Autocorrect entry is converted to the full word, but in lower case.

Example:

teh ? the
Teh ? The
'Teh ?'the

This happens at the beginning of a line, in the middle of a line, etc.

Is this just a bug? Or is there perhaps a setting I missed?

Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't see how that would apply, since a letter following an apostrophe (or
single quote) is not the first letter in a sentence; moreover, that wouldn't
help in the middle of a sentence, as described in the problem.

 

[TF]

I assumed that 'Teh was the start of a sentence and that works correctly for
me. However, I have now reread the question which is a bit more ambiguous
than I thought and your reply makes me think I may have misinterpreted. But
that sequence still works fine for me (in Word 2007). I see your logic in
saying it isn't the first letter of a sentence, but why does it work for me.
If I turn off the capitalisation option, it doesn't work.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It works for me, too. That is, if I type 'Teh, it is corrected to 'The. If I
type 'teh, it is *not* corrected to 'The, and I wouldn't expect it to be.
What I would *not* expect anywhere (beginning of the sentence or not) is for
'Teh to be "corrected" to 'the, which is the problem the OP is having.

 

[jw]

Well, now that we've worked out what I was asking...

Right, it's in any position, including in the middle of sentences,
e.g.:

**I said, "Mary told me the title was 'Teh Moon and Sixpence.' "**
converts to:
**** ... 'the Moon and Sixpence.' "

Now, has anyone had the same problem in Word 2003, and resolved it?

Thanks again.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

For what it's worth, I get the same thing you do when I use a straight quote
instead of a "smart" quote. I don't use straight quotes often, however, so
it's not a problem for me.

If the problem is only with the word "the", there's an easy solution. The
existing teh/the entry already handles the lowercase situation. So, add
'Teh/'The to your autocorrect list to handle the uppercase solution.

But, that will fix the problem only for "The." You'd need to add others as
you encounter them.

I agree that this is a bug, and I can't think of an easy Word-based solution
that would fix it for every possible word, short of including a specific
entry for every possible word.

Well... one "solution" would be for you to use curved quotes instead of
straight ones...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't think "jw" is inserting a straight apostrophe as a straight
apostrophe. My assumption was that the straight apostrophe is typed from the
keyboard and corrected by AutoFormat As You Type, just the same as it is
when you enter it.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

You might be correct, but I was going on jw's original post:

And, when I do exactly that, I get the results jw cites.

 

[Tony Jollans]

I agree it looks like a bug - and it affects all autocorrects. Word seems to
decide that if you have made a typo you can't possibly mean to have an upper
case letter following a straight single quote. I note that it also happens
if you have smart quotes switched on and type singlequote,<Ctrl+Z>,Teh .

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Right... in fact, since I have smart quotes enabled, that's how I entered
the single quote to test the issue.