Forum

[Sparky]

Jan 26, 2006:
Search and Replace Quote Marks
I was recently sent a file that had straight quotation marks (both
single and double) instead of curly (typographer's) quotes. It turns
out that it's harder to replace these than it should be. Here are two
methods, each with their pros and cons.

Method 1: Find/Change
It's easy to search for quotes: Just type a single or double quote
mark in the Find What field of the Find/Change dialog box. But how
do you convert a straight single quote to a curly quote? There is a
keyboard shortcut (different on Mac OS and Windows) to type curly
quotes, but why bother trying to remember it? Just pick a special
character from the little flyout menu to the right of the Change To
field (it's the one labeled with a small black triangle).

Unfortunately, you have to pick either the left or the right quote --
so you should probably search for a space character followed by a
quote first. That will find most of the beginning quotes (because there
is usually a space before an open quote mark). Replace that with a
space followed by the Single or Double Left Quotation Mark (from that
flyout menu). Next search for all the paragraph characters (again, from
that menu) followed by a quote mark. That'll find all the quote marks
at the beginning of a sentence. The quote marks that are left over are
probably close marks, so you can search for all the rest of the quote
marks and change them to the Single or Double Right Quotation Mark.

Method 2: Export/Import
Here's a far faster way to accomplish the same thing. (Thanks to Anne-
Marie Concepcion for the clue to this solution.) Place the flashing text
cursor in the story and choose File > Export. Then choose InDesign
Tagged Text from the Format popup menu and click Save (noting where
you're saving the file, of course). Now select the whole text story in your
document, delete it, choose File > Place, and select the file you just saved
out. Before you click OK, turn on Show Import Options. Now, when you
click OK, InDesign offers you the option of replacing your quotes with
typographer quotes. Turn it on, click OK, and you're done.

The first solution takes longer, but is great when you have a bunch of
different text stories in your document (or you want to search across
multiple open documents). The second solution is faster, but only works
one story at a time.

--David Blatner


Feb 2, 2006

Follow-up on Search and Replace Quote Marks
One of my favorite things about tips & tricks is that they are
sometimes so obvious, and yet I learn new ones all the time.
Here is a great example.

In response to last week's tip about converting straight quotes
to curly ("typographer's") quotes, Martin Braun wrote to us from
Germany:

"I think there is an even faster way to set all quotation marks to
typographer's style: Just replace all quotation marks by another
character or combination of characters that is not included in the
text (e.g. "xlink "). Then replace "xlink " with " (the quotation mark).
InDesign will automatically use the correct quotation mark." (Note
that this only works when the Use Typographer's Quotes checkbox
is turned on in the Preferences dialog box.)

Thanks, Martin!
--David Blatner

Since my return to the forums, things have changed in my life. I will post a few of these at a time until I get caught up to the present day.

Enjoy, Sparky 8)